ATX Television Festival Announces The First Panels And Programming For Season Seven, Taking Place June 7-10, 2018, In Austin, Tx

ATX TELEVISION FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES THE FIRST PANELS AND PROGRAMMING
FOR SEASON SEVEN, TAKING PLACE JUNE 7-10, 2018, IN AUSTIN, TX

ATX to Reunite “Nash Bridges” Writers Room

Creators Marshall Herskovitz & Edward Zwick Added to
“thirtysomething” Reunion Panel

Director/Executive Producer and DGA President Thomas Schlamme
Joins the ATX Advisory Board

Details Announced for the Annual Pitch Competition and The Black List
Television Writing Program

ATX Television Festival announced the first panels and programming for year seven of the festival, which will take place June 7-10, 2018, in Austin, Texas.

The year will feature a “Nash Bridges” Writers Room Reunion, reuniting creator Carlton Cuse with writers Glen Mazzara, John Wirth, Shawn Ryan, and Pam Veasey, as they discuss their time writing together, and the different paths their successful careers have taken.

ATX will host a reunion of “thirtysomething” with creators Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz, and cast members Ken Olin, Tim Busfield, Patricia Wettig, Peter Horton, Melanie Mayron, and David Clennon, many of whom directed episodes of the series when it was on the air, and went on to direct and produce several other series over the years. The reunion will mark just over 30 years since the series premiered.

Director/executive producer Thomas Schlamme (“Snowfall,” “The West Wing”), who also serves as President of the Directors Guild of America, has joined the ATX Advisory Board. Schlamme becomes the second guild president to join ATX’s board, alongside writer/creator Beau Willimon (“The First”), who is currently serving as President of the Writers Guild of America, East.

In addition, ATX will begin accepting submissions for their annual Pitch Competition on November 1, 2017, with submissions closing on January 19, 2018.

The Pitch Competition aims to gives burgeoning writers the opportunity to pitch their ideas for original scripted series directly to ATX’s studio and network partners, in hopes of getting their show produced. Final Draft Inc. returns as a sponsor of this year’s competition, along with partners The Black List and Sundance Episodic Story Labs, who will each advance top writers within their respective programs to the second round of the ATX Pitch Competition.

To participate, writers must submit a ninety-second video pitch of their scripted idea, along with a 10-page script sample. Following three rounds of judging, the top 10 finalists will have the opportunity to pitch live at this year’s festival to a panel of writers, producers, and executives, who will choose a single winner. The winner will have the chance to pitch his or her idea to an ATX studio or network partner; hone their pitch and script with an industry mentor; sit in on a current series writers’ room, and meet with a top television showrunner.

Past participants have gone on to pitch their winning concept to a variety of studios and networks, including Comedy Central, NBC Universal, Hulu, Amazon, Fox Studios, Happy Madison Productions, and Sony TV Pictures, and have even signed with management during the festival. Season 5’s Pitch Competition Winner, Eric Rudnick, is also currently developing his winning pitch for military ‘traumedy’ “Incoming” as a scripted series, with Apostle and FOX 21 attached to produce. More information on The Pitch Competition and how to submit can be found here.

In addition, ATX & The Black List are partnering for a third year on a writing program aimed at identifying television writers for staffing consideration at participating networks, studios, and production companies, which this year include HBO, Bad Robot, Amblin Television, Annapurna Pictures, Carlton Cuse Productions, Okay Goodnight!, and Kilter Films.

To have their scripts considered, writers must host their original pilots on The Black List website for at least one week during the period from October 17, 2017 to January 8, 2018. Based on all data collected about the scripts during their hosting on the site through January 8, The Black List will identify 10-15 of the strongest scripts (both hour-long and half-hour) to be shared with the participating studios, networks, and production companies, with the goal of identifying writers with whom those organizations would like to work on existing projects.

ATX will also present live script readings of two comedy scripts from the top 10-15 selected from the Black List partnership at the festival in June, with ATX panelists serving as cast for the live readings.
More information and FAQs on opting in to this year’s opportunity can be found here.
For the latest developments and information on how to attend, visit the ATX Television Festival official site www.atxfestival.com and follow us on Facebook & Twitter.

For co-promotion, please link to @ATXFestival #ATXTVs7 on Twitter.

About ATX Television Festival
ATX’s focus is the celebration of the television medium – looking back at its history, where it is now, and where it is headed. Our weekend consists of events in which attendees can interact with actors, writers, directors, creators, showrunners, music supervisors, casting directors and studio executives involved in all stages of bringing their favorite shows to the small screen. We have all the functionality of a traditional film festival – spotlighting classic shows, never-aired pilots, cancelled too soon series, cult favorites, current hits and premieres of new series. In addition, we feature episode screenings with Q&A’s with the cast and creators, panels focused on industry related topics, and parties, live music, meet-ups, social media events and “super-secret happy hours.” ATX’s goal is to serve both the community and industry professionals equally, by giving them the opportunity to discuss and celebrate all aspects of TV.

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Alison Rou
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AlisonRou@AnchorMediaStrategy.com