New York TV Festival Unveils Development Deal Winners

This has been a great weekend for dozens of aspiring TV creators.

The eleventh annual New York Television Festival closed Saturday, with winners announced as the recipients of development deals with networks, studios and digital outlets. 

The Katering Show and The Parker Tribe prevailed with Best of the Fest honors, with The Parker Tribe also earning the annual Critics Award.

“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,” NYTVF founder and executive director Terence Gray said in a statement.

“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,” Gray continued.

The complete list of winners is below. (NYTVF provided the descriptions of the awards.) More details on the projects, along with trailers, can be found by clicking here.

2015 INDEPENDENT PILOT COMPETITION WINNERS

Best Comedy Pilot: New Partner

Created by Quinn Beswick and Josh Margolin (Los Angeles, CA)

Welcome to the the cursed existence of Ron Robinson, a cop who can’t stop getting his partners killed.

Best Drama or Dramedy Pilot: Riftworld

Created by Jonathan Williams, Andrew Nicholas McCann Smith, and Laura Perlmutter (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)

A struggling journalist teams up with a dimension-traveling wizard to help him find his way home.

Best Short-Form Digital Series: The Katering Show

Created by Kate McLennan and Kate McCartney (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia)

The journey of a food intolerant and an intolerable foodie.

Best Unscripted Pilot: Funny Cause It’s True

Created by Victor Varnado (New York, NY)

A “Mythbusters“-style look at the world of comedy that deconstructs a comedian’s act from the inside out. 

Best Actress (Comedy): Becky Yamamoto and Meghan O’Neill for 2 Chans

Best Actor (Comedy): Marshall Stratton and James Coker for The Other Kennedys

Best Actress (Drama or Dramedy): Tiffany Rachelle Stewart for Black Rose

Best Actor (Drama or Dramedy): David Koechner for The Parker Tribe

Best Director: Andrew W. Chan for The Midnight Anthology

Best Editor: Tulica Singh for Croissant Man 

Best Writing: Bob Borrmann and Luca Stein for Dead John

NYTVF Critics Award: The Parker Tribe created by Jane Baker (Brattleboro, VT)

Living life in suburban Philadelphia in the late 1970s is both hilarious and painful for Mary “Jo” Parker, a 13-year-old tomboy in a large Irish Catholic family. 

NYTVF “Best of the Fest”: 

(tie)

The Katering Show created by Kate McLennan and Kate McCartney (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia)

The Parker Tribe created by Jane Baker (Brattleboro, VT)

2015 NYTVF DEVELOPMENT DEALS AND NETWORK AWARD WINNERS

A+E Networks Create360°

? A&E Network: Debbie Isaacs for her project Win Court (Las Vegas, NV)

? HISTORY: Bill Herndon for his project America’s Next Big Franchise (New York, NY)

? Lifetime: Christian Campbell, America Olivo, and Annette Tanner for their project Broadway Dreams (New York, NY)

? FYI Pitch Award: Colin Hogan and Shawn Bowers (Chicago, IL)

? H2 Pitch Award: Steve Sullivan (Chicago, IL)

AMC-Channel 4 Drama Co-Development Award: Tom Moran (Devon, England, U.K.) for his script White Rabbit

Comedy Central Development Award: Marshall Stratton and James Coker for The Other Kennedys (New York, NY)

HISTORY Unscripted Development Pipeline: Elena Sorre for her project Green Rush: Alaska (New York, NY) 

Chosen from five finalists who were awarded development deals earlier this year, this winner will have the opportunity to produce a pilot presentation with NYTVF Productions.

Red Arrow Entertainment and Fabrik Entertainment Development Award: Loren Tarquinio for his project Mamarazzi (Los Angeles, CA)

Red Arrow Entertaiment and Left/Right Development Award: Micah Sherman for his project Improvising  (New York, NY)

?Starz Rising Talent Award: Andrew W. Chan and Sherman Alan Kew, Jr. for their project Midnight Anthology (Los Angeles, CA) 

truTV Greenlight Award: Lauren Ludwig and Laura Grey for their project Ex-Girlfiend (Los Angeles, CA) 

This winner has been selected to develop a project in partnership with truTV and NYTVF Productions.  

WE tv Pitch Award: Kyle Blake (Allendale, NJ)