Category: News

  • Looking For Louis Winner!

    We’re very excited to announce the finalists and winner of our Looking For Louis competition, in association with Mindhouse, Amazon Studios and Edinburgh TV Festival.

    Our six finalists were:

    Alim Jayda – Both Parents Deaf

    Ginna Cheng – Becoming a Chess Boxer

    Jessica Brady – A Male Stripper Experience

    Remel London – My Grandad’s Secret Society

    Sharon Walia – Queerjabis

    Tiger Cohen-Towell – As God Intended

    Their micro documentaries were completed in just a week, after their pitches were selected from over 600 entries.

    The finalist films were showcased at a live session with Louis Theroux today at Edinburgh TV Festival, with the winner announced as well.

    Our overall winner was Ginnia Cheng for her exploration of the strange and wonderful world of Chess Boxing!

    Ginna wins a six-month, exclusive option with Mindhouse. She will work together with Mindhouse’s creative team to develop projects and pitch them to commissioners with the aim of winning commissions that will be executive produced by Mindhouse and authored or presented by Ginnia.

    In addition, Amazon Studios will offer Ginnia a bespoke 12 month programme of mentoring and training to help them achieve their career goals.

    All six films are available to view on the Edinburgh TV Festival app, along with the films of our other shortlisted filmmakers, Emb Hashmi, Iman Amrani, Rakeem Omar and Tasnim Nazeer.

    Congratulations to all!

    If you’re interested in meeting with any of the shortlisted or finalist filmmakers, please do get in touch on [email protected].

  • Laurence Clark joins UKTV WriterSlam!

    We have another addition to our UKTV WriterSlam pathway! Laurence Clark will be joining the team developing his sitcom idea, Perfect.

    Laurence Clark is an internationally-acclaimed comedian, writer and actor who has cerebral palsy.  His observational, political stand-up and filmed stunts demonstrate the endearing naivety and ridiculousness of human behaviour by seeing the world through his eyes with humour and warmth.  He’s performed everywhere from the House of Commons to a double-decker bus in Sheffield.

    We can’t wait to see the final drafts of all the writers work in the Autumn!

  • Calling Emerging Production Companies!

    As part of our UKTV pathway for writers, we are on the hunt for production companies with a keen love for talent and for bringing the best out of them!

    We’re looking for emerging indie production companies with some experience in scripted production to come and join us on our mission to take exciting new writers from ‘Bedroom to Broadcast’ as part of a planned AMPLIFY season on Dave in 2022.

    We have filtered thousands of amazing submissions and have now selected 6 projects to develop further, 4 of which will go on to be part of an anthology series to be broadcast on Dave next year.

    Selected production companies will take on early drafts of each selected project, making full use of their own creative expertise whilst working hand in glove with the writers, script editors and the team at UKTV to help shape and polish these projects as we progress towards the final selection process and production dates towards the end of 2021.

    This is an opportunity for you to get the support you need to take your organisation to the next level, as well as being central to the creative journey that guiding a script successfully from first draft to screen involves.

    If you’d like to be part of this process, please email [email protected] and tell us about your production company and why you’d like to be part of the AMPLIFY season.

    DEADLINE: Wednesday 11 August 2021

  • Be in the audience for SIDK Season 2!

    Free tickets are now available to book for the studio recording of Sorry, I Didn’t Know season 2!

    We’re very excited that ‘Sorry, I Didn’t Know…’ the comedy panel show about Black history that had it’s first season last year is returning this year for season 2!

    TriForce needs YOU!

    We’ll be filming the show at Riverside Studios in Hammersmith Sun 15th August – Tues 17th August and this year there are FIVE shows.

    The show is a hilarious comedy panel show, unearthing everything you didn’t know about black history. We’ve all heard of Mary Seacole and Martin Luther King, but did you know that the first self-made female millionaire was black? Or that the inspiration for the character Monostatos in Mozart’s The Magic Flute’ was black classical composer Joseph Bologne?

    We’ve got an amazing panel lined up for the show, including our host Jimmy Akingbola, team leaders Chizzy Akudolu and Judi Love, as well as guest appearances from the likes of Paul Chowdhry, Russell Kane and Verona Rose.

    For more information and to book your ticket, click the button below!

    Book your free tickets now!

  • Announcing our SIDK Writers!

    We’re very excited to announce our writing team for Sorry, I Didn’t Know S2!

