North East Comedy Hot House is teaming up with Tiger Aspect to uncover and help train the best development and producing talent in the region. Could this be you?

Do you live, love and breathe sitcoms and scripted comedy? Do you think you’ve the next Friday Night Dinner, Fleabag, Man Like Mobeen, Ghosts, Plebs, Brassic, or Benidorm inside you? Have you got a passion to turn those ideas into the next big British comedy? If so, then you’re going to love this opportunity.

In a nutshell

Northern Film + Media’s North East Comedy Hot House has joined forces with award-winning production company Tiger Aspect to offer an exciting opportunity for an up and coming Development Producer from the North East to shadow, and learn from, the in-house comedy development team at Tiger Aspect on a six-week flexible training placement. And the best bit – it can be done right here in the North East.

What we’re offering

If you’re successful, you’ll learn how sitcoms and scripted comedies get all the way from idea, to script, to screen. This learning will take place for two days a week (Mondays and Wednesdays) over a six-week period.

• You’ll attend development meetings (on Zoom) where you’ll learn about channel briefs, managing slates and nurturing talent, and how to align development thoughts with that of commissioning briefs and market trends.
• You’ll learn how pitch decks and treatments are formulated, what makes a good one and why approaches may be different for different channels.
• You’ll be encouraged to work on your own development slate and the Tiger Aspect team will help and advise you on how best to navigate the development.
• You’ll be shadowing the specific development of a sizzle tape as part of a pitch for a new BBC3 series set in Sunderland. Following the development from script, to shoot, to edit, to the final delivery of the sizzle tape and supporting document.
• There will be other opportunities to gain experience attending shoots and post-production sessions to help give you a fuller rounded perspective of the development to production process.
• You’ll also receive two hours per week of one-to-one mentoring and support from Emma Lawson and Lisa Laws from North East Comedy Hot House.

Could this be the perfect opportunity for you?

If you’ve got this far, then you are definitely interested in knowing more. But first off, we need a bit of info about you:

• Are you able to demonstrate a proven interest in developing comedy projects for broadcast and have a keen interest in comedy (this can include all avenues such as online, social media, film, radio and TV)?
• Are you already in the comedy world? This isn’t an entry level position, so any experience you have with developing comedy will need to be demonstrated – this doesn’t have to be broadcast work. This could be work on social platforms, theatre, podcasts or radio, running comedy nights, writing for papers – anything that demonstrates an appetite for developing work, and a love of comedy.
• We’re interested in diverse viewpoints and would love to hear from candidates who are underrepresented in broadcast TV. If you’re unsure whether you might fit the bill, then drop us a line and we’ll be happy to have a chat.
• You need to be over 18 and not in full time education. People of all ages are encouraged to apply.
• Due to funding for this scheme, you must live in Newcastle, Gateshead, Sunderland, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, County Durham or Northumberland to take part.
• We’ll need you to work from your own home, the Northern Film + Media offices in Gateshead and on location across the North East, so please consider how you’ll get around before applying.
• You’ll have the opportunity to travel to London on occasion to work either on location or in the Tiger Aspects offices (subject to local Covid-19 restrictions).
• We don’t like to assume, but you’ll need your own laptop and internet connection.
• You’ll receive a bursary of £2,000 to cover your out-of-pocket expenses and additional travel expenses where appropriate.

How to apply:

To apply, please send a completed application form along with your CV and one-page cover letter. If you want to use video for this, please do.

Shortlisted applicants will be contacted by Friday 23rd July.

Interviews will be held virtually via Zoom on Tuesday 26th/Wednesday 27th July.

If you’re interested in this opportunity, but don’t qualify due to the criteria, please drop a note and they will keep your details on record for future projects.

Email [email protected]

North East Comedy Hot House, co-founded by Emma Lawson and Northern Film + Media, is a first-of-its kind scripted comedy development initiative and scripted comedy production co-operative supporting industry focused North East talent both on and off screen. We are dedicated to nurturing up-and-coming comedy talent from the region by creating exciting opportunities on home soil, giving you the chance to work here in the North East. And we want the best opportunities to be in our region.

Tiger Aspect Productions is internationally recognised as one of the UK’s most successful and prolific independent television producers. Producing high profile, multi-genre content for both UK and international audiences, key productions include Man Like Mobeen (BBC Three), Peaky Blinders (BBC Two), The Good Karma Hospital (ITV 1), The Other One (BBC One), Hitmen (Sky One) and Mr Bean (CITV). 

This year Tiger Comedy has a number of different productions in the works, including TV pilots, a radio show and six TV series – for broadcasters including Sky, C4, Netflix, R4 and the BBC.

This initiative is part of the Sizzle project, a collaboration between Northern Film + Media and North East Local Enterprise Partnership developing North East Comedy Hot House as a regional cluster for broadcast comedy.

Pictured: The Mind Of Herbert Clunkerdunk, one of Tiger Comedy's recent productions (BBC).