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Fay's First Blog!

Howdy!

I'm Fay and I'm well chuffed to be contributing to the blog on North East Movies. I work in New Media as a Content Editor for the 4Laughs website on Channel 4.com. My role includes working as part of a team who encourages, advises, supports and discovers new comedy talent.

If you've never ventured on to 4Laughs, then why not? 4Laughs is Channel 4's user-generated online comedy portal. The project brings together and develops brand-new UK talent to create short-form content for broadband, mobile, television and live events. Our creative community includes over 1000 new writers, directors, performers and animators regularly producing, submitting and reviewing new comedy. However, the best way to find out is to experience it for yourself... http://www.channel4.com/4laughs/

This week has been pretty manic. Every month, I organise and host a national competition (Window of Opportunity or WOO for short) on 4Laughs aimed at getting comedy enthusiast's work published and seen by the peeps in the comedy industry. This month's WOO was an in-house prize, to work on 4Laughs' Comedy Report (shown on channel4.com/comedy), but still the workload piles up! As November starts today, the new WOO must go up, this time it's for a comedy and music magazine called The Fix. The winner of this will be given the chance to work for a day at The Fix offices in London - a great opportunity for someone interested in writing and journalism.

I love my job. I've been working in comedy for over three years and there is so much happening in comedy on all platforms that sometimes it's hard to keep up! Browsing through the comedy short films, I noticed a few names popping up that have made an appearance on 4Laughs. A favourite of mine, which will be my pick of the week, is Pour Quoi by The Suggestibles. http://www.northeastmovies.co.uk/films/39/pour-quoi This film is a piss-take of the short-lived urban sport of Free Running. In the film we see the ‘team' practicing and performing Pour Quoi in and around train stations and city shopping centres. This film can't help but put a grin on your face from start to finish. The mockumentary style filming, the pseudo-Frenchmen who make no sense and when the guys are skipping and hopping about, I just sit there and giggle. The Suggestibles turn this film from being a weird jumble of surreal ideas to a comprehensive deadpan frolic. This film really appeals to my sense of whimsy and nonsensical humour - definitely worth a watch.

My final thought for the blog is that anything can be crafted into comedy, even pasta, as seen in the latest WOO winner's work.

Join me next week when I will be blogging about creating a Christmas special of the monthly vodcast, The Comedy Report...

See you then!

October 30 2008

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Pour Quoi (03:31)
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About Fay James I've worked in comedy for some years - in a capacity where I've promoted a club and represented comics. I began my journey into comedy, when on a whim, I moved to Liverpool. After a short stint working in finance, I began work at the Rawhide Comedy Club. I'd always enjoyed comedy, but hadn't a real passion for it until I started here.

To me, comedians are enchanting people, (though some aren't that enchanting when you get to know them) but they possess a fantastical skill - humour. Most people have a sense of humour, but these beings have the dexterity to command it. And I'm so jealous.

Now, I work for Channel 4 4Laughs, a site dedicated to developing, supporting and encouraging budding comics to get their work seen. Working as part of a team, I advise and create opportunities for users work to get their work seen by the industry professionals. And we've had some success stories too! Two of the 4Laughs users have won the Amnesty International's Secret Policeman's Ball competition, one user has been picked up by Warner Bros and another works closely with Baby Cow Productions.

In the future, I plan to take part in a comedy course, which is scary for two reasons. Firstly, public speaking isn't my forte and secondly, no one wants to find out they're not funny...

My favourite film: Hmm... Escape from New York

What my school report said: One teacher wrote: "Fay reads like a train" - thinking back, that doesn't make sense. Maybe she meant like Ringo Star... peace and love, peace and love...

Posts from Fay James:

Fay's last post - November 24 2008
Week Three - November 14 2008
Week Two - November 06 2008
Fay's First Blog! - October 30 2008