Official website– ITVFest.org
Facebook Fan Page– www.facebook.com/ITVFest
Now in its fifth year, the Independent Television Festival (aka “ITVFest“) returns to LA from July 30, 2010 to August 5, 2010 at Laemmie Sunset 5 on 8000 Sunset Blvd. The festival kicks off with a Red Carpet Gala on Thursday, July 29 which I have the pleasure of covering, so stayed tuned for more posts about this event. Festival-goers will have the opportunity to view independent television series and web series, attend seminars, and attend varies mixers and parties scheduled throughout the duration of the festival.
If you have a show idea that you’ve been wanting to shop around, looking for inspiration, or simply a fan of independent television then this is an event for you. As Executive Director AJ Tesler explains, ITVFest “will allow people who have previously had little or no access to television decision makers the forum for which they have tirelessly strived.” (source: ITVFest.org)
Prices start at $15 to view one of the shows (see full schedule below by date and time or go to http://itvfest.org/index.php/tickets/schedule/selections/selections-trailers) and $60 for a day pass. There are discounts on pricing for WITI, SAG, and WGA members. Click HERE to see list of seminars. Click HERE to see list of mixers and parties.
Below is a schedule I put together. For trailers, film credits, ticket purchase, and confirm dates/times please go directly to http://itvfest.org/index.php/tickets/schedule/selections/selections-trailers (note: there are 2 pages of shows on the website, look at top right to get to 2nd page of listings).
Friday, July 30
| 3:00 PM | A Good Knight’s Quest | Dorian is just your average avid video gamer, until he finds an undocumented crystal hidden within his favorite role playing game, which transports the game’s princess into his living room. She’s not alone though, and soon the game’s villains and heroes whisk Dorian into an epic quest to find the second crystal lost in this world. Should the villains find it, they’ll free the evil Lord Galen, and enslave humanity. Who will win this game? |
| 3:00 PM | The Ballad of Mary and Ernie | A full sized sheriff in a miniature western town. All of his friends are roughly 8 inches high, including the woman he’s going to marry. Then he meets a full-sized woman…! |
| 3:00 PM | The Superman | The Super Man is a character-driven comedy centered on Mikey an aspiring boxer who takes a job as a building super in a seedy part of Hollywood for free rent…seems like a great idea until he meets his tenants. |
| 5:15 PM | Choir Boys Motorcycle Club | This show chronicles the adventures of the Choir Boys Motorcycle Club, a hard-riding, hard-living club whose members must meet two strict criteria to join. You must ride a Harley-Davidson, and you must be a law enforcement officer. |
| 5:15 PM | Going to Pot | Vicodin, Ambien, Marijuana? The whole state of California is going to pot because it’s now legal to use the once illicit drug medically. The lives of progressive patients and avant-guard employees are explored at a southern California dispensary during this revolutionary time on a groundbreaking new show. |
| 5:15 PM | The Treasure Coast | Join the crew of the Gold Hound as it leaves the dock at Captain Hirams in Sebastian Florida. For more than 17 years, Greg Bounds has made a living scouring the ocean off the Brevard County shoreline finding trinkets and treasures left by ships that sailed hundreds of years ago. Dozens of ships bound for Spain with Treasures from Mexico and South America sank chests of jewelry, coins, ceramic pottery, and cannons remain unaccounted for. |
| 7:00 PM | Deal O’Neal | Cutoff minutes after his college graduation, Deal (named after a c-section discount) is forced to face the real world while dragging along his quirky family and slacker savant roommate on his many opportunistic misadventures. |
| 7:00 PM | Octane Pistols of Fury | Mr. Johnson wants it. He’s sent Vinny and Rufus to get it. Fat Ronnie and Dallas are trying to beat them to it. Where is the Porcelain Buddha? Octane Pistols of Fury is a new crime comedy that follows rival gangsters as they bumble through the New York City underworld |
| 7:00 PM | Off Campus | Five tight-knit but disparate friends move off campus and into a whirlwind of debauchery only peripherally related to class. Observing a chaotic three-way relationship and a friend’s failed suicide attempt, Jake searches desperately for meaning in the madness… |
