Newer writers get mentoring via The Female Pilot Club

Five comedy writers, including stand-up Athena Kugblenu, are to receive mentoring from established TV names in a bid to improve the gender balance.

Laura Evelyn, Rachel Clark, Sylvia Okyere and Zara Janjua are also benefitting from The Female Pilot Club’s Test Flight Scheme.

All will get help with their scripts, with two of them chosen to be read by professional actors in front of industry professionals.

Mentors include writers, directors, agents and script editors: Annie Griffin, Frog Stone, Amy Schindler, Julia Kent and Roz Kidd.

The Female Pilot Club works with Comedy 50:50, the industry drive to balance the number of female and male writers in TV and staged  four showcases at the Museum of Comedy in London pre-lockdown. The read-throughs featured the likes of Tracy-Ann Oberman, Robert Webb, Kerry Howard, Tom Britney, Sindhu Vee, Lucy Porter and Jordan Stephens.

Club co-founder Abigail Burdess said: ‘We’ve received hilarious scripts from brand-new writers so we  decided to use lockdown to help these brilliant newer writers connect with more experienced peers, to develop their work.’

Published: 24 Mar 2021