AACTA is on the hunt for short-form comedy content via new monthly competition Laughing My AACTA Off (LMAO).
Each month, the academy will roll out a new theme, new judges and prizes, with comedy creatives both emerging and established encouraged to enter.
The theme for August is ‘personal best’ and the first judge will be Lachlan Fairbairn of Fairbairn Films. Entries must be under 60 seconds and must be Instagram-friendly.
The main prize $1,000 and secondary prizes including $200 and other sponsor prizes.
“Comedy made for social media is huge and there’s just a crazy amount of energy and new original voices in this space. You look at the likes of Sooshi Mango who have just exploded, Jimmy Rees whose into a golden second phase of his career. Fairbairn Films, who we’re honoured to have as our launch ambassadors, are masters of short form comedy and they just keep getting bigger and better,” AACTA awards and industry development manager Ivan Vukusic tells IF.
“Millie Ford, Christian Hull, Jeff Van De Zandt, Tanya Hennessey, Georgia Productions, the Inspired Unemployed, the list goes on – all leading Aussie comedy creators that have really leaned into creating for social media and garnering a huge global fanbase.
“We want folks – established or just starting out – to riff off the monthly theme and regularly challenge themselves to turn around funny content in a short space of time. It’s free to enter and we hope that emerging creatives use this as a good opportunity to hone their skills, find their voice and get seen – we’re going to be profiling the funniest videos each month. Get out your phone and do it!”
Upcoming judges include Tom Gleeson, Geraldine Hickey, Dilruk Jayasinha and Lizzy Hoo.
Guidelines here. Entries for this month close August 19.