Comedy-centric production company launched by friends

A comedy-focused production company has been set up by a group of friends who want to create stories, characters and TV proudly based in the South West.

The writing trio made up of actor, Joe Sims, writer, Amy Trevaskus and director, Paul Holbrook have joined forces to launch BristolAF.

Amy spoke to Bristol24/7 about how the group balance being productive and laughing all day, how the company naturally formed and what their plans are for the future.

A comedy-focused production company has been set up by a group of friends – photo: BristolAF

How was BristolAF formed? Where did the idea come from?

Amy said: “We’d been chatting together for a while about this one project that we all loved – as we started to develop the idea it quickly became clear that we worked well together.

“We also stated coming up with more ideas that made us laugh. It felt like such a natural transition from being a writing trio to making it more of an official thing.

“We had started talking to production companies about a few ideas we had so we decided that we should keep all our comedy ideas together and become BristolAF!”

Why is it so important for you all to tell Bristol-centric stories through your production company? 

“Paul and Joe are Bristol through and through and although I wasn’t born in Bristol, I’ve lived in and around since I was eight and I’m proud to call Bristol my home.

“All three of us were crystal clear about our intentions to set our stories here in the West Country. We want to create TV that is proudly based here, not filmed in Bristol but pretending to be somewhere else.

“We have so many unique stories running through the South West and we want to be front and centre when it comes to telling them.”

A comedy-focused production company has been set up by a group of friends pictured is Paul Holbrook – photo: BristolAF

Is this the first business you’ve run together? How’s it going so far? 

“I’ve run a family business before but running one with mates is a little different!

“We all bring our unique personalities to the table – the main challenge we have is not spending the whole day laughing when we should be doing other things!

“We were fortunate to get on to a production company development programme with Creative England recently which was so valuable in terms of thinking about our five-year plan and making sure the three of us are on the same page.

“We figured out from day one that we all need to agree on business and creative decisions – we can fight our corner for something we believe in but ultimately, it’s the power of three that counts.

“Each of us brings a different element to BristolAF coming from different sections of the TV and Film world – I’m screenwriter, Paul is a writer/director and has won a load of awards for his short films and Joe is an actor – you’ll know him from Broadchurch and he’s about to star in ‘Ruby Speaking’ with our friend Jayde Adams. So, put us together and you get something a little bit special.”

The writing trio made up of actor, Joe Sims, writer, Amy Trevaskus and director, Paul Holbrook have joined forces to launch BristolAF – photo: BristolAF

 What does comedy mean to you as a company? Why is it important to you? 

“Luckily, I think we all have a very similar sense of humour – we love the classics like The Office, Only Fools and Horses and Bread.

“I don’t think I’ve laughed as much as when I’m in a room with Paul and Joe – Paul has a unique way of telling stories that you just relate to and he brings that to everything he does – Joe is the perfect comedy actor, his sense of timing is spot on and he’s brilliant at accents.

“I’d like to think I bring the female creative energy to the room and my passion for writing funny AF female lead characters.

“This is what we do well together, we write brilliant comedic characters. We are able to create characters whose journey you want to follow, they are relatable and funny.

“We can transition brilliantly into making an audience laugh to making them well up which is what all those classic comedy shows like Only Fools do.

“There is one script that we have written that I must have read a hundred times – I still laugh in the same places and I still want to cry in the next scene.

“I’m proud that we’ve created that and made it ‘our’ thing.”

What are your goals for the future? 

“We have some really exciting projects in the pipeline and at various stages of development.

“We have a slate of TV comedy ideas that we are working on together and a female led feature that we are developing too, all set in Bristol.

“In the future we may look at writing and producing drama but in the immediate future – comedy is where we’re at.”

BristolAF is asking people to get in touch with their show reels and headshots by emailing, info@bristolaf.com

All photos: BristolAF

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