    Joining our showrunner Fraser Ayres and experienced panel show writer Mark Boutros will be two new faces who applied through our open call out. Our two new writers are:

    Shikira Porter – Shikira is a screenwriter and poet who is represented by PBJ Management. She’s recently written and starred in a short film for BBC iplayer. Her jokes made the team laugh out loud and we’re excited to see her in action in the writers room.

    Viv May – Viv was a huge show of the first series and her understanding of the show really stood out to the team. She was part of the 2019 Sound Up programme with Spotify which resulted in her being commissioned to write a pilot episode of a podcast. SIDK will be her first TV broadcast credit.

    We’re really pleased to have both these talented writers on board! A huge thank you to everyone who entered, we had a lot of fun reading all the entries and if we’d have room to do so our writers room could have been a lot bigger!

  • Looking for the next Louis Theroux!

    Louis Theroux teams up with TriForce and Amazon to find the next documentary star!

    TriForce Creative Network have joined forces with Louis Theroux’s company Mindhouse, Amazon Studios and The TV Foundation (the charity arm of the Edinburgh TV Festival) to launch ‘Looking for Louis’. Building on the success of our previous WriterSlam partnerships with Amazon, this time we’re looking for budding journalists and documentary makers who think they could be the next Louis Theroux.

    We’re looking for exciting documentary ideas, with the filmmaker front and centre as the on screen talent. Whether your idea is about telling a story we’ve never seen on TV before, or whether it’s simply a universal story told by a different voice, we want to hear from you. We’re looking for talent who represent the society that we live in, and who will offer different perspectives, experiences and opinions.

    You might have never worked in TV before but spend all your spare time making YouTube and TikTok content, or you might be a budding broadcast journalist looking for an opportunity to present your own documentary, or just someone with a great idea who’s confident in front of a camera! If you live in the UK, and you’ve got a great idea for a 2 minute documentary, we want to hear it.

    All you need to do is send in a one page pitch about your documentary idea.

    Competition Details

    We’re asking people to fill in a short form on the TriForce Creative Network website and attach a one page pitch of an idea for a 2 minute micro-documentary. 10 people will then be selected by a panel put together by Mindhouse, Edinburgh TV Festival Fest and Amazon, who will be asked to make their 2 minute doc, shot on their mobile phone. All 10 shortlisted filmmakers will be given financial support to make sure they can deliver their film.

    Louis Theroux will watch the films and select 6 filmmakers to go through to the Edinburgh TV Festival online final. Their films will be showcased online to the Edinburgh TV Festival audience during the session and Louis will then announce the winner.

    They will win a six-month, exclusive option with Mindhouse. They will work together with Mindhouse’s creative team to develop projects and pitch them to commissioners with the aim of winning commissions in that time that will be executive produced by Mindhouse and authored or presented by the talent.

    Amazon Studios will offer the winner a bespoke 12 month programme of mentoring and training to help them achieve their career goals.

    Theroux said: “I am very excited to be part of this initiative. For me, one of the best parts of launching Mindhouse is being involved behind the scenes with new talent who can tell fresh stories in different and exciting ways. To paraphrase Danny Glover in Lethal Weapon, I’m getting old for this shit, and my knees aren’t what they once were. We need to safeguard the future of irreverent and intelligent on-camera reporting by bringing up the next generation of presenters.”

    “Documentary filmmaking in the UK is world class, so we’re excited to be helping unearth the future generation of filmmaking talent, and mentoring and training them to help propel them to the next level in their career,” said Fozia Khan, UK Unscripted Executive at Amazon Studios.

    “We’re really excited to be working with Mindhouse to offer budding journalistic talent the chance to be front and centre presenting their own ideas,” said Fraser Ayres of TriForce Creative Network. “It’s such a great opportunity to accelerate the winners’ careers.”

    The competition is open to residents of the UK only.

    Submissions are open from 10:00am on Wednesday 14 July – 11:59pm Tuesday 27 July.

    For more information on how to submit, click here to go the Looking for Louis page

  • Apply to write for Sorry, I Didn’t Know!

    We’re very excited that TriForce Productions’ comedy panel show about Black History will be back on ITV in October this year! We’re looking for new writers to join showrunner Fraser Ayres in our writers room, helping to write all the links for the show and come up with some fantastic history based gags!

