Chorts 2023 Industry Judging Panel

Shane Allen is Chief Creative Officer at Boffola Pictures, and is the first person to have held the Head of Comedy role at both Channel 4 and the BBC. Key BBC Commissioning credits include Peter Kay’s Car Share, Inside Number 9, The Young Offenders, People Just Do Nothing, W1A, This Country and many more. He launched the BBC Comedy Association to promote more inclusiveness through writing bursaries and sponsoring off screen production entry roles across numerous shows; as well as bring the New Comedy Awards back to television.

At C4 he was responsible for commissions including the Inbetweeners Movie, Black Mirror, Peep Show, and The IT Crowd.

Early career in production included the 11 O’Clock Show, Shooting Stars, Ali G in Da USAiiii and Brass Eye Special.

Hannah Rose is Development Producer for scripted comedy at Tiger Aspect where she is committed to unearthing stories that represent the richness of experiences across the UK.

Prior to joining Tiger, Hannah was Assistant Commissioner for BBC Comedy and Commissioning Producer for comedy and entertainment podcasts at BBC Sounds. She has worked across the BBC New Comedy Awards and BBC digital shorts as well as multiple award-winning podcast series including Jacob Hawley: On Drugs, Bad People, Wheel of Misfortune and James Acaster’s Perfect Sounds.

Alongside her day job, Hannah works for New Writing North as a Producer for their Northern Talent Network and is developing a programme for new and emerging television writers in the North.

Mark Boosey has edited British Comedy Guide for two decades. With nearly a million visitors a month, Comedy.co.uk is the UK’s most-read comedy news and information site. The website provides information on TV, radio and film projects, and has a dedicated section of the site to showcase online comedy sketches and short films too.

Mark also oversees BCG Pro, the website’s platform for emerging comedy creatives. It offers advice, insight and opportunities to writers, producers and performers.

Mark has previously acted as a judge for such competitions as the British Comedy Awards and the Edinburgh Comedy Awards.

Lynne Parker is the award-winning producer who created Funny Women 20 years ago, now a leading not for profit community for female comedy empowering women to perform, write and do business with humour.

The Funny Women Awards have changed the face of comedy bringing attention to some of today’s biggest names from performers to writers including Katherine Ryan, Sara Pascoe, Sarah Millican, Susan Calman, London Hughes, Desiree Burch, Jayde Adams and many more. The 2023 Awards culminate with a gala final at the Bloomsbury Theatre in London on Thursday 28th September.

Lynne is also a renowned performance coach encouraging people in business and public life to ‘Stand Up to Stand Out’. Her work empowers many women both professionally and personally to have a voice.

Chris Chalmers is a Brand, Digital and Marketing professional having held senior leadership roles with some of the UK’s biggest brands. Chris lead the content and social media strategies at ASDA, Thomas Cook and Studio.co.uk using comedy and parody as a regular tactic to disrupt and engage social audiences to deliver commercial return.

He was responsible for campiagns featuring a look-a-like Wills and Kate shopping for the Queen’s 90th Birthday in a local ASDA, a look-a-like Harry and Megan honey mooning in a Thomas Cook hotel, the ad funded programme with Channel 4 ‘A Secret Lives of 5 Years olds on holiday’ and a remake of the infamous Milk ad of the 1980’s, featuring a familiar face to celebrate Studios sponsorship of Accrington Stanley.