SERIESFEST: Season 8 Announces Official Selections For The International Independent Pilot Competitions And Esteemed Jury Members 

SeriesFest, the award-winning international television festival, today announced the official selections for this year's International Independent Pilot Competitions taking place during Season 8 in Denver, Colorado from May 5-11, 2022. A truly unique experience, Season 8 will offer programming that explores the incredible evolving landscape of episodic content and a celebration welcoming the return of our creative community to Denver.

The esteemed international pilot competition continues this year with fifty-five titles from emerging voices from all over the world in the categories of "Independent Pilot: Drama," "Independent Pilot: Comedy," "Independent Pilot: Unscripted," "Digital Short Series," "Late Night," "Pitch-A-Thon," , "Pilots In Progress", and "Collegiate Creator Spotlight." Several of these original pieces feature notable creative talent including Golden Globe and Emmy Award-nominated actor and producer David Oyelowo, and actor Simu Liu.

The full list of participating pilots in alphabetical order by category is here.

"The pilot competition is the heart and soul of SeriesFest," adds Randi Kleiner and Kaily Smith Westbrook, Co-Founders, SeriesFest. "We created this festival as a discovery platform for innovative and imaginative creators to share their unique and diverse stories. We're truly inspired by this year's riveting selections. We also continue to be in awe of the esteemed jury who provide their expertise, opinions, and their personal time, to this creative and competitive journey."

SeriesFest has curated an esteemed group of industry insiders including award-winning actors, producers, journalists, and executives to judge and determine the winner in each category which will be announced during a special ceremony on the final night. The accomplished jury includes:

Independent Pilot Competition: "comedy," Jim O'Heir (Actor), Angie Han (TV Critic, The Hollywood Reporter), Alec Ring (Manager, Cinetic Media); "drama," Mikael Moore (Managing Partner, Wondaland) and C. Brett Marottoli (Head of Program Acquisitions, Starz), Liam Matthews (Writer, TV Guide) ; "unscripted," Travis Tammero (Independent FIlm Group Agent, UTA), Britta Erickson (Producer, Listen Productions), and Stephanie Rance (Deputy Director, Youth on Record).

Late Night: Steve Greene (Associate TV Editor, IndieWire), David Griffin (TV Editor, IGN), and Tara Westwood(Actor/Director).

Digital Shorts: Dino-Ray Ramos (Founder and Editor in Chief of Diaspora), Geneva Wasserman (EVP, Head of Scripted Development & Production, Dentsu-Story Lab), Elle Roth-Brunet (Executive Producer, Head of Content & Entertainment Partnerships at Google) and Milan Chakraborty (Producer, Head of Film Marginal MediaWorks).

Images from some of the pilots can be downloaded here.

A leader in independent development, SeriesFest has been the launching pad for over a dozen independent projects that later secured mainstream distribution. Notable SeriesFest achievements include "Cooper's Bar," a SeriesFest: Season 6 official selection, which received a pick-up by AMC Networks' and will be launching on AMC+ this spring. "Generation Por Que", also a SeriesFest: Season 6 official selection, acquired by HBO and now available to stream on HBO Max. Hulu acquired domestic distribution rights to the SeriesFest: Season 4 award-winning series "Everyone Is Doing Great" and the eight-episode season is now available to stream on the platform. Additionally, the winner of four awards at SeriesFest: Season 3, Up North, received a development deal from Byron Allen's Entertainment Studios. Creator, Emil Pinnock, also signed a blind script deal with Blumhouse Television and has been tapped to pen an untitled Daymond John project."

The primary screening venue during SeriesFest is the Sie FilmCenter, which is the year-round cinematic home of SeriesFest's partner organization, Denver Film. Passes and individual tickets to screenings, panels, and the Centerpiece event at Red Rocks Amphitheatre featuring a full performance by multi-genre band Lake Street Dive, are available now at www.seriesfest.com.

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