BBC Comedy College launched

Top writers including Dick Clement, Ian la Frenais and Armando Iannucci have endorsed the new BBC Comedy College scheme which is launched today.

The scheme, which has financial support from BBC Worldwide, is designed for people who have already begun their careers and can demonstrate some achievement, such as broadcast material, a script commission or performance of their work.

Applicants are invited to submit the first ten pages of a half-hour script, or six sketches by the closing date of 14 April. Twelve writers will be interviewed, and the successful six announced on 16 May. They will then be matched with productions, and guaranteed a script commission. They will also be given a mentor for original work, which will be showcased when the scheme ends in March 2009.

There will be two residential workshops during the year, with sessions from leading writers, producers and directors.

The scheme is being run by Micheál Jacob, formerly the BBC's Creative Head of Mainstream Comedy and executive producer of My Family, Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps and The Smoking Room. He will combine running the college with developing and executive producing programmes.

"I'm aspiring to be the Arsène Wenger of the comedy world by finding writers with talent and helping them to develop and express it," he said. "We hope to find people who are going to make our team-written shows better, and also writers with original voices who can develop their own shows. We also hope that people will like the BBC enough to bring us their work in the future."

Applicants should email their submission, and a writing CV by 14 April 2008 to: CollegeofComedy@bbc.co.uk

Article published: 12.03.08