SevenOne, Sundance, MSN On Board for NYTVF Pitch

NEW YORK: The New York Television Festival (NYTVF) has launched a new development initiative focused on pitching, with Sundance Channel, MSN and SevenOne International signed on as inaugural pitch partners.

The three companies are signed up to guarantee a development deal for an outstanding pitch from NYTVF’s 2011 roster of official artists. Each pitch partner will provide the NYTVF with a creative brief that outlines the types of pitches they are interested in. Semifinalists will be selected from the submissions, and those individuals will meet with development executives from each of the partners companies on-site at the festival. SevenOne International, the distribution house of Red Arrow Entertainment Group, is NYTVF’s first international development partner. Jens Richter, the managing director of SevenOne International, said: “We are excited to collaborate with one of the greatest independent television festivals. It is part of Red Arrow’s strategy to actively seek partnerships with talent and the ‘NYTVF Pitch’ provides a fantastic opportunity to meet the industry’s most creative minds.”

“We’re thrilled to launch NYTVF Pitch with such a terrific slate of partners, bringing additional development opportunities to both the industry and artists participating in the festival,” added Terence Gray, NYTVF’s founder. “These three partners represent a tremendous breadth of content needs and development goals and the Official Artists participating in the festival are at the very top of the NYTVF creative community. We believe this program will provide yet another avenue for industry partners to engage the NYTVF’s artistic community to uncover great new ideas and talent and look forward to the inaugural program at this year’s fest.”

In further news, the NYTVF has lined up additional partners, including ABC Studios, Hallmark Channel and United Talent Agency. FX is sponsoring the FX "There is No Box" Awards and development deal inside the festival’s IPC, in association with Apostle, the production company led by Denis Leary and Jim Serpico. “Apostle and FX are pleased to be involved with the NYTVF this year and to be a part of, for the first time, the ‘There is No Box’ Award,” said Serpico. “We look forward to creating a partnership between ourselves and the untapped talent that is sure to emerge from the festival; and to award a development deal to one of the many new and exciting creators entering the competition.”

The seventh Annual New York Television Festival is set to take place September 19 to 24 in Manhattan.