| 8:30 PM | 15 Minutes | A half-hour dramedy centering around two publicists – the sexy and savvy Karen James, a failed actress/writer from the Midwest, and, Brett Sloan, the silver tongued jaded trust fund kid from Beverly Hills. Together they struggle to maintain their integrity in the high stakes, sometimes unscrupulous and often ridiculous world of celebrity PR. |
| 8:30 PM | Twenty Six Miles | While Jack Kincaid was a winner in the boardroom, he could not figure out how to balance a successful career with a successful marriage. Ultimately, Jack’s wife filed for a divorce and decides to raise their children on the island of Catalina. Suddenly, the man who had it all has found himself with nothing, except for an excuse to start over and re-build his dreams. |
Saturday, July 31
| 1:30 PM | Illuminati Brothers | Two fun-loving brothers inherit the leadership of a secret society that has been running the world for centuries. In the pilot, they cross paths with hot FBI agents, the old men who built Justin Bieber, an immortal Central Park Knight, chloroform rag after chloroform rag and girls in bars! all on their quest to make the world a more awesome place. |
| 1:30 PM | Souvenirs | A love triangle with sharp edges. |
| 1:30 PM | We Are with the Band | ‘We Are With the Band’ chronicles the adventures of two best friends in the hipster scene of East LA. Elle Franklin is a twenty-something Internet blogger. Marci Kline is her recently unemployed best friend. The two girls have one thing in common: their devotion to the Scene. Up on every new band, down with every new trend, they live their lives like one big ‘American Apparel’ ad.But is there more to life than getting an invite to the after party? |
| 3:30 PM | Deal O’Neal | (see description from July 30 showing) |
| 3:30 PM | Good Cop (Blank) Cop | (Blank) Cops are like a box of of donuts: you never know what you’re gonna get. Good Cop, (Blank) Cop is a parody of the classic good cop, bad cop routine. Each episode swaps out the bad cop for a uniquely unprofessional cop character. The (Blank) Cop uses outrageous interrogation tactics, inevitably leading to the suspect’s confession. |
| 3:30 PM | The Geniuses | When Johnny and Sterling find out the girl of their mutual dreams is getting married to a hot shot entrepreneur, they decide to take action and become entrepreneurs themselves in an effort to win their true love’s heart. In “The Genuises” we follow the two ambitious morons as they try one hair-brained scheme to the next in an effort to steal the love of Tanya. |
| 6:30 PM | Birds of a Feather | Birds of a Feather is a show about dreams deferred and second chances. What happens when a group of late thirty-somethings reach a juncture in their lives and realize — frighteningly — that their best years may already be behind hem? Fate intervenes giving them one more chance to discover that in life — failure is an option, but fear is not. |
| 6:30 PM | La Manzana | Five Latin women wind up living in the same building in Spanish Harlem. As they struggle to survive in the city, they not only live the best adventures of their lives but also find the most important bond, a family outside their homes. |
| 6:30 PM | Palisades Pool Party | School’s out for summer and Pacific Palisades popular girl Cassidy Flowers is throwing her first summer bash. With the help of her tight knit clique, Bianca, Tori and Mischa, two athletes with fake IDs, Mario and Scott , DJ Antwon and some kick ass live bands on the bill, this party should go off with out a hitch. Unfortunately for Cassidy’s perfect plans, the universe has something else in mind for her and her friends. |
| 8:15 PM | Axis | An action adventure drama set in modern time, reveals conspiracy after the Earth is thrown off it’s axis on October 22nd 2010. |
| 8:15 PM | Suck and Moan | Despite their lightning fast reflexes, superior strength, and immortality, ‘Suck and Moan’ reminds us all that vampires were people too… |
| 9:15 PM | Callbacks | A desperate father (MADtv’s Michael McDonald) is willing to do whatever it takes to help his daughter break into show business. Also starring Jane Lynch (Glee), Wendi McLendon-Covey (Reno911!) and Eric McCormack (Will and Grace). Created by Guy Shalem (Lovespring International, REX) and Michael McDonald. |
Sunday, August 1
| 1:15 PM | Hot on the Red Carpet | Erin Brown strives to be the next Joan Rivers with her portable red carpet. |
| 1:15 PM | The Dojo | A black belt Brazilian Jiu-jitsu instructor and MMA veteran trains a diversity of fighters, while attempting to keep his family life and dojo in harmony. |
| 1:15 PM | The Wine Guy Unplugged | The Wine Guy Unplugged is a half hour television show hosted by Anthony Gilardi. Anthony takes you on an adventure through wine regions of the world while he discovers his new found passion for all things wine! Anthony will help you approach wine in such a way as to not be intimidated, but to be empowered and confident when talking about, serving, pairing, or selecting wine. |
