We aim to amplify women’s voices and give them the chance to prove their jokes and characters in the room, with the undeniable sound of laughter. We hope to help female writers from a broad and diverse range of backgrounds get their comedy writing produced.
Female Pilot Club was founded by Kay Stonham and Abigail Burdess in response to the stubbornly intractable problem of under-representation of female writers in British TV comedy.
Since June 2019 we have showcased live readings of comedy pilot scripts by women to audiences of comedy lovers and industry members alike. The writers range from first-timers to Emmy-award-winners; the performers are top British comedy actors. We've partnered with the likes of BBC Comedy, ScreenSkills, The Jewish Comedy Festival and UKTV to produce mentorship schemes and initiatives.
Whether you identify as a writer, actor, industry member or fan, you're invited to Fly With Us.
Meet The Team
We always wished something like FPC existed – a place where our scripts could go on a test flight with the brilliant casts they deserve, and women could encourage and promote each other’s work, share jokes, discuss scripts and show off. We hope to help great female-written comedy take off.
Up, up and away!
Kay Stonham
Head of Scripts
Creative Director & Producer
Dr. Kay Stonham, PhD is a comedy writer-performer. On TV she's written for comedies including Harry Enfield and Chums (BBC1) My Family (BBC 1)and Comedy Award-winning Alistair McGowan’s Big Impression (BBC 1)
Kids shows include the multi award-winning Shaun the Sheep and Millie In-between (CBBC). She’s appeared in TV shows like The Young Ones (BBC2) Dead Ringers (BBC 1) and People Like Us (BBC2).
Kay created three original series for radio, Audio Dairies, Robin and Wendy’s Wet Weekends, and Bad Salsa (BBC Radio4). She is currently developing a new comedy drama and adapting the best selling book, What Would Boudicca Do? for TV.
Emily Chase
Head of Casting
Company Director & Producer
Emily Chase is an actress and writer. She appeared in Bad Salsa (Radio 4) and her Youtube Channel, Bloody Comedy TV, gained nominations for the British Comedy Awards and The Funny Women Awards.
Emily appeared in Aziz Ansari’s Netflix Comedy Master of None and BBC Drama The Pact. She has assisted with casting for Party Girls, Treasure Island & 2:22 while working at Annelie Powell Casting. She recently cast the comedy You And Me Makes Three.
Chelsea Kania
Head of Communications
Producer
Chelsea Kania businessed for many year in silicon valley, where she learned a lot about people and even more about storytelling. After relocating to London, she received her MA in screenwriting from London Film Academy.
Her short films have screened at the likes of Bentonville Film Festival, Screamfest, Abertoir and Fogfest. Her scripts have placed in the likes of Academy Nicholl and Austin Film Festival. Her first feature film produced by Stable London is slated for 2026.
Alice Uzzan
Marketing Contributor
Alice Uzzan is a French writer and composer whose work spans musicals, comedy and genre scripts. A regular script-reader for contests like BAFTA Rocliffe, she is a senior reader at Scriptwriters & Co. She also works as a translator and cultural consultant for production companies such as Passion Pictures, KEO Films, and Lady & Bird. Her credits include 2024 TV BAFTA Nominee Vjeran Tomic: The Spider-Man of Paris (Netflix) and Culprits (Disney+). Her short film Driving With Tim premiered at the 2025 Crystal Palace Film Festival. She is a graduate of London Film Academy.
Kate Van Boss
Content Contributor
Kate is a writer, editor, and content creator with over a decade of experience turning ideas into clear, engaging stories. From academic briefs to Instagram campaigns, comedy scripts to visual storytelling — she has written and created content across formats, platforms, and audiences. Kate specialises in making information accessible, whether it’s for brands, universities, publications, or events. Her work spans fashion, education, digital media, and comedy, always rooted in thoughtful communication that connects and always ready to try something new.
Lorna Woolfson
Program Contributor
Lorna Woolfson started writing Comedy in 2015 after her career as an Assistant Director. She has written for Have I Got News For You and Turtle Canyon’s online sitcom, Content Content, and for stand up comedienne Helen Lederer. Her accolades include The Sitcom Mission, BAFTA Rocliffe, Funny Women and The Comedy Crowd’s Chorts. Her projects include collaborations with Company Pictures, Adorable Media and Buffalo Dragon.
Abigail Burdess
Advisor
Abigail Burdess is a comedy writer-performer. TV writing includes Tracy Ullman’s Show (BBC1), Watson and Oliver (BBC2), and the BAFTA-winning That Mitchell & Webb Look (BBC2).
Kids' TV includes Sorry I’ve Got No Head (CBBC), So Beano (Sky TV) and Paddington (Nickelodeon).
She’s also appeared in TV and radio shows like Cuckoo (BBC3), Fresh Meat (C4) and The Musical Life Of (BBC Radio Wales).
Ambassadors
Sally is an actress, comedian, and television presenter. She co-created and was one of the writers of the sketch comedy show Smack the Pony. Sally is best known for her work in TV sitcoms such as I’m Alan Partridge, Jam and Jerusalem, Miranda and Veep, films such as Bridget Jones and TV comedy shows like Taskmaster and QI.
Jessica is an actress and writer best known for her comedy performances. She began guest starring alongside Phoebe Waller-Bridge in Dan Clark’s HOW NOT TO LIVE YOUR LIFE. Jess then went on to land a lead role in the box office smash THE INBETWEENERS MOVIE. She created her own show DRIFTERS (E4, Channel 4) and has appeared in GHOSTS, HITMEN, DODGER and AVOIDANCE.
