Development Deals Lined Up at 11th Annual NYTVF

NEW YORK: A raft of development deals have been inked at the 11th annual New York Television Festival (NYTVF), including several titles being picked up as part of the A+E Networks Create360° initiative.

As part of those agreements, several projects will be considered for the company’s channels, among them Win Court for A&E Network, America’s Next Big Franchise for HISTORY and Broadway Dreams for Lifetime. A slew of projects also won the fest’s top awards. Tom Moran of the U.K. won the AMC-Channel 4 Drama Co-Development Award for his script White Rabbit, while New York’s Marshall Stratton and James Coker took the Comedy Central Development Award for The Other Kennedys.

Elena Sorre of New York saw her project Green Rush: Alaska chosen for the HISTORY Unscripted Development Pipeline, which will give her the opportunity to produce a pilot presentation with NYTVF Productions. Los Angeles’s Loren Tarquino took the Red Arrow Entertainment and Fabrik Entertainment Development Award for his project Mamarazzi, with New York’s Micah Sherman nabbing the Red Arrow Entertainment and Left/Right Development Award for Improvising.

Additional honors included Andrew W. Chan and Sherman Alan Kew, Jr. winning the Starz Rising Talent Award for Midnight Anthology; Lauren Ludwig and Laura Grey’s Ex-Girlfriend taking home the truTV Greenlight Award, which will see their project developed in partnership with truTV and NYTVF Productions; and Kyle Bake securing the WE tv Pitch Award.

The fest, which ran from October 19 to 24, facilitated at least 20 development deals for independent television artists.

“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.”