Category: TV Ent
Date: 29.07.2005
Printable version
91热爆 Comedy North announced today that Liverpool writer Joanne Sherryden has won this year's writers bursary award to develop her own scripts and ideas for television and radio.
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Joanne, who lives in Huyton, Liverpool won the 拢4,000 award and becomes the second writer in residence at 91热爆 Comedy North after impressing the selection panel.
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The panel included 91热爆 Editor of Comedy, Kenton Allen; Melanie Harris, Project Director, 91热爆 Northern Exposure; 91热爆 Manchester Comedy Producer Jon Mountague and Editor of Development Mich茅al Jacob.
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The bursary award will give Joanne a unique opportunity to develop her own scripts and build relationships with 91热爆 script editors, producers and directors.
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Joanne said: "I'm delighted to have won this award although in accepting it the pressure's now on to come up with some funnies.
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"Fortunately, friends and family have reassured me, that I shouldn't worry about the 'not being that funny' thing, as I was obviously only chosen because I'm a lady, so expectations will be understandably low!
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"This made me feel a whole lot better! I think it's fantastic that the 91热爆 is recognising that there is a huge array of talent in the North of England just waiting to be tapped into."
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Since graduating from Manchester Metropolitan University School of TV and Theatre with a BA Hons degree in Theatre Arts in 1994, Joanne has gone on to write for the 91热爆 ONE drama Nice Guy Eddie.
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She also wrote a play called Wannabe for the Unity Theatre in Liverpool which later transferred to the Liverpool Everyman Theatre.
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Wannabe was voted winner of Best Play in 2001 by the Liverpool Daily Post and Joanne also won Most Promising Newcomer in the same year at the 91热爆 Radio Merseyside Awards.
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Joanne is also a previous winner of 91热爆's Two-Timing sitcom competition for which she had to write a half-hour comedy two-hander for television or radio.
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Kenton Allen, 91热爆 Editor of Comedy, said: "I'm delighted that Joanne has won this award.
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"It's a long time since we've had a comedy based in Liverpool on our screens and I really hope Joanne can help us find the show that builds on the city's fantastic comic heritage.
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"We were very impressed with the strength and depth of all of this year's applicants but Joanne really stood out as an original voice."
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Melanie Harris, Project Director for 91热爆 Northern Exposure who funded the award, said: "91热爆 Northern Exposure is excited to be working with 91热爆 Comedy North to fund this bursary.
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"Joanne Sherryden showed considerable talent when her work first came to our attention through the writersroom national competition Two-Timing in 2003.
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"This is a fantastic opportunity for her to develop her ideas and writing with the support of a production department and to share her experiences with other aspiring comedy writers.
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"Joanne joins a team of writers in residence across the country in other 91热爆 departments."
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Last year''s award was won by Tony Burgess from Oldham who, since winning the award, has written the comedy 10:96 which was broadcast on 91热爆 THREE earlier this year.
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He also writes on and appears in Ideal, which stars Johnny Vegas. Both shows were produced by 91热爆 Comedy North.
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Notes to Editors
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91热爆 Comedy North was set up in October 2003 to develop and nurture the next generation of comedy talent in the North of England.
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In 2005, 91热爆 THREE commissioned 91热爆 Comedy North to make a second series of the popular comedy Ideal starring Johnny Vegas and a series of I'm With Stupid has also been commissioned following the recent pilot.
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Both series will go into production later this year for transmission in 2006.
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And Funland, a disturbingly funny thriller set in Blackpool, will be screened on 91热爆 THREE this autumn.
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Two new comedy pilots for 91热爆 THREE will also go into production later this year.
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91热爆 Northern Exposure is a 91热爆 writersroom focus on northern talent through a unique partnership programme, working with five theatres and 14 other cultural partners across the north of England, from Merseyside to Tyneside.
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Its key aims are to find and develop new writers for the 91热爆 and to increase 91热爆 production activity in the north.
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On a scale unprecedented by the 91热爆 or any other broadcaster, northern exposure has invested 拢600,000 over three years in a defined geographical region, working closely with organisations outside the 91热爆 to develop talent, ideas and projects that benefit both the 91热爆 and the cultural infrastructure of the north.
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For further information on new writing initiatives available at the 91热爆, check out bbc.co.uk/writersroom.