    Please read the information below and then when you’re ready, go to the ENTRY FORM to submit your application.

    Jimmy Akingbola will return to host the new series which will air in October on ITV and ITV Hub, as part of ITV’s Black History Month celebrations. Chizzy Akudolu and Judi Love will also be back as the team leaders.

    If you’re a writer with funny bones, who’s a bit of a history geek, we want to hear from you. Anyone based in the UK can enter – whether you’ve written for TV before or not, have an agent or don’t, it really doesn’t matter.

    To apply, click on the link below. All you’ll need to provide is:

    1. A writing CV. Please don’t worry if you haven’t got any broadcast credits yet, a list of the things you’ve written, even if you’ve never shown them to anyone else, will be helpful. Tell us if they’re comedy or drama, if you wrote them for TV, film or audio for example.
    2. Tell us why you want to write for the show.
    3. Write an intro for our host Jimmy Akingbola. Have a look at the examples below.
    4. Write your 3 best history themed jokes.

    Here’s a couple of examples  from the first series of what we’re looking for with the intro:

    Hello and welcome to Sorry, I didn’t know. I am your host, Jimmy Akingbola and I’ll be taking you on a tour of our unsung heroes and untold stories. History with a touch of colour.

    Greetings and good tidings. Welcome to Sorry, I didn’t know. I’m Jimmy Akingbola and I’ll be your guide as we take a trip down memory lanes of the past. History with a touch of colour.

    As for the jokes, we’ll leave that up to you!

    Submissions are open from midday on Thurs 10 June 2021 – 11.59pm on Thurs 24 June so you have two weeks to get in your application!

    Two writers will be offered paid roles with the SIDK writer room, and will receive a writing credit on the show. The role will involve 3-5 days work, working from home and joining the other writers on Zoom. This will take place over July 2021, so you will need to able to fit in some Zooms and writing sessions during that month.

    If you’re unfamiliar with the show, you can check out a trailer below, or go to our You Tube page for more clips.

    What are you waiting for? Head over to the ENTRY FORM to apply!

     

     

     

  • Sorry, I Didn’t Know Returns!

    ITV have recommissioned Sorry, I Didn’t Know, the only comedy panel show about Black history, and we are looking for new writers to join the writers’ room.

    Jimmy Akingbola will return to host the new series which will air in October on ITV and ITV Hub, as part of ITV’s Black History Month celebrations. Chizzy Akudolu and Judi Love will also be back as the team leaders.

    This year we are looking for two new writers to join showrunner Fraser Ayres in the series writing room. The opportunity will be open to anyone in a drive to find a new wave of comedy writers and give them their first broadcast credit.

    “The world of writing for comedy panel shows is incredibly difficult to break into, so we’re opening up the doors to find writing talent that might not usually get this opportunity. We don’t care what you’ve done before, or whether you have an agent – we just want to find people who are funny, passionate and love Black history to go on this exciting journey with us” said Fraser Ayres of TriForce Productions.

    Last year’s series welcomed guests including Colin Salmon, Angie Le Mar, Tom Allen and Russell Kane, and in partnership with Dandi.org.uk, hired a fully inclusive team behind the camera as well.

    Sorry, I Didn’t Know is commissioned by Joe Mace and Gemma John Lewis in ITV Entertainment Commissioning.

    “We’re very excited to have SIDK return for a second series” said Joe Mace, ITV Commissioning Editor, Entertainment. “After last year’s successful debut, we’ve expanded the show to 5 episodes and can’t wait to welcome new writers onto the team.”

    Writers will be able to apply via the TriForce Creative Network website with submissions open from midday on 10 June to 11.59pm 24 June.

    For more details on the competition and how to apply, go to https://thetcn.com/apply-to-write-for-sorry-i-didnt-know/

    Sorry, I Didn’t Know is produced by TriForce Productions and was created by husband and wife team, Mr and Mrs Ayres.

  • WriterSlam Finalists Announced!

    UKTV and TriForce Creative Network announce finalists for WriterSlam!

    Our most popular WriterSlam competition yet, in partnership with UKTV, received close to 1600 entries with writers all vying for an opportunity to have their project produced for UKTV’s award-winning comedy entertainment channel Dave.

    1600 entries were shortlisted down to SIX and those writers will now receive paid development and an opportunity to work with a script editor to progress their idea into a 30-minute script.

