TFL Next - Comedy 2023

Writing comedy is not easy. In our mindset, comedies are connected to humour and to funny stories with a granted happy ending. On the other side, dramas would be dark, deep, and bound to end badly.

But is it really like that?

According to Aristotle and his Poetics, comedies have more to do with plot and character than with lightness and happiness, and this will be the starting point for our work. When it comes to a comedy screenplay, it’s more important to have well-developed characters and a solid structure, rather than a collection of hilarious but unrelated jokes. 

Right now, there are lots of opportunities and a great need for new comedy stories. TorinoFilmLab wants to equip new and emergent comedy writers with the tools which will push their projects to the top of the commissioning editors’ pile.

The workshop is treatment-based, which means that participants exclusively work on the treatment of their comedy feature film projects.

The workshop is divided into 2 development sessions:
- a first 5 day-long session, where participants discuss their work in group sessions and one-on-one meetings with their tutors
- then, participants have 2 weeks to rework their materials 
- a second 2 day-long session, where participants share and discuss their work again in individual meetings with their mentors and group sessions with other participants.

20 comedy feature film projects at an early development stage presented by international scriptwriters or writers/directors together with a producer (if on board) will be selected and divided into 5 groups.

The participants will work on their treatments alongside peers and a tutor with a substantial international experience as a script consultant, implementing the fundamental techniques and skills necessary to develop and produce successful comedy feature films.

Thanks to the TFL Next's global experience, the participants will have the chance to develop a strong international network: on top of the script sessions and meeting with industry representatives, participants will gather during special online events aimed at exchanging skills and finding productive collaborations.

Deadline to apply: 31^st March 2023, 11.59 pm CET.

ALL SOUL’S DAY (BRAZIL)
Amanda Costa de Sousa
Orphaned soon after she left home for university, offbeat Laura faces the chores and traumas of adulthood as she unexpectedly befriends a senile old lady.

BRING A STAR (JAPAN)
Mariko Bobrik
A young misogynist wrestles with his female family members and learns to fall in love with a girl who is totally not his type.

HI MY NAME IS RICHARD (SOUTH AFRICA)
Yaara Sumeruk
One by one, the people in JD’s life begin to forget who she is, until no one remembers her at all. Hi My Name is Richard is a magical realist comedy that follows JD’s journey to unlock the mystery of her own disappearance, and in the process truly finding herself for the first time.

IN THE NAME OF KAROLAYNE (BRAZIL)
Milena Ribeiro, Daniel Calil Cancado
In this satire, the miracles of a lesbian black woman go viral, attracting queer pilgrims and the ire of evangelicals to her conservative city in the Brazilian Midwest.

MATHER (BULGARIA)
Mina Mileva, Anguelina Rangelova
Andrea 30, is an overweight gender fluid woman who wishes to have a child but is not at ease with her femininity. Being a mother does not come naturally as Andrea doesn’t want to be a woman or a man. She wants to be referred to as “it”. Mather stands for a combination between the words Mother and Father.

NOW, I AM A BEAR (CANADA)
Jason Filiatrault
In a place where unhappy people abandon society to live as cosplay animals, one man becomes a bear to escape his past – and inevitably dies. This is a comedy.

PLEASE DON’T CANCEL ME (UK)
Annie Maguire
In a dystopian world where “cancelled” celebrities can appear on a reality show, governed by a public vote, for the chance to redeem their sins and be granted a second chance in life. Two unlikely contestants disrupt the show by falling in love.

RIGHTS OF PASSAGE (CANADA)
Ryan Reaney
One man will do anything for true love even if it is to fake his own religion.

RISE OF WATERFOX (ESTONIA)
Carlos E. Lesmes, Elisabeth Kužovnik
A coming-of-age comedy about family, friendship, and the quest for inner balance.

SPECIAL TREAT (UKRAINE)
Antonio Lukich, Volodymyr Yatsenko
On the way to her dream, Sasha cannot be stopped by her mother, war and poverty. Will Sasha be stopped by the spear that accidentally stabbed her on a stupid shoo:ngs?

THE STORY OF THE WHALE (US)
Adrian Cardenas
After an unlucky Cuban fisherman nets a whale and becomes a local celebrity, an approaching hurricane threatens the preservation of his catch and his newfound glory.

TRAGEDY (UKRAINE)
Anna Yatsenko, Pavlo Ostrikov
After the ancient Greek gods unexpectedly return to Earth, professor of Ancient Greek history Yuriy and his student Kolia try to find the kingdom of the dead in order to bring back their loved ones.

A special addition to this workshop? The comedy teams will be joined by 8 teams presenting feature film projects of other genres. They'll work together on their stories. 

2AM IN TOKYO (PHILIPPINES)
Bianca Catbagan
On the weekend of the biggest music festival in Tokyo, two women meet and begin a whirlwind romance, days before one of them leaves Japan for good.

ALMOST FAMILY (SLOVENIA)
Jure Kreft, Darko Sintic
An isolated man in his fifties follows his mother to a nursing home, where he falls in love with an old lady and gains acceptance of society.

THE BOY FROM THE SEA (SWEDEN)
Johanna Pyykkö, Dyveke Bjørkly Graver
A thin, white BOY (9) is found, inside an old, ancient ship, which is lifted out of the sea. The somewhat strange VIGDIS ELVI (44) arrives to town and starts to take care of the boy as a social worker, but soon she ends up in conflicts with both the boy and the couple the boy has been placed with.

THE HEADLESS PROPHET (NORWAY)
Jørgen Færøy Flasnes
Norway, sometime in the early 1800s. An executioner is sent to a remote valley to perform his first beheading.

THE PAINS OF LABOR (BRAZIL)
Jessica Gonzatto
A mysterious boy appears from the fog and threatens to reveal his supposed mother's dark secrets.

VESTIGE (KOSOVO)
Jon Gojani, Rita Krasniqi
After a stray dog bitting incident, tensions rise as a town hunt of the strays is organized. Things go awry when the townsmen begin hunting each other instead of the dogs.

WAGGLE DANCE (SPAIN)
Carlota González-Adrio
After years away from home, Gabriela visits her sister, who lives in a island. There, she meets her siblings and Noam, a young Palestinian refugee who is a beekeeper.

WAVES WON’T STAY STILL (GREECE)
Alkyoni Valsari
Grieving for her failed marriage and her sick young son, a woman smuggles an abandoned refugee boy from a Greek island to Germany.