Cardiff screenwriter Stratton wins Big 5 Comedy award

Cardiff based screenwriter Simon Stratton has been awarded the inaugural John Brabourne Big 5 Comedy award for his short screenplay Get Miles.

Stratton’s screenplay about the life of a chronically unlucky person was chosen by an industry panel including Kenton Allen (Big Talk Productions), Dan Mazer (writer and producer of Borat and Ali G), Sarah Farrell (Paramount Comedy Central), Amelia Granger (Working Title Films) and Chris Collins of the UK Film Council.

Launched in December 2009 by the Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund (CTBF) to nurture new industry talent, the award carries a cash prize of $1600 (£1000) donated by Working Title Films. The award was also supported by the UKFC. Stratton was presented with his award and cheque by Amelia Granger of Working Title.

His script will now be put into production with support from the “Big 5” - Kodak, Technicolor, Pinewood Studios, Arri Media and n₂o Entertainment.

Norma Burke of n₂o Entertainment, who will will act as executive producer on the project, said: “It is fantastic to have an award focusing exclusively on comedy given it is the most successful genre at the UK box office and I hope that the award plays an important role in developing British comedy screenwriting talent. I will be attaching a known comedy director to this project so that we can give the best chance of success to this brilliantly funny script as a calling card for the winner.”.