Amy Poehler, Mindy Kaling, Jason Bateman and Seth Meyers are among the advisory board of 'Comedy Playground' who will help select the winning projects.
- April 9, 2014
AceShowbiz -
NBC is looking for fresh ideas for new comedy series by launching a talent-search initiative. Dubbed "NBC Comedy Playground", the campaign invites up-and-coming writers to pitch their sitcom ideas.
Aspiring writers are encouraged to submit up to two video samples (5-10 minutes each) of previous work and up to two original video pitches (2-5 minutes per pitch) to www.nbccomedyplayground.com. Ten finalists will receive funding from NBC to produce pilot presentations based on their original pitch. Two winners will then be given series orders for summer 2015 premiere.
An advisory board consisting of Amy Poehler, Mindy Kaling, Jason Bateman, Seth Meyers, Aziz Ansari, Robert Carlock, Sean Hayes, Jason Katims, Josh Lieb, Eva Longoria, Adam McKay, Todd Milliner, Will Packer, Craig Robinson, Maya Rudolph, Mike Schur, Adam Scott and Mike Shoemaker will help select the winners.
The pilots will also be made available for online viewing and people are encouraged to vote for their favorite. One winner determined by public's votes will get his/her project developed as a digital series for NBC.
"We are taking a bold, alternative approach in what we hope will uncover original comedy minds who are looking for a way to get into the television business," said NBC Entertainment Jennifer Salke when unveiling the campaign. "Obviously we're going to look for shows that we think will appeal not to a broad audience [but one where] there's a vision ... so there's a viewership."
Submissions begin May 1.
