Sitcom Mission 2024 results
Thursday 27th June 2024
Adam Hannigan's sitcom The Irish Goodbye has been selected as the winner of our 2024 competition.
We showcased the four scripts shortlisted in this year's competition with a team of actors at the Museum Of Comedy yesterday afternoon (26th June), and - following that - the judges have picked The Irish Goodbye as the winner.
The Irish Goodbye is a sitcom following two bitterly delusional gay best friends who decide they want to escape their tiny northern Irish town for a fresh start in Canada. How do they earn the money? By seducing grieving men at wakes... That's how.
Adam Hannigan is an award-winning, published comedy writer standing as co-founder of the queer theatre company Ear to Ear Productions. He has a vast experience in all fields from playwright to screenwriter and is currently working on his first horror novel What's Your Favourite Scary Movie?. His published queer play Game Night has toured all the fringes collecting endless 5 star reviews before having a 2 month run at the West End's 'Wonderville Theatre' and eventually winning comedy of the year at the London Standing Ovation awards. His key interests are comedy, queer culture and camp horror.
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.
Meanwhile Jack Stanley's Lord It Over and Hitperson by Joshua Lingard-Smith were longlisted and appeared at our public showcase earlier in the month at the Canal Café.
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.
We're proud of what we do at Sitcom Mission. It's time-consuming giving feedbacks, hiring theatres and actors, getting industry in etc, but it's clear that the end justifies the means.
Far too many entries this year that didn't make it were making basic mistakes like having no plot, or a thin or predictable plot. We suggest that you watch the Steve Speirs interview on BCG Pro in which he talks about plotting. It will seriously strengthen your chances of being one of our finalists next year. Or if you'd like some help directly from us, get in touch for year round feedback or sign up to one of our courses. We look forward to seeing more of your sitcoms so keep writing!
On another note, Sitcom Mission co-producer, Simon says: "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.
"I can't go without acknowledging the support we've had from the likes of Hat Trick and British Comedy Guide. They've been an important part of helping Sitcom Mission flourish and I'd like to thank them here. Onwards and upwards!"
And that's all for the competition THIS year, we'll keep you in the loop about any further updates, but look forward to returning for Sitcom Mission 2025!