NYTVF Kicks Off with Expanded Lineup

NEW YORK: The New York Television Festival (NYTVF), which gets under way today, has more than 50 industry players on board for the event, including the recent addition of Amazon Studios.

Amazon Studios is sponsoring the Independent Pilot Competition’s Audience Award, offering a $5,000 development grant to the audience favorite. Additional development awards will come from IFC, MTV, Syfy and VH1. There is also the second annual NYTVF Critics Award to be handed out.

Also part of the event is the NYTVF Pitch, which features partners Sundance Channel and Red Arrow International as well as Bio, Channel 4, Hasbro Studios, Logo and truTV. Comedy Central is again leading its own Short Pilot Competition. For the fifth consecutive year, FOX is working with the festival for the Comedy Script Contest, which offers aspiring TV writers the opportunity to enter their scripts for original half-hour comedy pilots for the chance to win $25,000 and a development deal with the network. A&E and Lifetime are on board for Unscripted Development Pipelines, offering the opportunity to participate in the creation of a network pilot based on an original submission. Samsung Electronics America is taking part in the Second Screen Storytellers Challenge. Warner Bros. International Television Production and Fox Television Studios, in cooperation with Apostle, are offering development opportunities exclusively to U.K. producers.

“Everyone—networks, studios, brands, digital distributors, device makers—is in the market for great storytellers, and if the NYTVF can be a destination for both buyers and sellers of great ideas, then we’re exactly where we want to be,” said Terence Gray, the founder of the NYTVF. “In the seven years since our launch, we’ve endeavored to evolve and adapt to the rapidly changing needs of the buyers, as well as the incredible artistic advances of the medium and this year I’m honored to welcome more artists and industry participants than ever before. We’re looking forward to a great week.”