    From those six scripts, UKTV will select four to be produced by either TriForce Productions or another independent production company before premiering on Dave in 2022!

    The standard was, as always, very high, so it was difficult to whittle down the entries, but we will have more opportunities later this year, so please do keep an eye on thetcn.com.

    And the finalists are….

    • Anna Costello
    • Misha Ade
    • Prithu Banerjee & Sruti Banerjee
    • Leon Mayne
    • Naomi Sumner Chan
    • Kate Reid & Zak Ghazi-Torbati

    Congratulations to everyone who was shortlisted – those entries constituted the top 3%.

    And a huge congratulations to our six finalists. We’re looking forward to working with you!

  • WriterSlam Shortlist Announced!

    Our most popular WriterSlam competition yet, in partnership with UKTV, received close to 1600 entries with writers all vying for an opportunity to have their project filmed and shown on UKTV’s award-winning comedy entertainment channel Dave.

    A team of readers read through all the entries and shortlisted 58 to go through to the next stage of the competition.

    UKTV will now choose just SIX and offer paid development and an opportunity to work with a script editor to develop those ideas into a 30-minute script.

    From those six scripts, UKTV will select four to be produced by either TriForce Productions or another independent production company before premiering on Dave in 2022!

    The standard was, as always, very high, so it was difficult to whittle down the entries, but we will have more opportunities later this year, so please do keep an eye on thetcn.com.

    Congratulations to all our shortlisted writers, we can’t wait to see which projects make it to the next stage!

    The shortlisted writers are:

    Aaron Robertson
    Abigail Weinstock
    Aimee Shenton
    Alice Marshall
    Andrew Boateng
    Angela Clarke
    Anna Costello
    Benjamin Cyrus-Clark
    Caroline Gardiner
    Charlie Vero-Martin
    Cherlynn Andrew-Wilfred
    Chizzy Akudolu
    Chris Sutherland
    Christien Bart-Gittens
    Christina Yianni
    Christopher Kerr
    Cindy Buist
    Connor Allen
    Dave Proctor
    Ellen Waddell
    Georgina Love
    Glen McCoy
    Hassan Khan &Ranjit Singh Shubh
    Imran Malik
    Jacob Mosha
    Jai Rajani & Craig Storrod
    Jaye Nolan
    Jaz Deol & Amit Dhut
    Joe Sellman-Leava
    Josephine Starte
    Kaamil Shah
    Kate Reid & Zak Ghazi-Torbati
    Laura Greenwood
    Laurence Clark & Matt Holt
    Laurence Josephson
    Layo-Christina Akinlude & Katie Payne
    Lee Phillips
    Leon Mayne
    Leroy Brito
    Linda Jane Butler
    Lynsey Martenstyn
    Michael Keane
    Michelle Strutt
    Misha Adesanya
    Molly Mcguinness
    Nadaav Soudry
    Naomi Sumner Chan
    Omar Khan
    Pauline Boateng
    Prithu Banerjee & Sruti Banerjee
    Sabrina Richmond
    Sebastian Umrigar
    Sherice Griffiths & Sophie Carswell
    Sherise Blackman
    Simone & Dawkins
    Temi Majekodunmi
    Wendy Yee Man Wong

     

  • WriterSlam Gets UKTV Boost

    UKTV are partnering with TriForce Creative Network to turbo charge their groundbreaking WriterSlam programme.  

    The successful programme has been running for over ten years, with the very first winner, Sophie Petzal, now an award winning writer and many other first time writers getting their first development commission and an agent through the programme. Over the years the TCN has partnered with (amongst others) Amazon, Hat Trick, Audible and Sky on these events 

    UKTV will be taking WriterSlam to the next level, promising not just a development commission, but a greenlit season of originals on Dave in 2021/22.  

    As usual the WriterSlam competition is open to any UK resident, regardless of their previous experience or age. Whether your script is about telling a story we’ve never seen on TV before, or whether it’s simply a universal story told by a different voice, we want to hear from you. We want writers who represent the society that we live in, and who will offer different perspectives, experiences and opinions.  

    It doesn’t matter if you don’t have an agent, or have never written professionally before – if you live in the UK, and you’ve got an ideaor a story to tell, we want to hear it.   

