RTÉ, Irish Film Board unveil comedy pilots

Irish pubcaster RTÉ and the Irish Film Board (IFB) have revealed four projects that have progressed to the next stage of their scripted comedy initiative, including a show following four female salon workers.

Justin Healy

Headcases, produced by Treasure Entertainment and written by Charleigh Bailey, follows the women as they juggle family life with their work at a Dublin salon.

The RTÉ and the IFB partnership was set up in September to support new comedy projects and will see the four chosen shows become pilots that will air on the pubcaster. One will then be selected to become a six-part series.

The second of the four chosen pilots is Dad, from Blueink. The show, produced by Ruth Carter and written by Andrew Clifford, tells the story of a middle-aged father who moves into his gay son’s one-bedroom flat.

Handy, from Underground Films, follows Dublin’s first handywomen, who are stepsisters specialising in the oddest of odd-jobs. The show is written by Kate Kennedy and Maddie Rice, and the producers are Farah Abushwesha, Rachel Lysaght and Lindsay Campbell.

Finally, The South Westerlies, from Deadpan Pictures, is produced by Ailish McElmeel and written by Catherine Maher. It tells the story of the arrival of a wind farm in a small Irish town and the community’s resistance to the project.

The pilots have the potential to be picked up by international distributors and international broadcasters, following the recent successes of Can’t Cope, Won’t Cope and Bridget & Eamon, which were sold to the BBC and UKTV respectively.

Justin Healy, executive producer for RTÉ Comedy, said: “We were hugely impressed by the calibre of ideas that came in and choosing just four presented a challenge. This scheme is specifically aimed at developing Irish scripted comedy that can travel to overseas audiences, building on recent partnerships in that area with UKTV, BBC and Netflix, among others.”