Randi Kleiner and Kaily Smith had an idea for a festival that celebrated television much the way the Sundance Film Festival highlights indie film. Budding and veteran creators would get a public-facing platform; industry types would be drawn to new work; business veterans would share insights; and panels would bring creatives together to tell stories about, well, their storytelling.
Oh, yeah, and there’d be some killer guests who’d make certain the gathering had the feel of the place to be.
Nine years in, SeriesFest continues to make good on that vision of an episodic storytelling festival that is generative, illuminating and, at times, a little mind-blowing. (The 2019 Innovation Talk with Liberty Global CEO Mike Fries and Netflix’s Ted Sarandos remains a high point.)
SeriesFest Season 9 launches Friday at the Sie FilmCenter and concludes May 10 with comedian and television doyen Chelsea Handler headlining her first-ever Red Rocks show. Joel McHale will be onstage, too, for his Fox series “Animal Control.”
“The quality of television has just exploded in the past year, and it’s so amazing and unique to watch this incredible content in a state-of-the-art theater with an audience,” Kleiner wrote in an email. “And then you get to hear from the talent who create and star in these series. You get a behind-the-scenes look at how and why shows get made, fun facts, get to know your favorite creators and stars, as well as meet the next generation of creators.”
Because it attracts industry out-of-towners, it can feel a little daunting for the layperson. Just consider yourself a fly on the wall or a lucky eavesdropper. (That the Writers Guild of America membership went on strike earlier this week makes this an interesting, if anxious, time.) And once you sit in one of the Sie FilmCenter’s movie theaters for a competition screening and watch a handful of indie pilots, you may be hooked.
Here are five promising entry points that give you a tiny taste of the festival’s many delights. For the full schedule of panels, screenings, pitch-a-thons and more, go to seriesfest.com.
Be a participant-observer
Podcasts have made inroads into the episodic storytelling landscape, so of course they have a presence at SeriesFest. Attend the panel “Turning Podcasts into Television’s Next Big Hit with Orbit Media” (Tuesday, May 9, 4 p.m. Sie FilmCenter). Or watch one being made when actor Paul Giamatti and philosopher Stephen Asma record an episode of “Paul Giamatti’s Chinwag with Stephen Asma,” a show that boldly goes … well, all over the place. Seriously, this week’s episode features William Shatner talking about taking mushrooms in Amsterdam and more. Saturday, May 6, 6:30 p.m., Sie FilmCenter.
Celebrate some visionaries
SeriesFest will be honoring World of Wonder producers Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey (“The Eyes of Tammy Faye,” “Party Monster” and “RuPaul’s Drag Race”), along with WOW exec Tom Campbell with its Impact in TV Award. And what better way to throw a celebratory party than to also share the world premiere of the newest season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race: All Stars”? Screening on Monday, May 8, 3:30 p.m. Sie FilmCenter.
Go global
SeriesFest continues to expand its international reach, screening impressive series and flying in their creators and talent. This year, there are 55 new series screening in the international competition blocks.
“It’s exciting to bring such huge international hits to the U.S. to give audiences a taste of something they wouldn’t otherwise be able to see,” said director of programming Claire Taylor. One screening during what promises to be a powerful afternoon event, the Canadian series “Bones of Crows” tells a multi-generational saga tracking the reverberations in an indigenous family whose children were sent to residential schools. In attendance: “Alaska Daily” standout Grace Dove, Carla Rae of “Rutherford Falls”, series producers and writer-director Marie Clements. Saturday, May 6, 12:45 p.m., Sie FilmCenter.
Be there at the start of something special
SeriesFest is always fostering new industry partnerships that nurture fresh voices. In partnership with Janelle Monáe’s Wondaland Pictures, the festival’s Storytellers Initiative will host a live reading of the winner of the SeriesFest’s Storytellers Script Writing Competition: “Soul City,” written by Lori Webster Fore and directed by Denzel Whitaker. Taylor says Wondaland’s mandate was “to find stories that are ‘radical and rebellious’ and ‘spark joy.’” Monday, May 8, 8 p.m., Sie FilmCenter.
Sneak into the C-Suite
The festival’s Innovation Talks provide a chance to understand the wild ride that television and streaming have been taking viewers on and meet those making but also surfing the dramatic waves of the industry. Global Liberty’s Mike Fries’s sit-downs with a top executive always strike an insider, peer-to-peer note. This year’s conversation partner: TelevisaUnivision’s CEO Wade Davis. Monday, May 8, 6 p.m., Sie FilmCenter.
