News / TV

52 TV pilots selected for 2017 New York Television Festival Independent Pilot Competition

The New York Television Festival has announced the 52 official selections for the 2017 Independent Pilot Competition.

They include 31 comedy pilots featuring the talents of Lin-Manuel Miranda, Bebe Neuwirth, David Wain, Felicia day, John Early, Kyle Dunnigan, Jemima Kirke, Jamie Kaler, Daniel Kellison, Ian Roberts, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Dot-Marie Jones, Will Janowitz, Ana Gasteyer, Maria Thayer, Betsy Sodaro, Joe Firestone, D’Arcy Carden, Ana Fabrega, Jeff Hiller, Madeline Walter and many more.

All of the action at the 13th annual New York Television Festival takes place Oct. 23-28, 2017, at the Helen Mills Theater and the SVA Theatre.

Among the prizes: Potential development deals from the likes of Comedy Central and truTV.

Comedy Pilots

Bad Dad
[World Festival Premiere]

Created by Jamie Kaler and Greg Porper – Los Angeles, CA
Jimmy Walker never wanted a kid until he needed a kidney, and both arrived at his doorstep at the same time.
Co-Created by and Starring Jamie Kaler (My Boys)

Bartlett
[World Festival Premiere]

Created by Martin Edwards and Chrissy Mazzeo – San Francisco, CA
Washed up advertising exec Roger Newhouse has just 10 hours to turn his life around in a series set in that vast gray area between fraud and re-invention.
From the team behind Freestyle Love Supreme and Featuring Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton) and Utkarsh Ambudkar (The Mindy Project)

Basically Happy
[World Festival Premiere]

Created by Liam Gallogly and Mollie Rehner – Chicago, IL
Mollie and Liam have a tendency to take everything to the extreme, especially when it comes to their relationship.

Benefits with Friends
[World Festival Premiere]

Created by Graceann Dorse – Brooklyn, NY
When Wendy gets diagnosed with cancer and loses her health insurance, Tina saves the day by agreeing to marry her, leaving Jillian in a lurch. A life is saved but will their friendship flatline?
City of Angles 
Created by Delaney Buffett and Katie Corwin – New York, NY
A satirical look at left-coast living where Sasha, a native New Yorker, attempts to navigate her new life in Los Angeles as a Hollywood assistant.

The Company Men
[World Festival Premiere]

Created by Patrick Babbitt, Lee Barats, Walt Delaney, Brian McGovern, and Kevin Walsh – Los Angeles, CA
A series blending the daily lives of offbeat office drones with the absurd sketch comedy of The Company Men.

Dark of the Night
[World Festival Premiere]

Created by Eric Yearwood and Alex Meyers – Brooklyn, NY
Join fearless truth-seekers Eric and Alex as they take on the world of conspiracies and the paranormal, via talk show.

Detective Detective
World Festival Premiere]

Created by Pearson Jenks – Brooklyn, NY
A detective digs through details to determine which dangerous dame did away with a dipshit.
Flatbush Misdemeanors
Created by Dan Perlman and Kevin Iso – Brooklyn, NY
Longtime friends Dan and Kevin adjust to their evolving surroundings in the unforgiving environment of Flatbush, Brooklyn.

Gentle Dan
[World Festival Premiere]

Created by Dan White, Kyle Bethea, and Tim Lyons – Chicago, IL
When Dan’s temporary rough patch becomes an extended residency in the basement of his sister’s McMansion, he slowly adjusts to a new life in the suburbs and all the people who come with it.

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.
Pilot is a continuation of 2014 NYTVF Official Selection. Executive Produced by David Wain (Wet Hot American Summer) and starring Ben Kronberg (The Half Hour on Comedy Central), Zandy Hartig (Children’s Hospital), and featuring Jo Firestone (The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon) and Kyle Dunnigan (Inside Amy Schumer)

Guilty
Created by Katie Novotny, Erin Conroy, and Emma Smith – Chicago, IL
Katie Donovan, a 20-something in Chicago, is dealing with different temptations every day. From drinking too much before Mass to dating outside of her religion, Katie must find the strength to shed her Catholic guilt to be the person she wants to be instead of the Catholic girl her parents raised.

Jeff’s Place
[World Festival Premiere]

Created by Jeff Galfer, Sky Soleil, and Andrew Fleischer – Los Angeles, CA
Twin Peaks and Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood converge in this strange new world of lessons, sharing, and parallel realities.