| 4:00 PM | Concierge: The Series | Concierge, an original web series, captures the day-to-day operations of the Tottenville West, a down-on-its-luck hotel that aspires to greatness. |
| 4:00 PM | Gold | The perennial second-place American Goblins & Gold team must battle personal and professional demons in order to defeat the first-place British at the Role Playing Games World Championship. |
| 4:00 PM | The Hairdos | Jenn and Em are two quirky best friends trying to make it in Hollywood as “the quirky best friend”. Desperate to get their faces Out There, they make cockamamie attempts to get noticed, all the while parading through town in absurdly “quirky” hats and sunglasses. En route to their dreams, they must evade the unthinkable career upsets. But it just might work out when they finally get their big break as the “quirky nuns” in something called a “Skinemax flick.” |
| 6:30 PM | Birds of a Feather | Birds of a Feather is a show about dreams deferred and second chances. What happens when a group of late thirty-somethings reach a juncture in their lives and realize — frighteningly — that their best years may already be behind hem? Fate intervenes giving them one more chance to discover that in life — failure is an option, but fear is not. |
| 6:30 PM | La Manzana | Five Latin women wind up living in the same building in Spanish Harlem. As they struggle to survive in the city,they not only live the best adventures of their lives but also find the most important bond, a family outside their homes. |
| 7:00 PM | Illuminati Brothers | (see description from July 31 showing) |
| 7:00 PM | The Geniuses | (see description from July 31 showing) |
| 7:00 PM | We Are with the Band | (see description from July 31 showing) |
| 8:15 PM | Axis | An action adventure drama set in modern time, reveals conspiracy after the Earth is thrown off it’s axis on October 22nd 2010. |
| 8:45 PM | The Fall of Kaden | A dark cinematic drama as seen through the eyes of Kaden… a paranoid loan shark out to exact revenge on a wild card gambler who ran off with his money. |
| 8:45 PM | The_Source | Two years after a global catastrophe and economic collapse, a group of survivors struggle to develop community amid a harsh world emptied of material resources and rife with conflicts – both new and old. As they struggle with the elements, and with one another, they realize that one of them may be the final hope for humanity’s survival. |
| 9:15 PM | Callbacks | A desperate father (MADtv’s Michael McDonald) is willing to do whatever it takes to help his daughter break into show business. Also starring Jane Lynch (Glee), Wendi McLendon-Covey (Reno911!) and Eric McCormack (Will and Grace). Created by Guy Shalem (Lovespring International, REX) and Michael McDonald. |
Monday, August 2
| 1:15 PM | Concierge: The Series | (see description from August 1 showing) |
| 1:15 PM | Souvenirs | (see description from July 31 showing) |
| 1:15 PM | The Hairdos | (see description from August 1 showing) |
| 4:00 PM | Concierge: The Series | Concierge, an original web series, captures the day-to-day operations of the Tottenville West, a down-on-its-luck hotel that aspires to greatness. |
| 5:30 PM | Rhyme Animal: The Web Series | An ambitious Brooklyn hip-hop DJ rides the coattails of an up-and-coming rapper. One problem: the rapper might also be a cannibalistic serial killer. |
| 5:30 PM | Suck and Moan | (see description from July 31 showing) |
| 6:45 PM | Hamilton Carver: Zombie Pl | An absurdist zombie revenge noir. With ninjas. |
| 6:45 PM | Anyone But Me | Anyone But Me is the addictive, Webby, Telly & Streamy award winning drama about a new generation of New York City teens struggling with identity and modern relationships. The series follows the gay, straight and ethnically diverse characters as they ride the waves of sexual awakening and self discovery – reminding everyone that high school lives on in all of us. |
| 6:45 PM | The Passenger | Michael, a demoted Archangel, is one of God’s Hit-men on earth. Cherubim and Seraphs possessing human form, pass intel to him and other messengers (Angels & Archangels) The mission: kill demonically possessed humans. But a divine conspiracy is brewing, and major spiritual warfare is in motion. Perhaps Michael is only a pawn for a darker agenda. His only hope..to seek his destiny, and try to understand humans in order to save them. |
