At the NY TV Festival, the Present and Future of TV Come to Broadway

For the past five days, television has taken over Midtown, and today is your last day to join in on the fun.

The New York Television Festival was founded in 2005 as a forum for independent filmmakers to showcase their television pilots. Over the last four years, it has evolved into an overwhelming television experience—but the pilots remain the foundation of the festival. In blocks of two or three by genre, these pilots are shown on big screens with a live audience. Television is usually a fairly isolated medium—people watch it in their homes—so to see these independent presentations with a crowd is a very different experience.

The artists are in attendance and are approachable for conversations about their work. Being able to interact with these enthusiastic pilot-makers enhances the unique feeling of the festival. This year also included University Day, which featured a series of pilots created by students. Terence Gray, director and founder of NYTVF, plans to expand University Day next year, and hopefully it will include a representative from Columbia. But even if you don’t get a chance to make it to the festival, you can still view the achievement of this year’s artists. The pilots will be available online at myspacetv.com.

For those more interested in how television gets made than television that’s already been made, the festival organized a variety of panels with industry professionals. Sunday’s Production Day featured panels about breaking into television— focusing on theater, daytime drama, writing, sketch comedy, web productions, and late-night comedy. Industry Day on Monday discussed development of television in general and non-scripted, drama, and comedy in particular. Yesterday’s Digital Day focused on the connection between the Internet and television, featuring six panels covering the different aspects.

While pilots are the cornerstone of the festival and panels may be the most informative component, the premieres are by far the most exciting. This year featured six premiere events for six different networks, with the last one tonight at seven. ABC kicked off the festival with a preview event for four of its shows—Desperate Housewives, Ugly Betty, Samantha Who?, and the new drama Life on Mars. After showing a clip from each show, ABC News’ Jim Sciutto moderated a discussion among the producers.
The success of these shows clearly owes a lot to the enthusiasm and genuine likability of their producers. At least one producer, André Nemec of Life on Mars, stayed way after the event ended at the opening night party, happily talking with pilot-makers and other attendees.

The following night Fox screened the second episode of New York-based Fringe. In attendance were supporting cast members John Noble, Blair Brown, Jasika Nicole, and Mark Valley. Watching the horror-driven sci-fi procedural in an audience was a truly bizarre experience—mostly due to the unexpected laughter. Once again, the event concluded with a Q&A with the cast members, director Fred Toye, and production company Bad Robot’s Kathy Lingg. Other premieres included CBS’ Worst Week, the CW’s Easy Money, NBC’s Life—the first episode of its second season—and HBO’s The Life and Times of Tim.

Today may be the last day of the festival—including six pilot screening blocks and the awards ceremony—but there’s always next year.

The New York Television Festival takes place at New World Stages on 50th Street between 8th and 9th avenues.