New York Television Festival 2017 Winners
(released
11/4/2017)
By Douglas Lorah
Click to view Photo Gallery of the Awards Reception
The 13th annual New York Television Festival opened Monday, October 23rd with screenings of truTV's At Home With Amy Sedaris including a visit by Amy Sedaris and TBS's Season Two premiere of Search Party along with Alia Shawkat.
The festival showcased 52 pilots in the Independent Pilot Competition and 20 scripts in the NYTVF Scripts competition.
"A dozen years after our first Festival, I continue to be impressed by the talent that we are attracting from a thriving community of independent creators," said NYTVF Founder and Executive Director Terence Gray. "These individuals and their diverse points of view are making the art form of television better because they have chosen this episodic medium as the way to tell their stories. And we are proud to be in a position to bring them opportunities to showcase their work and advance their careers, while providing industry decision makers with access to this talent."
On Saturday, October 28th, artists were recognized for their projects and scripts at the awards reception held at the Helen Mills Event Space. Click the following link to view photos from the awards reception and you will find all of the winners listed below.
Photo Gallery
2017 WINNERS - INDEPENDENT PILOT COMPETITION
Best Animated Project:
"Tiffany the Teenage Grim Reaper" created by Lauren Rantala (Los Angeles, CA)
Tiffany is your average teenage girl who happens to be a Grim Reaper.
Best Comedy Project:
"New York is Dead" created by Jenn Harris, Matthew Wilkas and Randy Harrison (New York, NY)
A darkly hilarious series about two broke NYC artists who become hitmen to make ends meet.
Best Drama/Dramedy Project:
"Manic" created by Yolanda Carney, Kate Marks and Kimberley Browning (Los Angeles, CA)
An Ivy-league bound, overachieving teen is derailed after a manic episode lands her in a school for children with mental illnesses.
Best Short-Form Digital Project:
"Starving Artists" created by Dewayne Perkins and Aasia Bullock (Chicago, IL)
Comedy duo Aasia and Dewayne go to extravagant lengths to reach their goals of international stardom and complete world domination. Starving Artists is a show about being young, gifted, and black in a world that praises straight, white, and wack.
Best Unscripted/Alternative Project:
"Against All Odds" created by Lucy Smith and Jamie Minty (London, England)
In this game show competition format, five contestants carry five locked bags, but only one contains £100,000. Together, the group must complete an obstacle course across treacherous natural landscapes and make it to the finish line.
Best Actor in a Comedy:
Jeff Galfer for "Jeff's Place" (Los Angeles, CA)
Best Actress in a Comedy:
Rachel B. Joyce for "Royally" (New York, NY)
Best Actor in a Drama:
Jeff Skowron for "Max Riddle" (New York, NY)
Best Actress in a Drama:
Shanice Williams for "Manic" (Los Angeles, CA)
Best Direction:
Dinh Thai for "Monday" (Los Angeles, CA)
Best Editing:
Kent Lamm for "Jeff's Place" (Los Angeles, CA)
Best Writing:
Kris Lefcoe for "Giving Up" (New York, NY)
NYTVF Critics Award
"Royally" Created by Rachel B. Joyce (New York, NY)
A millennial burnout runs a private princess party company as a front for small-time cons, petty theft, and drug peddling.
Overall Best of the Fest Award:
"Giving Up" created by Kris Lefcoe (New York, NY)
A New York couple faces their own deadline to either "make it" or give up their dreams.
2017 WINNERS - NYTVF SCRIPTS
Best Comedy Script (tie):
"Blurs" written by Jonterri Gadson (Bloomfield, NJ)
A women's studies professor and her free-spirited, dysfunctional black family face the challenges of living in the type of town where all 80s/90s films with no black people could take place.
"Maternal Instinct" written by Elizabeth Stamp (Brooklyn, NY)
A serial killer turned suburban stay-at-home mom balances "family first" and "murder in the first" in this dark comedy.
Best Drama Script (new award):
"Fragile State" written by Andrea "AJ" Janakas (Los Angeles, CA)
When a border patrol agent is recruited to work as a spy to help overthrow a country, he doesn't realize that the country he enters is a parallel America on the verge of collapse.
2017 NYTVF DEVELOPMENT DEALS AND NETWORK AWARD WINNERS
Audible Pitch Deals:
Three winners will each receive a development grant to further develop their concepts with Audible.
- Elizabeth Stamp (Brooklyn, NY)
- Julia Mattison and Noel Carey (New York, NY)
- Jordan Mendoza, Shannon Odell and Joanna Rothkopf (New York, NU)
Comedy Central Development Award:
Mike Cabellon, Adrien Pellerin, and Katie Sicking for their project "Night Crew" (New York, NY)
OneX Pitch Deal:
Zandile Tisani (Johannesburg, South Africa)
Red Arrow Entertainment Development Award:
Dewayne Perkins and Aasia Bullock for their project "Starving Artists" (Chicago, IL)
Shudder Pitch Deal:
Andrea Janakas (Los Angeles, CA)
TOPIC Pitch Deal:
TOPIC selected two creators and creative teams from their pitch meetings to enter into further development with the digital studio from First Look Media.
Jonterri Gadson (Bloomfield, NJ)
Emily C. Chang and Sara Amini (Los Angeles, CA)
truTV Comedy Breakout Initiative:
Nick Armstrong for his project "Series Finale: The Series" (Los Angeles, CA)
WEtv Pitch Deal:
Jillian Armenante (Los Angeles, CA)
In addition to the above, New York Women in Film and Television awarded a platinum membership to Sarah Salovaara in recognition of her work on "Let Me Die a Nun," and Just For Laughs ComedyPro awarded the inaugural ComedyPro Award to Moujan Zolfaghari, Timothy Dunn, David Sidorov and Trevor Williams in recognition of their work on "SPLUNCH." The latter award is a package of complimentary passes to the 2018 ComedyPro Conference in Montreal as part of the annual Just For Laughs Comedy Festival.
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