The ABC and Screen Australia are delighted to announce the 10 successful teams for the 2023 Fresh Blood initiative.
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. The teams are currently taking part in workshops in Sydney.
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.
Fresh Blood has helped launch the careers of comedians such as Aunty Donna, Nina Oyama, Freudian Nip, Fancy Boy, Michael Cusack and Skit Box.
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."
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 2023 Fresh Blood 3 projects are:
BAD ANCESTORS
Team: Wendy Mocke, Rizcel Gagawanan, Jessica Magro and Enoch Mailangi
Synopsis: Best Friends Norah and Charli must spend their afterlife providing ancestral guidance to young black people.
DAY JOB
Team: Paul Georghiou, Brooke Kymberley, Todor Manojlovic and Heather Riley
Synopsis: Day Job is an animated documentary that follows the lives of the over-qualified young staff of a dingy local bowling alley. Watch as that dream life of passion, love and career triumph always narrowly eludes them. But that stack of used bowling shoes is always there for them, just waiting to be cleaned.
FINE ART
Team: Emma Holland and Xavier Hazard
Synopsis: Kooky children's art presenter Emma struggles to teach morals to a new generation through the joy of crafting, as the puppets, set, and even herself, derail the show in increasingly unsettling sketches (for adults only).
GOING UNDER
Team: Danielle Walker, Lauren Bonner and Megan Wilding
Synopsis: Going Under is about the people of Gowa, a town that will go underwater in 10 years. The series revolves around Katie and Sam, two girls who were childhood best friends but whose lives took them in different directions… Katie works as a journalist in the big smoke and has gone back to her hometown to document what the locals are going through as their town slowly goes under.
I'M SO SORRY FOR YOUR LOSS
Team: Annie Louey, Jemma Cotter, Joshua Ladgrove, Oscar Axel Thorborg, Annie Thiele
Synopsis: After her father dies unexpectedly, Annie lands a job at a funeral home in an attempt to gain closure. The shambolic small business, run by her dysfunctional boss Naaman, opens Annie's eyes to the bizarre world of funerals.
KINGSLAND
Team: Josh Yasserie George Coles and Jon Rex Williams
Synopsis: Reg, a hot-headed animated First Nations man living in real-world Redfern, gets evicted from his home and goes in search of his place of belonging (which he can't remember) guided only by the spirit of his late wife Agnes and Wiiny: a little gum-stoned furry flirt who he can't understand.
WESTERNERS
Team: Munasib Hamid, Miski Omar, Kevin Jin, Shehryar Hussain & Ayeesha Ash
Synopsis: A surrealist comedy-drama that follows three young adults of the diaspora that move out from the Western Suburbs of Sydney to the Inner West in need of the freedom to express their inner realities. Always finding themselves walking the wire between worlds; their families, their inner monologue and the world around them, they face a set of absurd and hilarious circumstances.
RUBY RAI
Team: Vidya Rajan, Nicholas Colla and Elyce Phillips
Synopsis: Ruby Rai is a down-and-out Private Investigator… which is exactly how she likes it. But it's not easy being your best hard-boiled self when inept co-workers, meddlesome family, and the endless weirdos (clients and ex-lovers) of the big city are waiting to thwart your every turn.
STARSHIP Q STAR
Team: Lauren Anderson, Meegan May and Lena Moon
When a tone-deaf space agency sends the 'first all-woman and non-binary crew' on a PR mission to Mars, they inadvertently end up the last six humans in the universe.
URVI WENT TO AN ALL GIRLS SCHOOL
Team: Urvi Majumdar, Sophie Braham, Michelle Buxton, Rohan Ganju, Suren Jayemanne, Sukhjit Kaur Khalsa, Chris McDonald, Nina Oyama, and Sashi Perera
Synopsis: In 2010 Melbourne, a nerdy Indian girl struggles to fit in and find love amidst her parents' traditional expectations and in the heightened, competitive environment of an elite academic all girls' school.
