Film and Writing Festival for Comedy. Showcasing best of comedy short films at the FEEDBACK Film Festival. Plus, showcasing best of comedy novels, short stories, poems, screenplays (TV, short, feature) at the festival performed by professional actors.
There is an episode about this festival in our archives as we talk about the audience and all the great films we showcased at this event.
The theme of the August 2018 COMEDY FEEDBACK Film Festival in Toronto was “Comedy Duos”.
Each film was about two characters driving both the comedy and the plot.
The last festival event of the summer is always the hardest to get a sold out crowd because either people are away, or they want to stay outside in the gorgeous weather. Nevertheless, we had a great crowd to watch our “Dark Comedy” festival in Toronto.
This was our 6th comedy festival of 2018, and 2nd in Toronto. These are always fun events because they are intended to make us laugh. The twist of this festival was there was a dark tone to each film. Well suited for our generally “artistic” Toronto audience. They all seemed to have a great time too.
The team of Kierton Drier & Mary Cox are superb. They keep turning out great event after great event.
This sitcom web series pilot features five quirky diverse millennials who work remotely for an international tech corporation. They struggle with online meetings, living on the road, and working from “wherever.” Each lone wolf must cooperate with the others, or everyone will be fired. Meanwhile, none of these independent co-dependents has a personal life that is even remotely working. (Single-camera TV-14)
This is the pilot episode of the Remotely Working web series that satirizes our online world.
In the Pilot: Phil thinks the team’s conference call is audio only…. but it isn’t!
In the Series: Five quirky diverse millennials work remotely for an international tech corporation. They struggle with online meetings, living on the road, and working from “wherever.” Each lone wolf must cooperate with the others, or everyone will be fired. Meanwhile, none of these independent co-dependents has a personal life that is even remotely working.
2. Why should this screenplay be made into a TV show?
43% of global workers try, at least once, to work remotely. We hope there is an audience who will laugh at the inherent tensions in being a “professional” while fumbling with your laptop or phone in a bedroom, car, coffee-house, hotel bar, or many other inconvenient places. Plus, everyone knows, but won’t admit, that a virtual relationship lacks something essential. Can you truly love someone you can’t smell?
3. How would you describe this script in two words?
Millenial satire.
4. What TV show do you keep watching over and over again?
Silicon Valley, Brockmire, Entourage, Veep, Twilight Zone.
5. How long have you been working on this screenplay?
My creative partners (Scott Crosby and Dan Douglass) and I have worked on this particular script for seven months.
Thank you for the honor of a performance reading of our script.
6. How many stories have you written?
I’ve written the first season of Remotely Working (eight episodes) and six feature screenplays.
7. What is your favorite song? (Or, what song have you listened to the most times in your life?)
Hotel California.
8. What obstacles did you face to finish this screenplay?
It could not exceed 15 pages, so that meant: chop, chop, rewrite, and chop.
9. Apart from writing, what else are you passionate about?
My wife and kids. Serving on the City Council in my town of La Mesa, California.
10. What influenced you to enter the festival? What were your feelings on the initial feedback you received?
The opportunity for a performance reading is priceless. The initial feedback was helpful and we made many of the suggested changes.
11. You entered your screenplay via FilmFreeway. What has been your experiences working with the submission platform site?
I have tried all the major platforms and Film Freeway is the best.
12. Any advice or tips you’d like to pass on to other writers?
If you can complete a screenplay, you have done something others only dream about. If your art is never read, or never produced, you still have made art.
After his New York acting dreams are sabotaged by his “evil stepmother,” Jason, a young 20s brown kid, is forced to take the only acting job available to him, becoming a prince in a sketchy Tampa theme park. In true Florida fashion, Jason learns “The Most Magicalest Place Ever,” delivers the best of Florida, from pedophiles and meth-heads, to sassy homosexuals with vendettas. Jason must learn to navigate these choppy waters if he wants to be an actor and survive as a Character.
It’s about an idyllic 20-year-old who leaves behind his country upbringing to become an “actor” at a low rent Florida theme park.
2. What genres does your screenplay fall under?
This would definitely fall into the dark comedy category.
3. Why should this screenplay be made into a tv show?
I don’t think there are many shows out there like “Characters.” Aside from the fact that the leads are all people of color and that it takes place in a raunchy theme park, through the dirty jokes and sassy quips, I try and examine real issues. At the end of the day, though, I feel like it’s just a fun show, with a unique voice, that’s dirty but has heart. I personally would love to see more shows like it.
4. How would you describe this script in two words?
Whimsically deplorable
5. What movie have you seen the most times in your life?
I’m a nerd, so it’s Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
6. How long have you been working on this screenplay?
On and off for the last 6 months
7. How many stories have you written?
I’ve honestly lost count. I’m always writing something, leaving it, and coming back to it. I’ve been writing stories since middle school and haven’t really slowed down since.
8. What is your favorite song? (Or, what song have you listened to the most times in your life?)
It always fluctuates depending on my mood. It can range from classical, to rap, to rock, etc. While writing this tv pilot though, the song that was most inspiring to me was the theme to the Disney Spectromagic Parade. Again, I’m a nerd.
9. What obstacles did you face to finish this screenplay?
I think they were the same obstacles most writers face. The whole debate: Is it good enough? Is the story worth telling? Self-doubt is the true foil of any work, and there were times where I almost let it stop me. Also, I work full time as a nurse and have a family, so time constraints forced me to work at a much slower pace than I would have liked. All in all, though, I was able to work past these issues and finish a project that I am really proud of.
