Getting Film Production Companies Interested?

Me and my co-writer created and filmed a 45 minute comedy as a university project which was nominated for a Royal Television Society award. We've had some great feedback from industry professionals such as Robert Popper and the writers of The Simpsons.

We've also had a few meetings with TV production companies, but it's never gone further than sending out copies to the channels, who don't see our comedy as a series.

We originally felt it worked best as a one-off anyway, which is why we'd love to push it as a feature-length and was wondering how would be the best way about this?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

First of all you need to mine those contacts you talked about - who can they point you towards?
Then push those contacts for more contacts.
If you want it to be a screenplay, you probably don't need to write that yet - but it might be smart to come up with an outline/beat-sheet as to how the thing would work at twice the length.
And that'll take more than just a bit of padding - probably quite a bit of work there, but you should do it because Prod Co's do rather like it on a plate.
Couple that with a synopsis, a decent log line and the existing footage plus your shiny certificate (and possibly some nice references from the Simpson's guys) and you've got an attractive package.
Get hold of the Writers Handbook and trawl through it for Film Production companies - don't restrict yourself to the one s that accept unsolicited material.
Write a nice letter, make a phone call, compose an e-mail that essentially asks permission to send the thing in.
Don't put too much in the letter - the log line, the fact you won something and, again if you can get it, a recommendation.
Some will ask for it, some won't.
And so on....

Good luck .

Thanks for the advice Lazzard, I genuinely appreciate it and will give it a shot.

Just ordered the Writers Handbook this morning!

Cheers.

What are the main ways that getting into film comedy (agents, production companies etc.) greatly differ from, say, sitcoms?

Mainly it's about who you target.
in my experience sitcom is a slightly narrower field with, historically, a slightly 'clubbier' feel to it.
But I think that's changing all the time - lines blurring etc etc.