Five prospective Canadian comedy film projects will get a boost from established veterans Eugene Levy, Ivan Reitman and others this fall as part of the Telefilm Canada Features Comedy Lab.
A Canadian Film Centre collaboration with Just for Laughs, the program aims to help the chosen filmmakers hone their feature-length comedy projects in hopes of scoring production and a theatrical release.
"The Features Comedy Lab is one of the most important building blocks to insure a vibrant future for Canadian film comedy," Comedy Lab chair Eugene Levy said in a statement. "It's just a win-win for the Canadian film industry."
This year, organizers received 74 submissions vying for just five slots.
The winning projects are:
- Workplace comedy Servitude from writer/producer Michael Sparaga and director Warren P. Sonoda (Cooper's Camera, Ham and Cheese), Victory Man Productions.
- The romantic comedy That Burning Feeling from writer Nicolas Citton and producer/director Jason James, Resonance Films.
- Ramington's: Men Of Steel from writer Sacha Pavlovic and producer Mark Montefiore.
- Comedy western Saddlebags by writer Christine Lippa, producers Elizabeth Yake and Angela Heck.
- Irreverent female comedy Two Of Me from writer/director Mina Shum and producer Stephen Hegyes, Brightlight Pictures.
Beginning in November and continuing for three months, the selected filmmaking teams will take part in workshops, classes and one-on-one sessions with experienced comedy producers and other industry professionals who will help them strengthen their scripts, develop and package their ideas.
Some of the mentors will include Reitman, Step Brothers, Elf and Talledega Nights producer Jimmy Miller, My Cousin Vinny and Rushmore producer Tai Duncan and Meatballs, The Pink Panther writer-producer Len Blum.
