Sadia Azmat and Lorna Woolfson join Turtle Canyon writing team

BCG Pro members Sadia Azmat and Lorna Woolfson have been selected to join the writing team of Turtle Canyon Comedy's new web series.

This news follows the exclusive opportunity posted recently, in which BCG Pro subscribers were invited to apply to join the company's new sitcom project as writers.

Azmat and Woolfson will both now receive two days paid writing work next week at Pinewood Studios on the project. Content is described as a web series based around "the worst digital agency that a trust fund could buy".

The duo will join series creator Yiannis Vassilakis and writer Rhiannon Shaw to develop characters, plot, individual jokes and a series arc. The series will comprise of 6x10 minute episodes with five further spin-off episodes exploring single characters and their own storylines.

The show, to be released online later this year, will be directed by Stuart Laws. Turtle Canyon has a long catalogue of one-off sketches and web series featuring some of the nation's favourite comedians. Those they have worked with include James Acaster, Ed Gamble, Suzi Ruffell and many more. The company works with and develops new and exciting talent to make unique, original comedy, with their YouTube channel recently topping 2.5 million views amidst continuing international growth. They have also produced shows for Netflix, BBC, Amazon and NextUp, and worked on comedy for Channel 4, Sky & Dave.

Stuart Laws comments: "Very excited to work with BCG Pro to find two brilliant writers from an extremely high standard of submissions. It was a very difficult decision but we are delighted to add Lorna and Sadia to our team. Add Yiannis as creator, Rhiannon as a brilliant new talent we've previously worked with, along with the regular Turtle Canyon team and we can look forward to continuing our long tradition of unique, hilarious scripted comedy."

Below are the biographies of those involved:

Sadia Azmat

Sadia is a British Asian comedian from London tackling sex, relationships and identity in her no holds barred style. Host of BBC Sounds No Country For Young Women - nominated best new podcast at British podcast awards 2019. Presenter BBC Radio 2 My Single Life. "Wonderfully subversive comedy" - Steve Bennett, Chortle.

Lorna Woolfson

Lorna has always been a huge fan of comedy and has worked in TV and film for the last 13 years. Her first sitcom, Bumps, was longlisted in BBC Writers Room 2015 and her second, Blog Off, was shortlisted in the Funny Women Writing Competition 2016. Her radio sitcom, Bea Ware, made it to the Grand Finals of Sitcom Mission 2016. Her sitcom, Crashed got to the Quarter Finals of the International Page Awards in 2018 and her most recent sitcom, Tudor Roses, was shortlisted by BAFTA Rocliffe 2019.

Yiannis Vassilakis

Yiannis has written and produced comedy for performers like Olivia Colman, Chris O'Dowd and Mitchell & Webb; brands like Google, Nationwide and Dr Pepper; and worked at companies like BBC, Endemol Shine and Sky. He's appeared in comedies for BBC, Channel 4 and Turtle Canyon Comedy, and features in the upcoming Ashens and The Polybius Heist alongside Robert Llewellyn and Jarred Christmas. He is the Creator and Lead Writer of Content for Turtle Canyon Comedy.

Rhiannon Shaw

Rhiannon is a writer and character comedian from Wolverhampton. Past writing credits include Footlights Spring Revue, Frank & Cynthia at the Edinburgh Fringe and a recent international touring production of Lady Windermere's Fan. She was a finalist in the 2018 Chortle Student Comedy Awards, performing her original character 'Elsie McClutchey'.

Stuart Laws

Stuart Laws is a stand-up comedian and director who is critically acclaimed for his "structural masterpieces" (EdFestMag) and "Deliriously clever twisting and turning of language" (The Skinny). He has 15 years professional experience working in film, TV and online, across all job roles, specialising in directing and editing. His short films have played at and won awards at festivals around the world and he has recently produced a four-part Netflix series, directed a stand-up series for BBC, a short film for Sky Arts and wrote & directed a play for the Pleasance at the Edinburgh Fringe.