Nice Shorts, the latest sketch comedy series from Jazz Twemlow (The Roast, Tonightly) and Nick Boshier (Bondi Hipsters, Beached Az, Soul Mates) will commence filming in Brisbane with Queensland-based crew on Monday, 21 October 2019.
SQ invested in four episodes of the 16-part online show to be shot across Brisbane next week, utilising Queensland talent including three early-career female writers and three early-to-mid career directors who were selected after applying for the Nice Short Initiative earlier this year.
Brisbane-based emerging writer Elena Foreman was one of the writers selected from a pool of incredible writing talent to work on the Queensland episodes and is excited to add a writing credit for sketch comedy to her resume.
“Sketch comedy has always been a favourite genre of mine, to watch and act in, so it is awesome to tackle it from a writer’s perspective,” said Miss Foreman.
“The entire team was supportive, encouraging and created a safe environment where it was ok to make mistakes.
“It’s pretty cool to have my first comedy writing experience be amongst people whose shows I’ve been laughing at since university.”
Miss Foreman, along with fellow writers Rhianna Malezer and Bronwyn Kuss were tasked with writing three of the episodes to be filmed next week following a successful writers’ room with show creators Mr Boshier and Mr Twemlow in Brisbane earlier this year.
Show co-creator Mr Boshier said the team was impressed by the talent available in Queensland.
“We were all so blown away by the breadth of acting, writing, directing and everything talent of the Queensland submissions,” explained Mr Boshier.
“Nice Shorts is an ambitious undertaking, we were trying to do a lot with not much and it simply would not have been possible if Screen Queensland hadn’t supported the project.
“Their support hasn’t only been financial, Screen Queensland helped build the structure of the show and build the initiative that attracted such phenomenal talent. We blame Screen Queensland for this show.”
Three local directors were selected to each take on one of the Queensland based episodes, these directors are Tony Walsh, Tim Marshal and May Grehan.
The first five episodes of the series have been released and viewed by thousands of people worldwide via the Nice Shorts Facebook Page, Instagram and the Robot Army Youtube Channel.
Nice Shorts is a Bunya Entertainment production. Principal production investment from Screen Australia, in association with Screen Queensland.
The episodes created and filmed in Queensland will air in November.
Read the full media release here.
“Collaborating on Nice Shorts has been a brilliant opportunity to further explore the world of comedy sketch writing. Punchy, clever and effective comedy sketch writing is such a specific skill and can be difficult to master, so having the chance to write under the guidance of Jazz and Nick has been invaluable, as they both do it so well. I’m excited to see all the Queensland sketches come to life and find a home within the hilarious Nice Shorts series.” – Rhianna Malezer, Qld Writer for Nice Shorts
“I cannot wait to meet and work with crew such as Nick Boshier and Ryan Chamley. I’d love to hear, from their personal experiences, how they made their own path and where they see comedy in Australian film and television is going. I hope working on Nice Shorts allows myself and other filmmakers to get further work and encourages more production companies to shoot in Queensland.” – May Grehan, Qld Director Nice Shorts
“Pleased to be working on this fantastic sketch series – definitely right up my alley! Big thanks to SQ for their support of emerging talent!” – Tim Mashal, Qld Director Nice Shorts
“Directing for Nice Shorts is a great opportunity to collaborate with, and learn from, some really established talent – while also allowing Queensland directors like myself to connect with national and international audiences. Nick Boshier and Jazz Twemlow are some of Australia’s best creators in the online comedy space, and the scripts are a lot of fun. I have no doubt that working on this sort of innovative and entertaining content will help us as Queensland creators in developing our own skills, and help us take our own local projects to market.” – Tony Walsh, Qld Director Nice Shorts
Bronwyn Kuss is a writer and comedian whose recounts of everyday tragedies will have you laughing at things you know you shouldn’t. She was a Raw Comedy 2018 National Finalist, representing Queensland. Bronwyn performs stand up regularly in Brisbane and has performed at the Brisbane powerhouse. She has written for BBC newsjack and co-hosts podcasts, First Draft and Not Backed By Science and is a regular contributor at @goodchatcomedyclub.
