Variety said it loud and clear – “Last year…comedies were great business!” So great, in fact, that 58% of all the films produced in Hollywood last year were comedies.
And yet, in the extensive field of screenwriting contests, none is dedicated to comedy.
How will we find tomorrow’s fresh, young comic voices?
Here at Find The Funny, we think it’s time for a new kind of contest – one that is dedicated to discovering, rewarding and promoting new comedy talent.
That’s our mission.
ROSA GRAHAM, Founder and President
Rosa’s screenplay Lonely Street won the Writers Workshop Minority Screenwriters Competition in Los Angeles. Another screenplay, The Listener, co-written with husband Bill Graham, won the Illinois Arts Council Fellowship for Screenwriting. This year, her thriller Filthy Witness was a finalist in the Hollywood Symposium Screenwriting Competition.
Before founding Find The Funny, she was a coordinator for Script!, the first bi-annual screenplay competition sponsored by the State of Illinois. She was also a reader for the IndieProducer Worldwide Screenwriting Contest.
Her plays have been showcased at the Victory Gardens Theater and the Bailiwick Repertory in Chicago. Rosa has also written film reviews for New City, a Chicago publication, and has twice won the Golden Quill for her writing.
Rosa has also enjoyed production work. At Prime Time Marketing, a product placement company, she worked on several major films, including Home Alone, Only the Lonely, Uncle Buck, Funny About Love and Kindergarten Cop.
She has served as President of the Chicago Screenwriters Connection, on the boards of The Independent Feature Project/MW and the Alameda Writers Group, and as a Juror for the Chicago Film Festival.
Her artwork, shown in galleries and museums across the country, has won the National Endowment For the Arts Fellowship.
BILL GRAHAM, Director of Partnerships
Bill was twice awarded the Illinois Arts Council Screenwriting Fellowship; once for co-writing the drama The Listener, and again for his neurotic thriller Day 19. He continues to write screenplays on his own and with his wife and collaborator, Rosa Graham. Notably, they worked with Russell Crowe on their romantic comedy, Lonely Street and later optioned it to producer Alexandra Rose (Overboard, Norma Rae).
In 2004 Bill was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Special Effects on a TV Movie or Miniseries for The WInning Season, a TNT movie starring Mathew Modine and Kristen Davis. He has written and directed short films and commercials, including a PSA for Habitat For Humanity featuring Harry Belafonte; the comedy short St. Tony's, and video interviews with directors Spike Lee and Andrew Fleming for Inside DVD, the first magazine entirely produced on DVD. His film production work includes digital matte paintings for TNT's The Winning Season; and camera operator for the indie feature, Man Of The Year, starring John Ritter.
Bill recently formed ARTiFACT Films and is searching at pitch fests, writers groups, and online for that perfect script to direct and produce. Once a month he can be found moderating a Pitch Workshop for the Alameda Writers Group.
JULIA RIVERA, Director of Marketing and Media Relations
Julia has 7 years of experience developing marketing, sponsorship and promotional strategies for theatrical and home entertainment divisions of Warner Brothers, Disney, Universal, 20th Century Fox, New Line Cinema, Trimark Pictures and Artisan Entertainment. She has also developed live events for EMI Records, Reprise Records, Atlantic Records and MCA Records. Her campaigns utilize all types of traditional media but her emphasis is on interactive and new technology.
Julia also has a production background having supervised video shoots, DVD development and production, and was a segment producer for a Paramount Television Entertainment Division talk show.
In addition to marketing and promoting Find the Funny, Julia is an account director for an international advertising agency from its Los Angeles office where she develops traditional and interactive branding and media strategies for companies in the aerospace & defense and entertainment industries.
