Festival tunes audience into inner workings of the television industry

The impending autumn season means cold weather, all-nighters, and Halloween costume anxiety. It also means the return of escapist entertainment in the form of television. With regular TV shows back on screen, New York hosts a celebration for this changing of the seasons.

The seventh annual New York Television Festival showcases the latest in broadcast and independent television, as well as the up-and-coming talent striving to enter the industry. Through Sunday, Sept. 24, NYTVF will hold a variety of screenings, panels, and workshops focused on all things TV.

Part industry event, part public exhibition, NYTVF covers several film competitions, with selected films screened for outside audiences. The Independent Pilot Competition is the core of the festival: 48 short pilots are chosen from filmmakers from all over the world to compete for contracts with networks such as IFC, MTV, and FX.

A festival within a festival, NBC Short Cuts was hosted by actor-comedian J.B. Smoove (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”). The showcase presented the best of NBCUniversal’s Diversity Initiative, which promotes diversity in the film and television industry. One of the most notable films included was “Crossing,” about a black teenager questioning the racial barriers of his Georgia hometown in the ’60s. The film was written and directed by School of the Arts student Gina Atwater.

The highlight of the festival was the Creative Keynote address, on Sept. 22, with “Lost” co-creator and executive producer, Damon Lindelof. Moderated by creator and star of “World of Jenks,” Andrew Jenks, the talk took place on the seventh anniversary of “Lost’s” pilot episode. As an avid fan of “Lost,” Jenks asked the bulk of the questions—mostly on how “Lost” was developed and on Lindelof’s writing process. The “Lost” co-creator and executive producer cited the world creation technique of “Star Wars” and the non-linear storytelling of Tarantino films as some of his biggest influences.

But Lindelof almost never got to tell some of his most famous stories. He revealed that he quit the ABC series several times due to the overwhelming responsibility of running a network show. Lindelof said, “I was certainly at a place in my own life where I was struggling with my own spiritual identity and was very aligned with Jack in terms of sort of feeling like, you know, ‘Show it to me. Let me see it. Like, I don’t buy that anything of this is all happening for a reason.’”

He continued, “Because again, and this sounds like it’s the most obnoxious thing to say because I’m living the dream—all I ever wanted was a job on ‘Alias’ and all of a sudden, I’ve created this show with J.J., and everyone is watching it and it’s on the cover of magazines and it’s all I’ve ever wanted in my life. And I’m totally and completely miserable.”

After the inclusion of his TV mentor Carlton Cuse as showrunner, Lindelof was persuaded to come back and finish the popular albeit controversial drama.

Still to come are the festival’s Development Day (Sept. 23) and Digital Day (Sept. 24) workshops, as well as other independent pilot screenings. Most events are free or low cost, making them ideal for a student budget.

Smoove remarked on the nature of a TV festival that screens multiple shorts rather than one feature-length film at a time. “That’s why I’m about festivals, man,” Smoove said. “It’s like you’re going to the movies and you’re gonna see eight movies just over and over again. You pay one time and you keep sneaking into a new movie.”