The New York Television Festival announced the winners of its Independent Pilot Competition on Saturday night.
Top honors went to comedy pilot “New Partner” and drama pilot “Riftworld.” See a complete list of winners below.
“It’s an exciting time to love TV, create TV and develop TV – across all platforms – and this year’s Festival harnessed this excitement as fans, executives and independent artists celebrated this art form,” said NYTVF Founder and Executive Director Terence Gray. “We saw a real uptick across the board in the quality of submissions this year, resulting in strong engagement by industry decision-makers, and a record number of meetings taking place throughout the week between these partners and our Official Artists.”
Best Comedy Pilot: “New Partner”
Created by Quinn Beswick and Josh Margolin (Los Angeles, CA)
Welcome to the the cursed existence of Ron Robinson, a cop who can’t stop getting his partners killed.
Best Drama or Dramedy Pilot: “Riftworld”
Created by Jonathan Williams, Andrew Nicholas McCann Smith, and Laura Perlmutter (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
A struggling journalist teams up with a dimension-traveling wizard to help him find his way home.
Best Short-Form Digital Series: “The Katering Show”
Created by Kate McLennan and Kate McCartney (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia)
The journey of a food intolerant and an intolerable foodie.
Best Unscripted Pilot: “Funny Cause It’s True”
Created by Victor Varnado (New York, NY)
A “Mythbusters”-style look at the world of comedy that deconstructs a comedian’s act from the inside out.
Best Actress (Comedy): Becky Yamamoto and Meghan O’Neill for “2 Chans”
Best Actor (Comedy): Marshall Stratton and James Coker for “The Other Kennedys”
Best Actress (Drama or Dramedy): Tiffany Rachelle Stewart for “Black Rose”
Best Actor (Drama or Dramedy): David Koechner for “The Parker Tribe”
Best Director: Andrew W. Chan for “The Midnight Anthology”
Best Editor: Tulica Singh for “Croissant Man”
Best Writing: Bob Borrmann and Luca Stein for “Dead John”
NYTVF Critics Award: “The Parker Tribe” created by Jane Baker (Brattleboro, VT)
Living life in suburban Philadelphia in the late 1970s is both hilarious and painful for Mary “Jo” Parker, a 13-year-old tomboy in a large Irish Catholic family.
NYTVF “Best of the Fest”: “The Katering Show” created by Kate McLennan and Kate McCartney (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia) and “The Parker Tribe” created by Jane Baker (Brattleboro, VT)
2015 NYTVF DEVELOPMENT DEALS AND NETWORK AWARD WINNERS
A+E Networks Create360°
◦ A&E Network: Debbie Isaacs for her project “Win Court” (Las Vegas, Nv)
◦ HISTORY: Bill Herndon for his project “America’s Next Big Franchise” (New York, NY)
◦ Lifetime: Christian Campbell, America Olivo, and Annette Tanner for their project “Broadway Dreams” (New York, NY)
◦ FYI Pitch Award: Colin Hogan and Shawn Bowers (Chicago, IL)
◦ H2 Pitch Award: Steve Sullivan (Chicago, IL)
AMC-Channel 4 Drama Co-Development Award: Tom Moran (Devon, England, UK) for his script “White Rabbit”
Comedy Central Development Award: Marshall Stratton and James Coker for “The Other Kennedys” (New York, NY)
HISTORY Unscripted Development Pipeline: Elena Sorre for her project “Green Rush: Alaska” (New York, NY)
Chosen from five finalists who were awarded development deals earlier this year, this winner will have the opportunity to produce a pilot presentation with NYTVF Productions.
Red Arrow Entertainment and Fabrik Entertainment Development Award: Loren Tarquinio for his project “Mamarazzi” (Los Angeles, CA)
Red Arrow Entertaiment and Left/Right Development Award: Micah Sherman for his project “Improvising” (New York, NY)
Starz Rising Talent Award: Andrew W. Chan and Sherman Alan Kew, Jr. for their project “Midnight Anthology” (Los Angeles, CA)
truTV Greenlight Award: Lauren Ludwig and Laura Grey for their project “Ex-Girlfiend” (Los Angeles, CA)
This winner has been selected to develop a project in partnership with truTV and NYTVF Productions.
WE tv Pitch Award: Kyle Blake (Allendale, NJ)
