NATPE Announces Lineup for First Annual LATV Festival

LOS ANGELES, June 12: The National Association of Television
Program Executives (NATPE) has announced the lineup for its first annual LATV
Festival in July, with showrunners and executives set to screen and discuss new
episodes of Lost, The Office, Supernanny, Weeds and America’s Next Producer.

The LATV Festival will be held July 25 through July 27 at
various locations in Los Angeles. Crafted as an extension of the annual TV
Producers’ Boot Camp, the new three-day event will present a city-wide video
content festival showcasing the work of Los Angeles’ multiplatform content producers
and production community.

The Producers Guild of America is sponsoring a three-day
breakfast series at the House of Blues. On Wednesday, July 25, the showrunner
Greg Daniels and line producer Kent Zbornak, will discuss The Office. Thursday’s discussion will feature the reality
series Supernanny, which will be
hosted by the series’ supervising producer Mark Allen and showrunner Craig
Armstrong. Friday’s breakfast will offer a discussion of Lost, with co-showrunner Carlton Cuse and line producer
Jean Higgins. On Wednesday and Thursday at the Pacific Design Center Theatre,
there will be evening screenings, kicking off with America’s Next
Producer and comments from creator Dan
Cutforth, the CEO of Magic Elves. The hit Showtime series Weeds will also be screened on Thursday. Following the
screening will be a panel moderated by Hollywood Reporter television critic Ray Richmond, and featuring Kevin
Beggs, the president of Lionsgate Television; Roberto Benabib, the executive
producer of Weeds; Robert Greenblatt,
the president of entertainment for Showtime Networks; Jenji Kohan, the
creator/executive producer of Weeds;
and Craig Zisk, the executive producer of Weeds.

The LATV Festival will also include the second annual NATPE
NextGen TV Competition, which recognizes and celebrates emerging content
creators. Participants may enter one of three competitions. The first
competition, sponsored by FremantleMedia North America, is accepting original
video content in comedy, drama, alternative or game show. The winner will
receive a six-month producer fellowship with intensive training at the
company’s headquarters, with a stipend of $1,000 per week. Up to three
finalists will receive an LATV Festival attendance package. The second
competition, sponsored by MSN, will offer a $10,000 first prize along with two
runner-up prizes of $2,000 each for shorts in the categories of comedy, drama,
action, mystery, animation and commercial/promotional. The third competition,
sponsored by Talpa, will award $5000 and pitch consultation opportunities for
the best new series ideas.

On July 25, the LATV Festival Digital Day at The Highlands
will offer numerous panels and demonstrations including a session sponsored by
Yahoo! on capturing the digital consumer followed by a lunch and presentations
by leaders in digital platforms and broadband content. Other highlights include
a session hosted by The Digital Coast Roundtable. The event will conclude with
a comprehensive presentation by the AFI Digital Content Lab.