10. Apart from writing, what else are you passionate about?
I am passionate about travel. I love to hop all over the world and experience different cultures and see what things are like beyond my backyard. Also, I am very passionate about my family. I come from a very large family, and all these crazy people who share the same bloodline as me, have definitely influenced me as a writer. I like to try and spend time with them whenever I can. They drive me crazy and keep me grounded. It’s kind of the perfect relationship.
11. You entered your screenplay via FilmFreeway. What has been your experiences working with the submission platform site?
FilmFreeway has been amazing! It makes searching for and entering competitions so easy. I would be lost without them.
12. What influenced you to enter the festival? What were your feelings on the initial feedback you received?
I loved the fact that this festival was dedicated to comedic writing and had specific entry for TV Pilots. So many festivals are jumbled with screenplays and pilots together or drama and comedy together, etc. It was nice that this one was specific to what I wrote.
I found the feedback tremendously helpful. It opened my eyes to some of my pitfalls and helped solidify the things that came together well. It was instrumental to my rewrite and helped me write an even better pilot.
Critics Consensus: Timely, provocative, and sharply written, Dear White People is an entertaining blend of social commentary and incisive humor.
All those detractors who accused it of “race-baiting” only proves why a series like this is so relevant and necessary. But Dear White People is not arrogant or deranged enough to think it’s got the answers. It’s simply asking the questions.
Dear White People is a pop culture-savvy, sometimes explicit, always entertaining look at that process. It’s the perfect series for young people negotiating a world where struggles over identity grow more complex every day.
The show is beautifully character-driven, weaving through romantic and platonic and unrequited relationships, while also highlighting those aforementioned multitudes of blackness.
Yet despite all the right-on sloganising, there’s lively playing from an unfamiliar cast who create some intriguing characters, and the series may well prove worth pursuing.
Centres on the lives of Suzie, writer, mother of three, her mother, feminist academic Diana, best friend and ex corporate warrior Toni, and the depressive yet helpful neighbour Will.
Get to know the winning writer:
What is your screenplay about?
Life in the suburbs when everybody needs you and nobody wants you.
What genres does your screenplay under?
TV comedy
Why should this screenplay be made into a movie?
It’s Blue Velvet meets Modern Family and exposes a darkly comic view of what goes on between the hours of 9-3 in suburbia. When the cat’s at work the mice……
How would you describe this script in two words?
Blue Suburbia
What movie have you seen the most times in your life?
The Apartment by Billy Wilder
How long have you been working on this screenplay?
On and off for eight years
How many stories have you written?
Three TV comedy pilots, two more as developer/creator
What motivated you to write this screenplay?
When living in suburbia I asked what happens when you lose the identity you had in the workplace.
What obstacles did you face to finish this screenplay?
That feedback from commissioners was “why would anyone want to see a comedy about women in their forties?” from women in their thirties with no children. A lack of knowledge or understanding about that time in one’s life.
Apart from writing, what else are you passionate about?
Teaching, comedy and screenwriting research.
What influenced you to enter the festival? What were your feelings on the initial feedback you received?
I was attracted to this festival because it offered readings with actors and I was keen to see how the script “read.” The feedback was thorough and perceptive, it focused on the comedy and how to make that stronger rather than the fact it was about “women.”
Any advice or tips you’d like to pass on to other writers?
Keep at it. Get lots of feedback and even if you don’t agree with the feedback there is a reason the reader felt compelled to comment on that aspect or at the point, so ask yourself why.
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Director/Producer: Matthew Toffolo http://www.matthewtoffolo.com
Casting Director: Sean Ballantyne
Editor: John Johnson
COMEDY 1st Scene TV Screenplay – CHARACTERS
REMOTELY WORKING – Comedy TV Screenplay
DELIVER ME PIZZARIE – Best TV Screenplay
BURSTING FOR A BREAK – 1pg. COMEDY Short Screenplay
EAT JEREMY, 10min, UK, Comedy
NORMAN PINSKI COME HOME, 15min., USA, Comedy
MR. NICE GIRLS, 11min., USA, Comedy/Web Series 
THE BIRTHDAY PARTY, 21min., USA, Comedy
THE OUTER BOROUGHS, 29min., USA, Comedy/Supernatural 
TV THRILLER Best Scene Screenplay – JOYTON SHREW
TV SPEC Screenplay – RICK & MORTY
ANIMATION TV PILOT Screenplay – CHICKEN COP
FEMALE TV PILOT Screenplay – JUNKED
LGBT TV PILOT Screenplay – THE UPSIDE OF OVER
FAN FICTION Screenplay – EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND
LGBT WEB SERIES Screenplay – LITTLE SISTA
TV PILOT Screenplay – DOWN WITH THE BUREAUCRACY
TV SPEC Screenplay – MODERN FAMILY “Relax, I Got This”
TV SPEC Screenplay – BOB’S BURGERS
FAN FICTION TV PILOT Screenplay – THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR
TV THRILLER Best Scene Screenplay – JOYTON SHREW
SHORT Screenplay – BREAKDOWN
1pg. COMEDY Short Screenplay – CLEAN BEAT
COMEDY Short Screenplay – TWITS
INGENUE-ISH, 10min, USA, Comedy
SUITCASE, 13min, France, Comedy
BAGGAGE, 17min, USA, Comedy
UNICORNLAND, 7min, USA, Comedy/Webseries
MANEKI-NEKO, 12min, USA, Romance/Comedy
LAST NIGHT WAS A MISTAKE, 15min, USA, Romance/Comedy
ONE PER PERSON, 10min., Canada, Animation/Comedy
OUR CRAPPY TOWN, 8min, USA, Animation/Comedy
STAGE PLAY BEST SCENE – VENGEANCE OF THE SHREW
100%
SUBMIT your Best Scene Screenplay or FEATURE Script
FIRST SCENE (first 10pgs) Screenplay CONTEST
