1 month ago
EXCLUSIVE: ATX TV Festival has revealed nan 10 finalists for its yearly Pitch Competition & Mentorship Program, arsenic good arsenic nan caller advisers who will beryllium lending their expertise to these up-and-comers.
In alphabetical bid by task title, present are nan finalists:
- Divine Intervention, Zina Ellis (half-hour comedy)
- Friendliest, Drew Lausch & Jenny Leon (half-hour acheronian comedy)
- Generations, Darryl Mansel (hour-long subject fiction)
- GFF: Ghost Friends Forever, Tyler Stuart (half-hour comedy)
- Habibi, Saleh Karaman (hour-long dramedy)
- King Senior High, Laila Wilson (half-hour comedy)
- Silver Spoon, Lucy Porter (half-hour comedy)
- The Townhomes, Ivan Rome (half-hour comedy)
- Thumpers, Dawn Kalani Cowle (hour-long drama)
- Wonder Child, Jessica Tolliver (half-hour comedy)
Each applicant was selected via a 90-second video transportation and a penning sample for a scripted series. Now, these 10 finalists will transportation unrecorded astatine nan show adjacent period successful beforehand of a sheet of manufacture judges including showrunners, producers and executives.
The victor will person a book publication and wide gathering pinch astatine slightest 3 ATX TV transportation judges aliases ATX TV panelists for feedback, transportation mentorship pinch a showrunner aliases executive, and 3 wide transportation meetings. A runner-up will get immoderate feedback arsenic good via 2 wide meetings pinch ATX TV transportation judges aliases ATX TV panelists.
The Pitch Competition & Mentorship Program was designed to thief emerging writers return meaningful steps toward building a profession successful television. Following nan festival, nan finalists will participate successful a year-long programme that provides individualized mentorship, manufacture access, and ongoing support.
The programme besides includes monthly virtual roundtables featuring manufacture leaders who tin springiness profession proposal and insight, guidance connected really to hole for meetings pinch executives, producers, agents, and managers, and a look wrong nan soul workings of a writers’ room.
Here are this year’s mentors:
Molly Arkin, Creative Executive, Okay Goodnight
Rika Dharmesh Bhakta, Development Executive/Producer
Mitchell Bendersky, Manager & Owner, Expectation Management
Laura Johnson, Director of Development, Doozer Productions
Sara Karimipour, Emmy Nominated Writer
Logan Kovarick, VP, Good Karma Productions
Disha Manocha, Writer
Shruti Marathe, Director of Development, Unicorn Island
Ashley Mathew, Independent Producer and Consultant (Graphic India)
Emilio Mazariegos, Creative Executive, Yoruba Saxon
Lyra Tan, Manager/Producer
Aaron Van Pelt, Manager, Comedy Development, Sony Pictures Television
“The Pitch Competition & Mentorship Program remains a cornerstone of ATX TV’s committedness to discovering and supporting caller voices,” Emily Gipson, Co-Founder and Co-President of ATX TV Festival said successful a connection Friday. “We’re excited to activity pinch this year’s finalists arsenic they create their projects and return nan adjacent steps successful their careers. Discovering caller writers and collaborating pinch them done this process is incredibly energizing, and we can’t hold to spot them bring their pitches to life.”
Gipson co-facilitates nan programme alongside improvement executive and shaper Rika Dharmesh Bhakta, who besides leads a transportation shop up of nan show to hole finalists for nan unrecorded title and useful intimately pinch participants passim nan twelvemonth to supply feedback connected pitches and scripts.
“In this unpredictable industry, this programme brings america backmost to what we emotion most—television—and grounds america successful 3 elemental things: creativity, collaboration, and community,” Bhakta added successful a statement. “My dream is to thief guideline these writers into nan adjacent shape of their careers by fostering meaningful relationships and ensuring they time off nan programme pinch a strong, polished sample fresh to stock pinch nan industry.”
ATX TV Festival Season 15, which will return spot successful Austin, Texas, from May 28 to 31, 2026.
