The BIFA qualifying film festival Short Com is pumped to announce that their TV Sitcom Writing Competition has returned for the third year in a row; with a brand new line-up of judges to assess the final shortlisted writers. The competition aims to discover new comedy writing talent and connect them to the industry. And they also have a new cash prize of £500 for the overall winner along with some goodies from BCG Pro. 

Submissions are now open. Writers have until July the 16th to enter with the early bird deadline of April the 20th and the regular deadline of June 24th.

Making up the judging panel for 2022 are BAFTA-nominated and winning talent in director Ben Mallaby (BBC 3’s Climaxed), newly appointed Rough Cut TV development producer Inez Gordon and Henry Holmes at PBJ Management. Chris Aitken from Short Com says he is ‘delighted to have the panel on board to bring their unique skillsets and experiences in the industry to the judging chamber .

‘Since we started the competition we have been impressed by the response and enthusiasm by new writers for the competition (and their lovely feedback, thanks peeps). Emphatically, the number of quality entries we have received over the past two years has  created a tight and challenging competition. This has been a key motivational factor for us to return the contest and continue our mission to find new emerging writing talent, which hopefully we can help springboard their careers. First of all by getting them noticed by recognising their talents and then trying to help them in their journey to either find representation or connect them to development producers or directors. Like the film festival, we have a reputation for finding and selecting great films by emerging filmmaking talent. And we are pleased to now be doing the very same with writing talent’.

The ethos of the competition very much remains the same by focussing on writing ability ahead of how good an idea someone might have for their sitcom. And Short Com remains committed to keeping tabs on previously shortlisted writers via THE SHORTLIST so producers can see previously recommended writers and their scripts available to be read upon request.

Details on how to enter the competition can be found on their page here.