Looking to give women comedians a bigger voice, Elizabeth Banks‘ digital-media company, WhoHaHa, is partnering with YouTube globally to help produce video projects from 100 hand-picked female creators.
WhoHaha and Banks are kicking off the production program at YouTube Space in nine cities around the world — in Los Angeles, New York, Toronto, Rio, Paris, Berlin, London, Tokyo, and Mumbai. Over a 12-week period starting later this year, the program will give aspiring female YouTube comedians access to dedicated production sets, provided crew, mentorship from Elizabeth Banks, and more than 50 specialized workshops and events.
In addition, WhoHaHa will invite select creators across YouTube Space locations to produce a digital pilot for each creator’s YouTube series. Details of the financial arrangement between YouTube and WhoHaHa aren’t being disclosed.
“At WhoHaha, we believe it’s not only important but essential for women to have a platform to be able to share their voices and creativity,” Banks said in a statement. “That’s why we’re excited to be teaming up with YouTube Space on this initiative that’s providing such a groundbreaking opportunity to creators all over the world.”
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YouTube Space’s Chris D’Angelo, director of production and programming, commented, “Women are underrepresented in the entertainment industry, and we want to do our part to help put women front and center.”
Actress-producer-director Banks — whose credits include the “Pitch Perfect” and “Hunger Games” movies — launched WhoHaha in 2016 in partnership with Luigi Picarazzi, CEO of Digital Media Management in Beverly Hills, Calif. The company’s mission is to work with up-and-coming female comedy creators to provide resources across development, production, financing, distribution, marketing, and monetization.
More info on the initiative is available on WhoHaha’s YouTube channel. Watch a video overview from Banks (at this link and below):
