WHAT IS FUNNY WOMEN? F unny Women is the free and accessible resource for women in comedy and an industry-recognized leader in the discovery and nurturing of female comedy talent. Founded in 2002 by Lynne Parker to help raise the profile of women in comedy, Funny Women has blossomed into the leading platform for industry agents, production companies and programmers to source new female comedy talent in the UK. The organisation provides a network of support, training and opportunities to female comedy performers, writers, directors, producers and creators; each year programming over 150 live shows and workshops in Britain, Ireland and Europe; publishing the respected FunnyWomen.com website and social accounts; and running the prestigious Funny Women Awards. Previous winners and finalists of the Awards include Zoe Lyons, Sarah Millican, Bridget Christie, Susan Calman, Katherine Ryan, Sara Pascoe, London Hughes, Gemma Whelan, Rachel Parris, Jayde Adams and Desiree Burch. FUNNY WOMEN: EVOLVING IN 2019 FUNNY WOMEN REINCORPORATED AS A NOT-FOR-PROFIT COMMUNITY INTEREST COMPANY, CIC, RUN BY LYNNE AND A TEAM OF COMEDY EXPERTS FROM ALL SECTORS OF THE UK ENTERTAINMENT, THEATRE AND BROADCAST INDUSTRIES. Comedy legend Jo Brand is the newly appointed ‘Matron’, (patron), of Funny Women pledging her support to raise awareness of the community’s outreach activities and valuable work. Funny Women’s overall new remit, above and beyond providing opportunities for women and increasing diversity within the comedy industry, is to give all women a voice. FUNNY WOMEN AWARDS F unny Women is dedicated to giving all women a voice, which means seeking, supporting and elevating diverse female comedy writing and developing talent from other underrepresented sectors of society such a the BAME, trans, disabled and working class communities. The Awards are run and administrated by a full time production team: CEO, Awards Director, Website & Social Media Manager, Website Editor & Writing Awards Producer, Live Show Producer. And supported by part time assistants and volunteers: Admin Assistant, PR, Accounts Manager, Webmaster, 2 External Writing Award Producers, one Alumni coordinator. FUNNY WOMEN AWARDS Our Awards winners receive prizes and mentorship: in 2019 from Women In Film and TV Comedy Central, The Groucho Club, Tatty Devine, Jo Brand & Katy Brand. We are supported by panels of industry judges around the UK. In 2019 the judging panel for the Grand Final, Shorts and Writing Awards included the Heads of Comedy at Sky, BBC and Channel 4, respected academics, agents and journalists. Our 2019 Awards Partnerships IN 2019 KEY PARTNERSHIPS WITH ORGANISATIONS LIKE SKY, BBC, COMEDY CENTRAL AND WOMEN IN FILM & TELEVISION ENABLED FUNNY WOMEN TO RUN OUR MOST SUCCESSFUL AWARDS IN OUR 18 YEAR HISTORY FINDING PERFORMING TALENT THAT IS CHANGING THE COMEDY INDUSTRY. These partnerships enabled Funny Women to: KEEP THE STAGE AWARD FREE TO ENTER Allowing a greater spectrum of entrants. INCREASE THE DIVERSITY OF JUDGES Enabling even more diverse talent to emerge. REACH FRESH COMEDY COMMUNITIES Through live events and intensive social media campaigns. In return for their contributions to the costs of running the Awards our partners received: DEDICATED BRANDED SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN About the Award category on all platforms including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. CATEGORY SPONSORSHIP WEBSITE COVERAGE Sole brand association within the specific category, Including articles, Awards event pages and all e.g. logos, links, website, newsletters, media related external communications, e.g. web content coverage for the Awards season April - September. extended onto social platforms. WE ARE SEEKING AWARDS PARTNERS IN 2020. TWO LEVELS OF PARTNERSHIPS AVAILABLE THE BENEFITS OF SPONSORSHIP INCLUDE HELPING FUNNY WOMEN FURTHER ENDORSE ITS REPUTATION OF FINDING, CHAMPIONING AND SUPPORTING FEMALE COMEDY TALENT, AMONGST THE PERFORMING COMMUNITY, INDUSTRY AND THE PUBLIC. BY SUPPORTING ALL AWARDS, OUR PARTNER WILL BE VISIBLY TACKLING THE HUGE GENDER INEQUALITY IN COMEDY WRITING AND DIRECTING. UNPRECEDENTED AND POTENTIALLY EXCLUSIVE ACCESS TO FEMALE PERFORMERS, WRITER AND DIRECTORS VIA THE AWARDS AND THE FUNNY WOMEN OUTREACH EVENTS AND SOCIAL MEDIA. ACCESS TO UNIQUE MARKET RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES VIA THE FUNNY WOMEN COMMUNITY. PARTNERSHIP WITH FUNNY WOMEN IS EASILY MANAGED AND REQUIRES VERY FEW RESOURCES TO WORK SUCCESSFULLY. OUR