    Competition Details 

    UKTV will select six writers who will receive a paid development commission to work up their original TV ideas into 30’ scripts suitable for broadcast and for potential expansion into full length series. These writers will benefit from several writing workshops in addition to working with a script editor and experienced executive producer over a three month period. Individual mentoring and support from TriForce Creative Network will also be available over this timeframe, culminating in a table read of all six scripts performed by a troupe of handpicked professional actors which will help inform the final selection process 

    Four of these scripts will then be green lit to be produced for Dave, with TriForce Productions taking on some of the shows but with others being produced by emerging Indies to make under their umbrella with support from TriForce Productions. All the productions will be supported by D and I – TriForce’s diversity and inclusion support service, to help them crew up in an inclusive way. Its anticipated that the season will air on Dave either in late 2021 or early 2022. 

    Pete Thornton, Head of Scripted, UKTV, said, “We’re excited to be working with TriForce Creative Network and DandI.org.uk on this unique UKTV WriterSlam and to be throwing this opportunity open to all underrepresented voices from any background. This is a truly inclusive initiative, and we want to hear from people from ethnic minorities, those from underserved socio-economic groups, the LGBTQ community, those who identify as having a disability and basically anybody who feels that their voice isn’t currently heard clearly on our screens. We’re offering dedicated support and mentoring over a three-month writing period and then the opportunity to see your show prepped, cast, shot, edited, marketed and broadcast on Dave next year.”  

    “This is what a ‘360° approach’ actually looks like“ said Fraser Ayres, Executive Producer and CEO TriForce Creative NetworkIf we’re going to find more Michaela Cole’s and Tim Renkow’s we need to develop pathways that provide access and then perhaps those much needed voices won’t have to traverse so many obstacles to be heard. This move is unprecedented and kudos to UKTV for taking this tangible and giant step to truly move the dial with us. 

    “By utilising our dandI.org.uk talent pool, we’re in a unique position to ensure inclusion and open access at all levels” added Minnie Ayres, Executive Producer and dandI.org.uk CEO. “From creatives to crew this will be fully inclusive, allowing us to also address the gaps we have identified by levelling up talent that is ready, but yet to be given their shot. 

    Writers will be asked to submit a onepage pitch of their idea, as well as a 10-15 page sample of their writing.  

    Submissions are open from midday Thurs 18 Feb – 11:59pm Thurs 25 Mar 2021. For more information on how to submit, go the WriterSlam page. https://thetcn.com/writerslam/ 

    A separate call out will be going out for emerging production companies to coproduce oa number of of the projects later in the year.  

    About WriterSlam 

    Building on the success of our MonologueSlam UK initiative for actors, WriterSlam UK is our programme to help TV production companies and broadcasters access UK based new and established writers from diverse backgrounds.  These TV industry professionals then support the writers in their career development, providing tangible outcomes for participants. 

  • ScriptSearch Writers Commissioned!

    We are very excited to announce that not one, but two scripts from our ScriptSearch competition with Greenacre Films have been selected to be taken forward for full development.

    We received over 1000 entries for the competition in 2020, with 6 writers winning a paid development contract to take their idea to treatment stage. From the final 6, Greenacre were planning on taking just one script to the final stage, with a contract to develop a full-length feature script for the winning writer. However, they were so excited by two of the writers’ ideas, that they’ve now taken not one, but two scripts through to the final development phase.

    The writer’s and their scripts are:

    Funmi Adebanjo – Melanation

    A big opportunity leads to an unexpected connection… and a new level of conflict between feuding family restaurants.

    Jingan Young – No. 2 Daughter

    He’s proud of his Chinese roots. She forgets to take her shoes off at the door. Will a past romance blossom again between a self-proclaimed ‘black sheep’ of a British Chinese family and the cute, self assured boy next door?

    These two writers will now win a paid contract with Greenacre to create a feature length film script of their idea. Greenacre hope to take both scripts to production following this next development phase.

    Amanda Jenks and Nadine Marsh Edwards of Greenacre Films said: ‘We are thrilled to be working with Jingan and Funmi, it was a really difficult decision as all the finalists were amazing. We would like to thank TriForce, Sheryl Crown and our trainee script editors for their hard work and expertise, and we are now looking forward to working with the writers to bring No.2 Daughter and Melanation from script to screen.’

    Fraser Ayres and Minnie Ayres of TriForce Creative Network said: “This has been a fantastic project with Greenacre, it’s so exciting to see real, tangible outcomes to script competitions, and what could be more tangible than a company wanting to get your script filmed!”