About Ben Slotover and Paul Elliott

Ben Slotover and Paul Elliott’s paths first crossed in the chaotic London film club scene, where Ben was running a Kung Fu film club called Shaolin and Paul was hosting a performance/film club called OMSK. At the time they were each filling the schedules of their shows with home made zero budget video shorts which they had both been making since first wielding the family super 8.

Recognizing a common interest, Ben and Paul collaborated on a short video together in 1997 called ‘Ilford Ninja’ which became a hit on the underground film club scene and caught the attention of Jill Sinclair, a producer for ‘Raw TV’, which was a show on the digital channel Carlton World. Their appearance as guests on the show led to a commission for a series of comedy shorts for Raw TV.

Following their stint for Carlton, Ben and Paul formed Blunt Productions as an umbrella organization for their various activities, including live shows in London and a website (www.bluntproductions.com). Their zero budget filmmaking background led to a commission by Iain Ross of BBC Scotland to make the "Zero Budget Special Effects" sections of a show called Bob's DIY Film Club which was shown on BBC Choice. Following this they were also commissioned to produce a series of segments for BBC Scotland's 'Weirdsville'.  A number of these pieces were also shown on the third series of ‘Adam and Joe’s Takeover TV’

In the spring of 2001 a selection of their sketches brought them to the finals of the BBC New Talent competition and were broadcast on BBC1. Following this they were commissioned to write a half hour sketch show for the BBC by producers Shane Allen and Sarah Fraser.

In April 2002 their half hour script ‘Captain V’ – a sci-fi comedy was accepted by Iain Morris and Robert Popper for Channel 4’s ‘Comedy Lab’ slot. Their first big budget production, ‘Captain V’ was produced by Nira Park (‘Spaced’. ‘Black Books’) for Big Talk Productions and aired on 14th November.

In January 2003 they returned to live comedy and started ‘The Blunt Club’- a regular night of Comedy films made both by them and by ‘guest filmmakers’, live comedy sketches with actor Jon Digby and whatever assorted fun and strangeness they could think of. From the outset ‘The Blunt Club’ was a success and has become a focus for underground and low budget comedy filmmakers both in London and elsewhere.

Slotover and Elliott continue to make films and develop their live shows as well as have their work shown at events around the world. In August 2004 they took a compilation of their films and sketches to the Edinburgh Festival and presented ‘A Blunt Sketch Show’ at the Bongo Club. Since then they have had films accepted for events in London and Manchester and have been invited to produce internet virals and shorts for The Viral Factory. In January 2006 their film ‘The Electric Bull Riding Contest’ was awarded the Vauxhall Auteur award at the Halloween Short Film Festival.  They have written two feature film screenplays and continue to attract sell-out crowds to The Blunt Club. In October 2007, their frst High Def short 'Training Daljinder' was finished. Work continues on the feature film, 'Mick'

Ben Slotover: ben@slotover.com 
Tel: 0207 209 3549

Paul Elliott: blunk@tiscali.co.uk
Tel: 01227 282 462