I had the opportunity to attend the second annual New York Television Festival early this month, screening hours on end of innovating programming and listening to industry experts discuss how to overcome the challenges of producing television in today’s media landscape. For a complete digest of all the NYTVF 2006 action, check out TV Squad’s extensive coverage. I recently spoke to NYTVF Chairman Terence Gray to get his thoughts about this year’s festival and what we can look forward to in the upcoming year.
Warley: How were this year’s pilot submissions different from those submitted at the inaugural festival?
Gray: Last year the independent television movement was still so new that it was unclear to some artists as to what our expectations were. There has never been an independent television festival before, and making producers aware that the marketplace now existed was a challenge initially. The idea of submitting actual pilots as a means of developing television was a little foreign, but we still had over 230 submissions.
Many of those submissions were cut-down films or repurposed shorts, basically stuff already sitting on the shelf. This year, there were far more pilots developed just for the pilot competition and the quality was noticeably better.
The fact that three pilots from last year’s festival were sold definitely helped spread the word about this new marketplace for independent television. That convinced artists of the viability of creating independent pilots. We received well over 200 submissions this year. Most of them were made specifically for the festival and that was extremely exciting for us.
Warley: What kind of impact has NYTVF had on the network development process just after the first year?
Gray: We have seen a tremendous amount of interest by industry executives and talent agencies to meet with our artists because of the great job our artists did last year. Off the Hook, the Audience Award winner from last year, is our biggest success story. It’s going to premiere September 29th on VERSUS. The remarkable thing about the show is that it involves four friends from Brooklyn simply doing what they love to do—fish. The show works because they are such unique characters, but it really speaks to the fact that just about anyone can produce a TV pilot. The technology and equipment are more accessible now than they have ever been, so the only ingredient missing is a compelling idea or storyline.
Executives are looking at our pilots for new ideas outside of the traditional network development process. Our artists are not only pitching unique concepts, but demonstrating they have the ability to produce programming. Once a network signs them on, they hook them up with a production company to guide them through their first series. James Murray, a pilot-maker who sold a comedy show to A&E last year, is a perfect example. He had spent a lot of time on the independent film festival circuit without much success when he heard about NYTVF. He called a few friends, got permission to shoot in a Lower East Side bar, and produced Criss-Cross for just $400. A&E loved the concept and bought it because it was a great idea.
Traditional programming development begins with a treatment or a script. When executives come to our festival they are going to watch finished pilots. The ability to produce a pilot to truly show the potential of your idea is far more powerful than any written treatment. It helps you put your best creative foot forward.
Warley: Has explosive rise of YouTube in the last year forced you to rethink NYTVF’s role as a television marketplace?
Gray: User-generated content is obviously huge. It’s a great initial step in creating content and getting a reaction. In a way, the independent pilot competition is user-generated or “artist-generated.†One of the key differences between pure user-generated content and NYTVF is what we might sacrifice in breadth, we make up in quality. Of the 200 plus pilots submitted to us, we only showed the top 22. If you are development executive, would you rather search a user-generated site or screen the top pilots at NYTVF? Our marketplace acts as an important filter of user-generated content. We are revealing the best programs, so executives can take notice of them.
Warley: You talk to lots of network execs, have their concerns or needs in terms of developing programming changed at all over the last year?
Gray: Network executives are still looking for great shows as they have always been. I don’t think that is going to change.
What has changed is that they are looking for content from different platforms. They are open to looking at shows that start online as a means to develop the concept further, so it can then go on air at a network.
Executives are also now willing to talk to a greater range of artists at various economic levels. The risk of working with a new artists has been abated to some degree because of all these new digital platforms, providing even more access to a new generation of new story tellers. They are constantly telling us they now have lots of different needs and are willing to work with people at many different stages in the development process.
Warley: You’ve started some new initiatives, like the Pitch Contest this year. How will the festival continue to evolve over the next year?
Gray: There are a number initiatives. We want to expand our online community with MSN, The Orchard, and AICE. MSN obviously provides our artists with a massive distribution platform. One of the most costly aspects of developing a program is post production. AICE has a number of outlets throughout the country for their editors to meet up with our artists. The Orchard is one of largest online communities for independent musicians, and we are looking to team it up with our pilot makers. At every step of the way, we are trying to set up a situation where we can aid our artists in completing their project.
We are also trying to get into different communities, like theater and film. We want to let them know there is an opportunity for them to be part of this new television marketplace.
If there is even a way for us to help our artists get financial backing to help them create a great pilot, we want to explore that opportunity. If we are going to be able to do that remains to be seen. We are continuing to build tutorials, tools, and contacts to help our artists at every step of the way in the development of their pilots for submission to this new television marketplace.