SeriesFest, the award-winning international television festival, today announced the official selections for this year’s International Independent Driver Competitions taking place during Season 8 in Denver, Colorado, May 5-11, 2022. A truly unique experience, Season 8 will offer programming that explores the incredible and evolving landscape of episodic content and a celebration welcoming the return of our creative community to Denver.
The prestigious international pilot competition continues this year with fifty-five titles from emerging voices from around the world in the categories “Indie Pilot: Drama”, “Indie Pilot: Comedy”, “Indie Pilot: Unscripted”, “Digital Short Series ,” “Late Night,” “Pitch-A-Thon,” “Pilots In Progress,” and “Collegiate Creator Spotlight.” Many of these original pieces feature notable creative talent, including award-nominated actor and producer David Oyelowo. Golden Globe and Emmy Awards, and actor Simu Liu.
The complete list of participating drivers in alphabetical order by category is here.
“Pilot competition is the heart and soul of SeriesFest,” add Randi Kleiner and Kaily Smith Westbrook, co-founders of SeriesFest. “We created this festival as a discovery platform for innovative and imaginative creators to share their unique and diverse stories. We are truly inspired by this year’s captivating selections. We also continue to be amazed by the esteemed jury who bring their expertise, opinions, and personal time, to this creative and competitive journey.”
SeriesFest has organized an esteemed group of industry insiders, including award-winning actors, producers, journalists and executives to judge and determine the winner in each category to be announced at a special ceremony on the final evening. The accomplished jury includes:
Independent Pilot Competition: “Comedy”, Jim O’Heir (actor), Angie Han (television critic, The Hollywood Reporter), Alec Ring (director, Cinetic Media); “drama”, Mikael Moore (Managing Partner, Wondaland) and C. Brett Marottoli (Head of Program Acquisitions, Starz), Liam Matthews (Writer, TV Guide); “unscripted” Travis Tammero (Independent Film Group Agent, UTA), Britta Erickson (Producer, Listen Productions) and Stephanie Rance (Assistant Director, Youth on Record).
Late Night: Steve Greene (associate TV editor, IndieWire), David Griffin (TV editor, IGN) and Tara Westwood (actor/director).
Digital Short Films: Dino-Ray Ramos (Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Diaspora), Geneva Wasserman (EVP, Head of Scripted Development & Production, Dentsu-Story Lab), Elle Roth-Brunet (Executive Producer, Head of Content & Entertainment Partnerships at Google) and Milan Chakraborty (producer, head of Film Marginal MediaWorks).
Images of some of the drivers can be downloaded here.
A leader in independent development, SeriesFest has been the launch pad for more than a dozen independent projects that have gone on to ensure mainstream distribution. Notable SeriesFest accomplishments include “Cooper’s Bar,” an Official Selection from SeriesFest: Season 6, which was picked up by AMC Networks and will launch on AMC+ this spring. “Generation Por Que,” also an official selection from SeriesFest: Season 6, acquired by HBO and now available to stream on HBO Max. Hulu has acquired domestic distribution rights to the award-winning SeriesFest: Season 4 series “Everyone Is Doing Great” and the eight-episode season is now available to stream on the platform. Additionally, four-time SeriesFest: Season 3 winner Up North has received a development contract from Byron Allen’s Entertainment Studios. The creator, Emil Pinnock, also signed a blind script deal with Blumhouse Television and was tapped to pen an untitled Daymond John project. »
The main screening location during SeriesFest is the Sie FilmCenter, which is the year-round film home of SeriesFest partner organization Denver Film. Passes and individual tickets to screenings, panels and the Centerpiece event at Red Rocks Amphitheater featuring a full performance by multi-genre band Lake Street Dive are available now at www.seriesfest.com.