EXPERT MANAGEMENT TEAM RUN THE AWARDS AND INFORM OUR PARTNERS ON PROGRESS AT EVERY STAGE. TWO LEVELS OF PARTNERSHIP LEVEL ONE: AWARDS SUPPORT non-exclusive - Stage, Writing, Shorts Packages available £2-5k LEVEL TWO: ALL AWARDS exclusive - Stage, Writing, Shorts, Webseries & Show, new talent content development programme, cash prizes, celebrity mentors £20k 2020: AWARDS PLANNED EXPENDITURE O ur 2020 planned expenditure is based on the real costs and incomes from the 2019 Awards season. The planned production budget covers: Awards Shows: production costs for the Grand Final. Production Team: awards director, producers, technical and administration. Marketing and Promotion: website, social media, public relations Optional Extras: Cash for prizes and industry mentors to support the Stage Award finalists. 2019: FUNNY WOMEN FACTS & FIGURES WEB PROPERTIES FUNNYWOMEN.COM / FUNNYWOMENAWARDS.COM 82.5K UNIQUE USERS 52.99% INCREASE ON 2017 > 424 DAILY PAGE VIEWS 1670 DAILY PAGE VIEWS THAT'S A PAGE VIEW EVERY 3.4 MINS IN AUGUST ALONE, 1.16 VIEWS PER MINUTE 2019: FUNNY WOMEN FACTS & FIGURES SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS TWITTER FACEBOOK INSTAGRAM LINKEDIN AUDIENCE AVERAGE OVER 25K FOLLOWERS AVERAGE MONTHLY 80% WOMEN; MEDIAN ACROSS SOCIAL MEDIA ENGAGEMENT IN 2019 AGE 25-44 PLATFORMS 150K 2019: FUNNY WOMEN FACTS & FIGURES MAILING LIST 7.4K SUBSCRIBERS RECEIVED MONTHLY NEWSLETTER 1 IN 5 OPEN OUR 38 NEWSLETTERS SENT NEWSLETTERS INCLUDING 10 DEDICATED TO THE FUNNY OUR OPEN RATE DOUBLED FROM 2018 WOMEN AWARDS 2019: FUNNY WOMEN FACTS & FIGURES REGIONAL NETWORK EDINBURGH FRINGE 8 CHAPTERS, IN LONDON, EXETER, CAMBRIDGE, 5 SHOWCASE SHOWS AT ASSEMBLY EDINBURGH, BRISTOL, DUBLIN, AMSTERDAM AND THEATRE SHOWS FEATURING FUNNY MANCHESTER PRODUCING COMMUNITY WOMEN ALUMNI AND COMEDY OUTREACH PROGRAMMES AND SHOWS CIRCUIT HEADLINERS 2019: FUNNY WOMEN AWARDS FACTS & FIGURES We created a new dedicated microsite to manage entries and made significant changes to the entry and judging processes so that the Awards are both more accessible and more inclusive to wider geographic, income, ethnic and age ranges. As a result, we were able to attract our most diverse and exciting crop of entrants to date. 2019 was the competition’s 16th year, attracting our biggest number of entries across all five Awards: Stage, Comedy Writing, Comedy Shorts, Best Show and Best Breakthrough Web Series. 2019: FUNNY WOMEN AWARDS FACTS & FIGURES OVER 2,500 PAGES OF OVER 760 ENTRANTS SCRIPTS OVER 2,500 AUDIENCE FOR OUR STAGE, COMEDY SHORTS AND SUBMITTED AND READ COMEDY WRITING AWARDS MEMBERS 1 WINNER IMMEDIATELY AT THE LIVE SHOWS SIGNED NUMEROUS NATIONAL PRESS AND PR PIECES OVER 3,000 MINUTES OF TO UNITED AGENTS, 1 FINALIST IMMEDIATELY SIGNED TO CHAMBERS MANAGEMENT VIDEO SUBMISSIONS 2 WINNERS AND 3 FINALISTS OF STAGE, NCLUDING A SERIES OF DEDICATED ARTICLES WRITING AND SHORTS, GO INTO DEVELOPMENT AND MAILINGS IN SHORTLIST; FEATURED WITH BBC AND CH4 SEGMENT ON SARAH BRETT SHOW BBC R5 LIVE; WINNER LAURA SMYTH GUEST ON BBC WATCHED AND JUDGED MULTIPLE TIMES R4 WOMEN’S HOUR IN A SHOW DEDICATED TO WINNING WOMEN 18 AWARD SHOWS 1,905 NOMINATIONS 13 HEATS, 4 SEMI-FINALS & THE GRAND MADE BY THE PUBLIC FOR THE BEST SHOW FINAL; IN 11 VENUES IN 9 CITIES IN UK AND AWARD IRELAND 2019: FUNNY WOMEN AWARDS FINAL Watch the highlights reel here 2020: AWARDS ENTRY / NOMINATION SCHEDULE ONLINE REGISTRATION OPENED WEDNESDAY 1ST APRIL FOR: STAGE AWARD COMEDY WRITING AWARD COMEDY SHORTS AWARD Video Submission. Script Excerpt Submission - < 6mins Short Film Submission Deadline: 30th April Deadline: 31st May Deadline 30th June POLLED AWARDS OPEN MID-AWARDS SEASON: BEST SHOW AWARD BREAKTHROUGH WEB SERIES AWARD Public nominations period via website. Industry poll period. 1st July to 31st August 1st to 15th September 2020: AWARDS LIVE SHOWS SEMIS** WEDNESDAY, 15 JULY 2020 GREATER MANCHESTER FRINGE Komedia BRIGHTON WEDNESDAY, 22 JULY 2020 Frog & Bucket LONDON 23RD OF JULY CAMDEN FRINGE Dingwalls DATE TBC AUGUST EDINBURGH FRINGE tbc GRAND** THURSDAY, 24 SEPTEMBER LONDON FINAL Bloomsbury Theatre **Please note that our planned live events are subject to change or cancellation in order to protect the health of our entrants, team and audiences. We ’ll keep you posted. LET'S TALK! HOW TO CONTACT US MAIN OFFICE ONLINE 10 St Peter Street, Rochester, Kent, ME1 2DE funnywomen.com | funnywomenawards.com TELEPHONE EMAIL 020 8948 4444 [email protected] | [email protected] WE ARE SOCIAL @FUNNYWOMEN @WEAREFUNNYWOMEN @FUNNY_WOMEN.