News / TV

Here are the independent comedy pilots accepted into the 2016 New York Television Festival (NYTVF)

The New York Television Festival (NYTVF) announced today that it’d accepted a record 63 independent pilots for its TV and digital consideration this fall.

“We were blown away by the talent and creativity of this year’s submissions – across the board it was a record-setting
year and we had an extremely difficult task in identifying the competition slate. As the TV landscape has evolved and become more competitive over the last decade, we’ve endeavored to complement that growth by cultivating new voices, engaging the industry, and creating a pipeline of opportunities on all sides of the episodic spectrum to maximize the potential of the indie TV community,” said Terence Gray, founder and executive director of the NYTVF.

The 12th annual NYTVF, held Oct. 24-29, 2016, in New York City, will see dozens of comedy pilots vying with others for development deals and prizes from the likes of Comedy Central, IFC, truTV, Seeso and Bento Box.

Here are the comedy pilots for 2016 NYTVF:

30, Debt-Free, and Far From Happy
Created by Ellyn Daniels and Ri Versteegh – Los Angeles, CA
Two self-centered, successful women living in Los Angeles desperately seek to fill the voids in their lives with all the wrong men, often leading to disastrous and hilarious consequences.

Angry Black Women
[World Festival Premiere]

Created by Dahéli Hall and HaJ House – Los Angeles, CA
This satirical series follows two black women working in Hollywood as they reconcile the ways black women are perceived in society with the unique ways they perceive themselves, poking fun at an openly-biased entertainment industry.

Anne and Jake
[World Festival Premiere]

Created by Victoria Bullock – Los Angeles, CA
When a young, headstrong woman from 1814 London time travels to present-day Los Angeles, she finds herself in the apartment of a quirky physicist responsible for her journey.

Brooklyn Sound
[World Festival Premiere]

Created by Julia Mattison and Noel Carey – Brooklyn, NY
This musical mockumentary follows Lucy, the second-generation owner of Brooklyn Sound and Joel, the studio’s head engineer, as they try to save their legendary recording studio and keep their struggling business afloat.

Bucksport For Life!
[World Festival Premiere]

Created by Mike Camerlengo and James Manzello – New York, NY
Since barely graduating from Bucksport High School in 2002, 34-year-old ‘party animal’ Henry Galecki has kept the good times rolling, making him a legend in his own mind – and a loser in everyone else’s.

Craigslist Therapist
[World Festival Premiere]

Created by Dean Cates – Los Angeles, CA
Facing divorce and financial ruin, failed burrito-truck owner Steven Wellish steals his ex-wife’s identity in an attempt to mount a successful therapy practice.

Curfeud
Created by Jeff Murdoch and Jo Scott – Chicago, IL
Two kooky-but-loving parents try to keep tabs on their endless supply of curfew-breaking adult children in this improv-friendly series featuring a who’s who of Chicago comedy.

Don’t Tell Larry
[World Festival Premiere]

Created by Greg Porper and John Schimke – Los Angeles, CA
Two co-workers go to extreme lengths in order to keep big secrets away from their emotionally unstable colleague, Larry.

Door on the Left
Created by Kati Skelton – Brooklyn, NY
Five female friends are stuck in a blank, purgatorial hellscape and are making the most of their strange and horrifyingly hilarious existence.

F’d
Created by Ryan Gowland – North Hollywood, CA
This apocalyptic comedy follows three people living together in a RV who discover that the end of the world is tough, but living together is just hell.

Fransis
[World Festival Premiere]

Created by Mickey Dwyer – Louisville, KY
In a world where humans and puppets coexist, a troubled and furry latchkey kid crosses paths with an inexperienced child therapist. Fransis and Jackie soon find that they lead different but equally lonely lives, and they both could use a little help.

Geeta’s Guide to Moving On
[World Festival Premiere]

Created by Puja Mohindra – Chicago, IL
After her Indian-American Prince Charming dumps her, heartbroken Geeta Gidwani moves back in with her parents and learns to move on with the help of her family and her friends.

Gemma & The Bear!
Created by Kevin R. Free and Eevin Hartsough – New York, NY
This whimsical series about finding love and growing up introduces us to Gemma, a neurotic 30-something woman, and The Bear, her fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants gay, black man alter ego, who awakens in Gemma’s place each night.

Hart of America
Created by Arlen Konopaki and Kevin Gillese – Atlanta, GA
Alcoholic bigfoot, sex-crazed teens, and a hard-nosed murder detective cross paths in the Georgia woods as they each search for what they believe will bring them fulfillment.

#Hashtagging
Created by Diana Wright – Los Angeles, CA
This #snackable series follows the trials and #tribulations of a #millennial couple trying to navigate the (kinda) #real world and deal with not-so-real-world #problems.

Inappropriate Jane Austen
Created by Alex Trow and Katie Gibson – New York, NY
A gaggle of Regency ladies explore what Jane Austen left out about female friendship, engagements, motherhood, and anal sex. If Jane Austen hadn’t been so appropriate, she’d have been…Inappropriate Jane Austen.

Instanews
[World Festival Premiere]

Created by Pearson Jenks – Brooklyn, NY
The team at Instanews is tasked with one thing: getting clicks in an increasingly clickable world. Will the Instanews crew be able to find the next Grumpy Cat to get the attention they deserve, or will they be shut down due to lack of interest (and lackluster listicles)?

