Sarah-Jane Scott has been named the winner of the FÍS TV Summit 2025 Pitching Competition, earning a €1,000 prize for her project, Unleashed. Scott’s pitch captivated both the audience and the judges, securing top prize at this prestigious industry event. 

 

Six finalists took part in the competition after undergoing an intensive series of workshops led by industry expert Michael Zam. The FÍS TV Summit, renowned for championing excellence in television and nurturing emerging talent, provided the perfect platform for these creators to showcase their ideas. 

 

Sarah-Jane’s Unleashed stood out with its compelling narrative and contemporary characters, resonating strongly with both the professional jury and the public, ultimately winning both the Audience Award and the Jury Award. 

 

"We are thrilled to announce Sarah-Jane Scott as the winner of the FÍS TV Summit 2025 Pitching Competition. Her project, Unleashed, was distinguished by its engaging presentation and personal storytelling," said Eibh O'Brien-Collins, Programme Director of the National Talent Academy for Film & TV. 

 

The competition has a history of propelling promising projects forward. Previous winners include Patricia Kelly, whose project Humdrum follows a struggling freelance court transcriber who becomes entangled in the cases she records, blurring the lines between justice and morality. In 2020, the team of Ray Lawlor, Oonagh Kearney, and Paddy Hayes won with Obituary, the story of a small-town obituarist who turns to murder when work dries up. Obituary later attracted the attention of Laurent Boissel (APC Studios), who joined as an executive producer. The show was filmed in Donegal in 2023, aired on RTÉ, and is now in production for its second season. 

 

About FÍS TV Summit 

 

The annual FÍS TV Summit, held on February 6th at the Radisson Red Galway, brings together creatives from all sectors of the television industry to learn, network, and share insights. Now in its eighth year, the summit is supported by key stakeholders including Ardán, TG4, Screen Ireland, Gréasán na Meán Skillnet, Coimisiún na Meán, Creative Europe Media Desk, National Talent Academy Crew West, National Talent Academy for Film & TV, WRAP, ATU Galway City, and Northern Ireland Screen. 

 

The National Talent Academy for Film & TV is an initiative of Screen Ireland, managed by Ardán.

About: Sarah-Jane Scott & her project.  

Title: Unleashed 

Genre: Comedy Drama  

Logline: Everyday superwoman and single mam Corina and her true crime obsessed, rich glam- mam BFF Ann Marie, have been singlehandedly keeping their respective shit shows on the road for way too long, and have finally had enough.  

 

Sarah-Jane is a writer and actor from Tuam, Co Galway, working in both English and Irish, across screen, theatre and radio.  Most recently, Sarah-Jane wrote Eamonn Gibney: Wanted Dead or Alive for 24 Hour Plays Dublin at The Abbey Theatre.  

Her debut play Appropriate is currently in development as a feature film; after being chosen for the Screen Ireland Spotlight: Stage to Screen Initiative in 2024 and is currently part of a 6 month Screen Ireland rewriting workshop with Emanuel Oberg. Appropriate, which Sarah-Jane also performed, was originally developed for Dublin Fringe Festival for ‘Show In A Bag’ (Nominated Bewley’s Little Gem Award). It then toured extensively, nationally and internationally, to Edinburgh Fringe (Winner Lustrum Award) and New York (Winner Spirit of the Festival Award, First Irish Festival). Her debut short Ghosted (Screen Ireland Actor As Creator), premiered at The Dublin International Comedy Film Festival, winning the Spirit of The Festival Award, chosen by Deadpan pictures. Ghosted was directed by Jeda De Brí and is currently completing its Irish and international festival run.  

 

In 2023, Skewed (RTE Radio Drama on 1) was nominated for an Irish Writers Guild Zebbie Award for best Radio Drama script.