Georgia Pritchett is a multi-award-winning comedy and drama writer who has five Emmys, five Writers Guild awards, a Golden Globe, a Producer’s Guild award and a BAFTA. She was a writer and co-executive producer on HBO's critically acclaimed shows Succession and Veep and show-runner for The Shrink Next Door. Georgia has written extensively for Miranda Hart and Tracy Ullman and the shows Have I Got News for You, Smack the Pony, Not Going Out and The Thick of It.
Hayley Tamaddon is an award-winning actress, singer, and writer - best known for her roles in Emmerdale and Coronation Street. She has played leading roles in numerous West End and touring productions. Hayley won ITV’s Dancing on Ice in 2010. Her additional screen credits include Eaten by Lions, Waterloo Road, unforgotten, and recently “pushers” the new Rosie jones sitcom for channel 4 and “betrayal” for ITV. She loves to write. Especially comedy.
Alice Lowe is an actress/writer/director who has starred in TV and film. She is the writer of TIMESTALKER and SIGHTSEERS, the winner of Empire’s Best British Film. She has starred in shows such as HORRIBLE HISTORIES and PADDINGTON.
Athena Kugblenu is a writer, comedian, podcaster and voiceover artist. She's known for her frequent radio appearances and has written and appeared on MOCK THE WEEK, POINTLESS, HOUSE OF GAMES, SORRY I DIDN'T KNOW and COMEDY CENTRAL LIVE. She's a prolific writer of comedy and kids' television with credits including HORRIBLE HISTORIES, SUPERTATO, THE RUSSELL HOWARD HOUR and host of the podcast PROCRASTINATE.
Andy Riley is an Emmy and BAFTA-winning screenwriter, author and cartoonist. His many TV credits include Veep, Black Books, Year of the Rabbit, Down Cemetery Road, Tracey Ullman’s Show, Smack The Pony, Funny Woman, Spitting Image, Big Train, Harry and Paul and others. His movie credits include Gnomeo + Juliet, The Pirates! in an Adventure with Scientists, Seize Them!, and others. In 2016, he founded the UK’s first mentoring scheme for comedy writers of colour.
Kerry Howard is an actress who has appeared in BAFTA award winning HIM AND HER, for which she was nominated for the Best Female Performance in a Comedy Programme. Other credits include REGGIE PERRIN, WITLESS, YOUNG HYACINGTH, TED LASSO, THE OUTLAWS and many more.
Shobna Gulati is an actor/writer/dancer for theatre, opera, tv, film and radio. Gulati is best known for their performances in DINNERLADIES and CORONATION STREET. Gulati was born in Oldham, Lancashire to parents of Hindu Indian descent and has a degree in Arabic and Middle Eastern politics from the University of Manchester. They received an MBE for services to the cultural industries in 2024.
Sioned Wiliam is a British Comedy Award and Bronze Rose winning writer, and a three time BAFTA nominee. She has worked as a Commissioning Editor for ITV and BBC Radio 4, and Interim CEO of S4C. Her credits include TONIGHT WITH JONATHAN ROSS, GAME ON, BIG TRAIN and YONDERLAND.
Inequality In Media
FPC was founded to address inequality. Female writers continue to face challenges pursuing careers in the film and television industry. Individual successes, though very welcome, can make it seem like women writers are doing just fine, but the research tells another story. The report, 'Equality Writes' (2017) noted that 'Bias and specific hiring and monitoring problems within the film and TV industries are creating a self-sustaining loop of gender inequality.'
The Writers’ Guild of Great Britain (WGGB) revealed in their 2018 Gender Inequality and Screenwriters report that only 17% of comedy films made in the UK had at least one female writer, and that just 11% of TV sitcoms were predominantly female-written.
In 2024, that figured had not changed.
Female Pilot has since contributed to articles in Chortle and Broadcast to draw attention to these issues.
Women writers have stated that they find it hard to compete with male writers who have accumulated more credits because of historic discrimination. This perpetuates the male dominated culture within comedy. Nearly four out of five of all respondents to the WGGB report disagreed with the statement that “the way writers are hired, and scripts are commissioned, is fair and free from discrimination."
Writers Have To Say...
What The
Pip Swallow
Thank you for everything last year, I can't tell you enough what it meant to me to be selected. And the experience itself! And the event in general- its just great. Thank you.
Lorna Woolfson
I’m still coming down from the high of Wednesday night! I seriously cannot thank you enough. As a direct result of the show, I have had two requests for meetings and one request for more material on Tudor Roses
As a non-performing new writer it’s almost impossible to prove to producers and commissioners that my scripts can make people laugh and that’s what’s so wonderful about what you’ve created here.
Janice Hallett
My sitcom pilot Two Ladies was performed at the inaugural Female Pilot Club in June 2019. It was an extraordinary experience to see the script brought to life by professional actors for the very first time, and in front of an audience as well.
Before Comedy 50:50, we had no platform from which to assert
ourselves in the industry. The event was sold out so being featured most certainly increased my visibility - since then my agent and I have received several requests from producers to read the script.
Carol Walsh
Through the Female Pilot Club I saw my work come alive in the hands of some incredible talent. I'd worked in drama previously but, taste-wise, always veered towards comedy.
Having a script selected was a real boost. The cast made the material sing and hearing the audience laugh was incredible. I gained confidence and felt a fresh rush of enthusiasm for writing the next script.
Georgia Pritchett
I went to the very first Female Pilot Club and thought it was amazing. The scripts I heard were brill. I don't feel the sexism in TV comedy has improved in this country in the almost three decades I've been writing. Every single channel in the UK has told me "we already have something with women in it. The fact that the most popular sitcom in recent years stars a man dressed as a woman is thoroughly depressing.
Sorry if that sounds negative - but things REALLY have to change and that's why the Female Pilot Club is such a great idea.