Jana & Shasta
[World Festival Premiere]

Created by Tynan Delong, Ryan Bennett, and Ana Fabrega – Brooklyn, NY
After winning a radio contest for two round-trip bus tickets to New York City, simple-minded young couple Jana and Shasta leave their hometown of Kissimmee, Florida for the first time ever and head out to the Big Apple.

Julius
[World Festival Premiere]

Created by Nnamdi Ngwe and John Shaw – Chicago, IL
Lovable, well-meaning service advisor Julius Smith is an unusual selection to be the star of a new reality TV show about his life.

Keith Broke His Leg
[World Festival Premiere]

Created by Keith Powell – Los Angeles, CA
After an accident strips him of his ability to walk without aid, Keith is forced to see the world in a new way when his wife, his friends, and especially his agent don’t make life easy for the incapacitated.

Last Will & Testicle
Created by Byron Lane – Los Angeles, CA
Inspired by true events, a gay man diagnosed with testicular cancer has to tell his quirky friends and family, cope with treatment, and deal with his walking and talking lump of cancer.

Late Bloomers
Created by Uttera Singh – Los Angeles, CA
This comedy follows a young woman who wants to follow her dreams, and a fanny-pack-clad Indian father hoping that she will follow his.

Murder She Joked
[World Premiere]

Created by Jared Jeffries – Brooklyn, NY
Standup-detective Gina Palamano uses her skill at early-90’s-style observational humor to solve murders.

The Next Four Years
[World Festival Premiere]

Created by Hunter Arnold and Nick Blaemire – New York, NY
Recent college graduates Phil and Ana try and fail to “make it” in the real world, forcing them to redefine their idea of success in the process.

On the Bright Side
[World Festival Premiere]

Created by Adam Weinstock, Andy Jones, Alex Whittington, Robert Stephens, and Ben Greene – Los Angeles, CA
When sad-sack Ben inherits his uncle’s LA home, his opportunistic best friends take advantage of the unfortunate circumstances, and together they endeavor to seek out the silver lining of their somewhat grim existence.

Poor Todd
[World Festival Premiere]

Created by Liz Astrof – Los Angeles, CA
A self-proclaimed “low maintenance” pediatric dentist and her long-suffering, under-earning menschy husband deal with everything from humorous daily minutiae to major life struggles like money, career, life insurance, and kids…potentially.

Popclick
[World Festival Premiere]

Created by Quinn Beswick, Josh Margolin, and Samantha Martin – Los Angeles, CA
In this bite-size series, three hopeful-but-hapless aspiring journalists struggle to keep their third-rate gossip site afloat by any means necessary.

The Small Time
Created by Jack Canfora and Andrew Rein – Los Angeles, CA
A web series about struggling literary agent Ben Bernstein as he dredges the bottom of the barrel trying to find an author who can be the next big thing.

Special Forces
Created by Phil Bucci – Los Angeles, CA
A badass detective is forced to work with two lowly, bumbling, not-so-super-powered superhero cops to save the city from villains’ sinister plots.

Textbook Adulthood
[World Festival Premiere]

Created by Madeline Walter and Paul Welsh – Los Angeles
Two SAT tutors wonder if the transitional job they started in their 20’s has turned into a sad career as they enter their 30’s.

Time Out with Yes Please Comedy
Created by Teresa Decher and Jason Nguyen – Los Angeles, CA
From regretfully bad hook-ups to a Wikipedia page dedicated to foot fetishes, this series of comedic vignettes follows the lives of comedy partners and best friends Teresa and Jason.

Tiny House
[World Festival Premiere]

Created by Owen Williams – Los Angeles, CA
After not speaking to each other since their mom’s death nine years before, three misfit siblings return home to squabble over their last remaining inheritance– the family home.

Triffany & Briffney
Created by Kady Ruth Ashcraft, Alise Morales, and Geoffrey Stevens – New York, NY
Triffany and Briffney are two hardworking assistants who, could they do anything, would do everything for their wretched bosses.

Unmarketable
[World Festival Premiere]

Created by Megan Koester and Steven Feinartz – Los Angeles, CA
A misanthrope comedian proves to be her own worst enemy when it comes to finding success.

The Vampire Leland
[World Festival Premiere]

Created by Ken Ferrigni, Tony Manna, and Tijuana Ricks – Brooklyn, NY
Leland, an overweight, balding 35-year old is accidentally turned into a vampire by a melancholy, two-hundred-year-old blood-sucker named Marius, who hates his undead life.

The Worst Husband
[World Festival Premiere]

Created by Steve Dildarian – Los Angeles, CA
Vance Johnson is a decent guy who is newly married and new to the suburbs. Confronted by judgmental neighbors, conservative in-laws, and nosy co-workers, his good deeds somehow get twisted and misunderstood, and he comes across looking like the worst guy ever.

Written Off
[World Festival Premiere]

Created by Antoine McKay and Margie Shabazz – Chicago, IL
The fashion section of The Chicago Truth is shutting down, rendering Keith and Liam jobless. These two best friends and cohorts have no choice but to reinvent themselves and put their journalistic talents to work.

Yidlife Crisis
Created by Eli Batalion and Jamie Elman – Montreal, QC, Canada
Chaime and Leizer, best friends and debating adversaries, tackle life, love, and lactose intolerance in this foodie centric series done entirely in their grandparents’ Yiddish.

 

Sean L. McCarthy

Editor and publisher since 2007, when he was named New York's Funniest Reporter. Former newspaper reporter at the New York Daily News, Boston Herald and smaller dailies and community papers across America. Loves comedy so much he founded this site.

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