Five feature-length comedies are expected to go to camera by 2011/12 via a new effort by the Canadian Film Centre, Telefilm Canada and Just for Laughs.

Unveiled at the Montreal JFL comedy festival, the Telefilm Canada Features Comedy Lab will put some $1 million over the next three years into developing original comedies and training teams of producers, writers and directors. The program looks to leverage Canada’s reputation for comedy into films that are more marketable at home and abroad.

‘For a country that is recognized globally for its sense of humor, we have not fully exploited our potential to make funny and commercially successful feature films,’ says Sheila de La Varende, head of national and international business development at Telefilm.

The move stems from a recommendation made by Telefilm’s English-language working group for the agency to be more involved in genres and scriptwriting.

De La Varende notes that comedies tend to attract larger audiences and can play well overseas – contrary to a rule of thumb that suggests laughers do not travel well. ‘The goal is to get all of these [five projects] to the Canadian marketplace, but certainly comedy can travel,’ she says, citing the 2003 hit La grande séduction/Seducing Dr. Lewis as one example.

The program will start in November, following a Sept. 18 deadline for submissions. Teams will be paired with comedy mentors including Eugene Levy, who will guide the projects into production.

CFC and JFL will contribute know-how in script development and getting laughs, respectively. Teams chosen to participate will take part in workshops, master classes and other sessions at the film school late this year and in early 2010.