CBC, CineCoup Media and Just For Laughs Television are joining forces to deliver an exciting and rare opportunity to Canadian content creators with the launch of CBC ComedyCoup, an innovative, digital comedy accelerator. The accelerator offers the chance for the best, brightest and funniest creators from across Canada to enhance their careers and provides them with that crucial ’foot in the door’ necessary to garner a potential development deal. Ultimately, 10 teams will be optioned for development and the top team will receive $500,000 in production financing for a half-hour comedy special to air during CBC Television’s 2024 primetime schedule.
“We are excited to be launching this ground-breaking comedy accelerator with CineCoup,” said Michelle Daly, senior director of Comedy, Commissioned & Scripted Programming. “CBC has always supported Canadian comedy. Between CBC ComedyCoup and the newly launched Punchline we are able to reach new comedy creators where they live – online.”
CBC ComedyCoup is designed to revolutionize the way comedy talent is discovered and developed. Over the course of 10 weeks, teams will be challenged to display their skills, build an audience and deliver hilarious content using digital and social platforms.
“Our studio model is about reducing barriers to entry, doing away with gatekeepers and letting the audience in early to support the content they want to see get made.” says CineCoup founder J Joly. “CBC ComedyCoup is a launch pad for the funniest talent Canada has to offer, no matter where they live. We put fans at the centre and we strive to be as transparent and democratic as possible.”
Starting in August, applicants will be challenged to create a two-minute video demonstrating their comedy chops, for submission to http://comedycoup.cbc.ca. Then, teams will have 10 weeks to engage with fans through digital and social platforms to garner support and feedback while also navigating weekly challenges to help propel them forward and receive additional mentorship, access, and exposure from Just For Laughs Television. The teams will then be narrowed down to the top 10 and the finalists will prepare their final presentations for the jury. In the end, one team will receive funding and a national primetime broadcast special on CBC Television.
This unique accelerator will give new creators a platform to hone their skills and discover new audiences, and enable the CBC to help to develop new and untapped talent within the industry.