New Comedy Nights to Raise Film Funding

midlandsmovies • April 12, 2025

Both The Mockingbird Cinema and the Midlands Art Centre (MAC) in Birmingham are set to put on a series of live comedy nights, organised by Gobby Girl Productions.


Founded by writer, director and producer Gina Lyons, Gobby Girl Productions provides funding for creatives, especially in the comedy field, which has been recognised as a genre in decline.


The Gobby Flicks Comedy nights will include opportunities for local creatives to network, followed by live comedy sets and a screening of a short film. These films will star one of the comedians featured on the night, or will have been submitted to Gobby Girl Productions.


Money raised from the nights will go towards funding comedy shorts written and directed by women. This is to address the ongoing gender imbalance in the industry, with Diamond data showing that female directors represent just 33% of the industry. According to Gobby Girl Productions, in comedy this slides further to just 25%.

A trial night was held at the MAC in February, which concluded with the short Burger Van Man, which starred Nick Helm. Now Gobby Flicks Comedy has announced the line up (subject to change) for the next six events, which will run until the end of the year.


  • April - MAC - Kate Barron & Spencer Jones
  • May - Mockingbird - Nick Helm
  • July - Mockingbird - Lindsey Santoro & Josh Pugh
  • August - MAC - Laura Lexx
  • September - Mockingbird - Acts TBC
  • October - MAC - Acts TBC
  • November - Mockingbird - Iain Smith
  • December - MAC - Rosie Jones


The first short to be shown will be the Midlands production DOSED, directed by Nadine O’Mahony, written by Lily Portman, and starring Emily Dilworth and Georgia Neath.


Tickets are available for the April event from the MAC website

https://macbirmingham.co.uk/cinema/gobby-flicks-comedy


Matt Tilt

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/tiltmatthew90/

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