Press release
For Immediate Release

JUST FOR LAUGHS COMEDY CONFERENCE
UNVEILS COMEDY DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR AWARD-WINNER
JAY ROACH (Dinner for Schmucks)
AND THE PANELISTS OF ITS PITCH PROGRAMS

July 15 – 17, 2010 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel

(Montreal – April 13, 2010)  There’s no business like funny business, and over the years the Just For Laughs Comedy Conference has become the must-attend event for people whose business it is to make audiences laugh. The conference is the premiere gathering of international comedy industry studio executives, broadcasters, agents, managers, writers, filmmakers, and of course, comics.

Once again, the Comedy Conference will honour one of the outstanding talents of the year. Jay Roach, director of this summer’s Dinner for Schmucks, will be honoured with the Comedy Director of the Year Award. Roach has garnered a reputation as one of Hollywood's producer/directors with a magic comedic touch, having helmed a string of very funny and successful hits including the Austin Powers series and as director and producer of Meet the Parents and its follow up Meet the Fockers. 

This year's Comedy Conference has also lined up an impressive list of industry heavyweights to sit on the panels of their pitch program Pitch ‘Til Your Sides Split – for both the TV and Web Series categories.  The panelists on the Multi-Platform Web Series Pitch category include Rob Barnett, Founder/CEO, My Damn Channel; Ricky Van Veen, CEO, College Humor/Notional; and Andra Sheffer, Executive Director, Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund, Independent Production Fund, Cogeco Program Development Fund. On the TV Pitch category side Nick Weidenfeld, VP of Comedy Development, Cartoon Network and Adult Swim and Anton Leo, Creative Head, CBC TV Comedy have been confirmed.

Pitch ‘Til Your Sides Split is the expanded version of the former TV pitch event that will invite TV & Web writers, show runners, producers and performers to pitch their script ideas. Projects for the Web or television will once more be presented to a panel of leading comedy industry executives and decision-makers in an open-forum pitch session. Three projects from each category will be selected to be presented and the creators will be given the opportunity to make a five-minute pitch to the panel, followed by feedback. The deadline for submissions for both sessions is May 1. 

Early registration to the Just For Laughs Comedy Conference is on now, with early bird prices in effect at www.hahaha.com/conference.  Submission and eligibility requirements for the Pitch ‘Til Your Sides Split program and the Comedy Bootcamp for Film requirements can also be found on our website.

MORE ON THE COMEDY CONFERENCE TO COME…

Jay Roach

Roach made his directorial debut in 1997 with “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery,” starring Mike Myers, following that with the sequels “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me” and “Austin Powers in Goldmember.”  Roach also directed and produced “Meet the Parents” and the follow-up “Meet the Fockers,” starring Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro, Barbara Streisand, and Dustin Hoffman.  Prior to Parents, he also directed the wry and touching “Mystery, Alaska,” starring an ensemble cast headed by Russell Crowe.

In 2008, Roach won two Emmy Awards for both directing and producing the star-studded HBO made-for TV film “Recount,” starring Kevin Spacey, Laura Dern and Tom Wilkinson, among many others, in which he took over directing for the late Sydney Pollack.  The film follows the Florida recount from Election Day in November 2000 through the Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of George W. Bush over Al Gore five weeks later.  Roach was also won a Director's Guild Award for the film, and was nominated for a Golden Globe for producing.  The film was honored with an AFI Award, being named as one of the top ten TV programs of 2008, and was nominated for a Broadcast Film Critic's Award for "Best Picture Made for Television."

Recent producing credits include Sacha Baron Cohen’s film “Bruno,” “Charlie Bartlett” and the Academy Award-nominated “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan”.  Prior to that, he produced “The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.”

Roach is currently directing and producing the Paramount comedy “Dinner for Schmucks,” starring Paul Rudd and Steve Carell, out this July.  He’s also currently producing the third installment of the Fockers films “Little Fockers,” out December 2010.

In theatres July 23rd, the hilarious ensemble comedy, Dinner for Schmucks, tells the story of Tim (Paul Rudd), an up-and-coming executive who has just received his first invitation to an elaborate dinner party, hosted by his boss, that promises bragging rights (and maybe more) to the exec who shows up with the most eccentric character.  Tim thinks he’s hit pay dirt when he meets Barry (Steve Carell), a genial IRS employee who devotes his spare time to building elaborate taxidermy mouse dioramas. Tim and Barry make for an unlikely duo, especially when Barry’s blundering good intentions lead to a series of comic misadventures that threaten to send Tim's career and personal life into a tailspin. 

A graduate of Stanford University, Roach received his Master's degree in film production from the University of Southern California.   Roach was born in 1957 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He is married to Susanna Hoffs of The Bangles and has two sons.

About the Just For Laughs Group

Founded in 1983, the Just For Laughs Group’s growth is concentrated on four major focal points: Festivals (in Montreal, Toronto, Chicago and Paris); television production (most notably Gags seen in 135 countries and on 95 airlines); live shows (Canadian tour dates for Jerry Seinfeld, Jeremy Hotz, John Pinette, Louis C.K., the Capital One Just For Laughs Comedy Tour, North American dates for Family Guy Live!, Arturo Brachetti’s show Change in London); and talent management. Its inaugural Montreal Festival 28 years ago is now the world's largest and most prestigious comedy event welcoming 2 million people each summer. The Group has offices in Montreal, Paris, Los Angeles, Toronto and London.

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Contact: Corrine Leon – Just For Laughs – 514-845-3155 – cleon@hahaha.com
Leisa Lee – Just For Laughs – 514-946-2010 – llee@hahaha.com