Adam Hannigan wins Sitcom Mission 2024
- Adam Hannigan's script The Irish Goodbye has won Sitcom Mission 2024
- He says: "I can't wait to see what's next for this project"
Adam Hannigan has won the Sitcom Mission 2024 competition, with his script The Irish Goodbye.
Sitcom Mission, which takes in 15 minute scripts, has run since 2010. This year's contest involved over 200 entries, with the finalists selected via a judging process that was 'blind' of writers' names and details.
The four scripts shortlisted were showcased with a team of actors in front of an industry audience at the Museum Of Comedy yesterday afternoon (26th June), and - following that - the judges picked The Irish Goodbye as the winner.
Hannigan's script focuses on two bitterly delusional gay best friends who decide they want to escape their tiny northern Irish town for a fresh start in Canada. They decide, to earn the money they need, they should go about seducing grieving men at wakes.
Hannigan is an award-winning comedy writer and co-founder of the queer theatre company Ear to Ear Productions. His published queer play Game Night has toured all fringe festivals collecting many 5 star reviews, and won Comedy of the Year at the London Standing Ovation awards.
Talking about winning Sitcom Mission, he says: "I'm so honoured and grateful to have won, I've loved the entire process and got to meet some really talented people. All the finalists did an amazing job! I can't wait to see what's next for this project, I've already started fleshing it out to be a full length sitcom pilot and have some fun ideas of where the series could go so hopefully big things are around the corner."
The other scripts at the showcase were Amy Gray's All My Best Friends Are Metalheads, Sean Fee's Mourning People and Strapped by Hannah Boyd-Piercy.
Lawrence Russell, the competition's co-producer, says: "It was so tightly run and we were so pleased to hear the amount of laughter this group of writers got for their fantastic scripts. We're sure they'll have more great things coming to them soon.
"It was also a great experience using blind judging for the first time this year. This meant that we couldn't help but judge the scripts purely on the writing and, as we plan to use it this technique next year, hopefully it gives even more writers a reason to enter with every script starting from a level playing field."
On another note, Sitcom Mission co-producer Simon Wright has revealed this will be his final year running the competition. He said: "I founded Sitcom Mission with Declan Hill 16 years ago. I believe that we've uncovered a lot of talent and given unrepresented writers access to really important people who've helped them in their careers. I'm proud of what we created. But I'll be 70 by the time Sitcom Mission 2025 comes around and it's time for me to step aside. So it was good to go out with the bang that was Sitcom Mission 2024. A brilliant show with four strong scripts. The audience loved it. And so did I."
This article is provided for free as part of BCG Pro.
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