Sally Phillips (Bridget Jones' Diary) and Olivia Poulet (Margaret, Killing me Softly) are among 13 women selected to take part in Last Laugh: Women Create Comedy, the new feature film development initiative from Warp X and Birds Eye View, supported by industry body Skillset.

The initiative aims to bring female led comedy feature films to the big screen. The selected participants will have the chance to pitch film ideas to Warp X for its low-budget feature development slate following a retreat later this month.

A number of individual projects and creative teams will be selected for development support with the intention that the films will go into production from 2010.

Janine Marmot, producer and Skillset's Director of Film, commented: 'I am delighted that Skillset is able to fund the pilot of The Last Laugh. There are fantastic writers and performers working in comedy and this scheme will nurture and develop this talent with a view to bringing their work to the big screen.'

The selected participants are: Sally Phillips; Fay Rusling; Orianne Messina; Kay Stonham; Jane Bussman; Joanna Neary; Francesca Martinez; Pippa Evans; Lucy Porter; Jill Parker; Kate Hardie; Catherine Shepherd; and Olivia Poulet.

Topics