Vidya Rajan, Urvi Majumdar, Rohan Ganju, and Sukhjit Kaur Khalsa are members of the successful teams whose projects were finalized for the 2023 Fresh Blood initiative.
‘Ruby Rai’ (Vidya Rajan) is the story of a private investigator in a big city and ‘Urvi Went to an all Girls School’ (Urvi Majumdar, Rohan Ganju, and Sukhjit Kaur Khalsa) will focus on the story of a nerdy Indian girl struggling to fit in an elite academic world.
Fresh Blood has been the launchpad for the careers of some of Australia’s best comedy writers, directors, and performers.
The teams were selected from more than 400 entrants, and each has received $50,000 to make three comedy shorts of 3 x 5 – minutes duration.
Lee Naimo, Screen Australia Head of Online and Games said,
“Fresh Blood has a strong legacy of supporting new comedy creators, and it’s genuinely exciting to be able partner with the ABC again to develop these entertaining projects from these talented teams. I’m looking forward to seeing what comes out of this year’s cohort.”
The shorts will premiere on the ABC’s and creators’ social media platforms. Up to three projects will then be selected by the ABC and Screen Australia to make a longer pilot between 20-27 minutes, with the potential to be commissioned by the ABC as a series.
Rachel Millar, the ABC’s Acting Head of Entertainment said,
“The standard of applications submitted for Fresh Blood 3 has truly knocked our socks off, and narrowing the field to a top ten was a serious challenge. The ABC is thrilled to be running this initiative again in partnership with Screen Australia, and we can’t wait to see what the next generation of comedy creators comes up with. Bring on the lols.”
Fresh Blood has helped launch the careers of comedians such as Aunty Donna, Nina Oyama, Freudian Nip, Fancy Boy, Michael Cusack and Skit Box.
The selected teams are currently taking part in workshops in Sydney.
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