Let Me Die a Nun
[World Festival Premiere]

Created by Sarah Salovaara – New York, NY
This series follows the opposing but intersecting trajectories of a lesbian novice nun, her Jewish stalker, and the object of her affection.
Starring Ana Fabrega (Portlandia) and Hari Nef (Transparent)

Misery Loves Company
[World Festival Premiere]

Created by Emily C. Chang and Sara Amini – Los Angeles, CA
Two friends navigate being women of color in a post-election world, while trying (and failing) at a #blessed life in LA.
Co-Created by and Starring Emily Chang (The Bold Type)

Nest
[World Festival Premiere]

Created by Nick Leveski – Richmond, VA
A “mysterious” “teen” with a “shadowy” past meets a “super cool” restaurant owner with a heart of “gold” and a passion for “helping” troubled teens.

Network Zero
[World Festival Premiere]

Created by Kevin Pedersen – Los Angeles, CA
A motley crew of survivors after the end of the world build a colony around an old abandoned public access television station and broadcast their odd assortment of post-apocalyptic shows out into the wasteland.
Starring Maria Thayer (Those Who Can’t), Betsy Sodaro (Comedy Bang! Bang!, Animal Practice), Timm Sharp (Blunt Talk, Enlightened)

New York is Dead
[World Festival Premiere]

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. Created by Jenn Harris and Matthew Wilkas (Gayby), Directed and Executive Produced by Randy Harrison (Queer as Folk), Featuring Bebe Neuwirth (Frasier, Cheers) and Jeff Hiller (Nightcap)

Night Crew
[World Festival Premiere]

Created by Mike Cabellon, Adrien Pellerin, and Katie Sicking – New York, NY
Three data entry employees work the graveyard shift at the Pentagon, where they have access to the world’s biggest secrets and little to no accountability.)

Primos, Inc.
[World Festival Premiere]

Created by Lucien Flores and Michela M. Smith – New York, NY
Two Latino cousins gentrify their immigrant family’s customs and traditions to appeal to Brooklyn hipsters.
Starring Jon Rua (Hamilton, In the Heights) and Federico Rodriguez (Bull)

Projecting
[World Festival Premiere]

Created by James III, Jonathan Braylock, James Carr, and Jerah Milligan – New York, NY
Three overly opinionated movie theater employees project their point of views on the unsuspecting public.

Rap Skool
[World Festival Premiere]

Created by Nnamdi Ngwe and Amechi Ngwe – Chicago, IL
Rob and Davis join a school of rap for the middle class and realize it’s tougher than they expected.

Royally
[World Festival Premiere]

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.
Featuring Christina Seidel (Boardwalk Empire)
Shit Kids
Created by Kyle Dunnigan – Los Angeles, CA 
The daughter of an earth-shatteringly boring couple, along with the son of an equally humdrum set of parents, have decided to plot their parents’ murders.
Created by and Starring Kyle Dunnigan (Inside Amy Schumer), Executive Produced by Daniel Kellison (Executive Producer – Jimmy Kimmel Live!), and Starring Candace Brown (Head Case)
Sneakers
Created by Rachel Wolther & Amy Zimmer – New York, NY
Determined and foolhardy, Amy brings her entrepreneurial spirit to the world, to unwieldy and surprising results.
Featuring Ana Fabrega (Portlandia), Jaboukie Young-White (Rough Night), Gary Richardson (Don’t Think Twice)

Solving Leah
[World Festival Premiere]

Created by Leah Bonnema, Melissa Pinsly, and Franklin Zitter – New York, NY
A lovable, anxiety-ridden accountant is wrongly accused of murder and vows to find the killer herself.
Featuring Will Miles (The Chris Gethard Show)

Splunch
[World Festival Premiere]

Created by Moujan Zolfaghari, Timothy Dunn, Michelle Ciotta, Silvija Ozols, Johnathan Fernandez, Hudson Meredith, Trevor Williams, Michelle Francesca Thomas, David Sidorov, Mehdi Barakchian, and Kristen Bartlett – New York, NY
Move over Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu. Splunch is here, and it’s going to #change the way you #consume your #content.
Co-written by Kristen Bartlett (SNL)

Starving Artists
[World Festival Premiere]

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.

That Which Speaketh
[World Festival Premiere]

Created by Felipe Di Poi, Ian Faria, Sam Lanier, Will Niedmann, Kent Smith, and Becca Zeiger – Providence, RI
A surrealist sitcom about a family and their obelisk.

Tuff Boys
[World Festival Premiere]

Created by Ryan Harrington and Isaac Himmelman – Brooklyn, NY
This musical comedy follows twenty-somethings Ryan and Isaac as they traverse the magical Brooklyn of their dreams and discover the true meaning of friendship.

What Ever Happened to the Birches
[World Festival Premiere]

Created by Madeline Walter and Paul Welsh – Los Angeles, CA
A mockumentary-style show about two self-absorbed twins who see their mom’s death as the creative opportunity they’ve been waiting for.
Created by Paul Welsh (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) and Madeline Walter (College Humor Originals), and Featuring D’Arcy Carden (The Good Place) and Ian Roberts (UCB Comedy Originals)

Here’s a sneak peek at them:

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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