| 8:30 PM | Odd Jobs | Nate is a neurotic, recently laid-off investment banker. Joe is his unemployed, morally questionable, hustler roommate. Unable to find gainful employment (or pay for his impending wedding), Nate secretly tags along on Joe’s work-for-hire Craigslist adventures. Each episode follows the pair as they blaze a trail through a world in economic crisis, trying on new hats (and hamburger costumes) as they learn the rules of survival. |
| 8:30 PM | Squatters | They made a bet to live rent free…but they didn’t know what it would cost them. 3 rules. 2 wiseguys. 1 stupid solution to a housing problem. |
| 8:30 PM | The Super Man | (see description from July 30 showing) |
Tuesday, August 3
| 1:15 PM | Olga Kay’s Circus | Olga Kay, YouTube personality, stars in this drama about a young girl who runs away to join the circus despite her mother’s pleas. |
| 1:15 PM | The Fall of Kaden | (see description from August 1 showing) |
| 1: 15 PM | The_Source | (see description from August 1 showing) |
| 5:00 PM | Ogden: The Inappropriate Yoga Guy | Ogden, an inappropriate yoga guy is accidentally hired as a guest editor for Yoga Journal Magazine, the largest yoga publication in the United States. |
| 5:00 PM | Stoop Sale | Brad and Daisy, a young couple in New York City, are breaking up and moving out of their apartment. On the last weekend before the move, they are having a ‘stoop sale;’ one last thing they will do together as a couple. Throughout the weekend they deal with many colorful characters, old boyfriends, family members, and most of all, each other. |
| 5:00 PM | The Temp Life | A spoiled temp agency boss loses everything and is forced to temp his way back up the corporate ladder with help from his fellow clock watchers in this comedic tale of karma, revenge and time sheets sponsored by actual staffing company Spherion. |
| 6:30 PM | Finding My Magic | Finding My Magic is an animated program created to help young children (4-7) learn that within them lies the magic power to be positive, happy and successful. They will discover the little black box and ‘me messages’ to build self-esteem, assertiveness and confidence to make good decisions and overcome being shy and bullying. |
| 6:30 PM | Four Angry Men: Billion Dollar Blood Trail | When a pirate, a skeleton, a robot, and a detective fail to save a damsel in distress, they become the target of her husband, the most powerful and vengeful billionaire in the world. Forced to stick together, they must overcome their petty differences if they hope to survive the deadly onslaught of a grieving titan… |
| 6:30 PM | Scottish Ninjas | Freshly settled in America, three kilted warriors make their heroic debut battling “The Executioner”, a primate-delusional, gun wielding maniac. In the process, they catch the attention of the police, media, and a mysterious evil force working behind the scenes. All of which soon learn that the Scottish Ninja’s American dream, is evil’s worst nightmare! |
| 6:30 PM | The Traveling Finger | (animated) A girl has the ability to send things back in time with her magical finger. |
| 8:00 PM | A Good Knight’s Quest | (see description from July 30 showing) |
| 8:00 PM | Good Cop (Blank) Cop | (see description from July 31 showing) |
| 8:00 PM | The Ballad of Mary and Ernie | (see description from July 30 showing) |
Wednesday, August 4
| 11:30 AM | Duncan and Me | Steve and Duncan are best friends. They hang out, watch TV and talk about dude stuff. The only thing that separates them from normal pals is that Duncan is a mini Dachshund. |
| 11:30 AM | Life Advice from Old People | Seth Menachem seeks advice from a cross section of elderly people he meets. |
| 11:30 AM | Mother Approved: Phobias | People are afraid of many bizarre and varied things in the world. In the real life ‘Phobia’ series, ‘Mother Approved’ sketch comedy explores these phobias and tries to imagine how these people deal with and overcome them |
| 11:30 AM | Patrick and Molly and All the Small Things | It’s not about romance. It’s not about sex. It’s about marriage. |
| 11:30 AM | Permanent Stakeout | Two cops, one car, lots of time… For these two cops the stakeout never ends. Forced to spend countless hours on undercover stakeouts that never seem to end, these two cop buddies work out the problems of their lives while keeping the city streets safe. |
| 11:30 AM | Quick Trip Couple | In the comedy web series, ‘Quick Tip Couple,’ a married couple is put to the test when they suddenly become the poster children of ‘green living’ for a national morning show, and must demonstrate environmental tips while television cameras broadcast live from their home. |
| 11:30 AM | Sometimesdaily Explorers | Sometimesdaily Explorers is a travel series hosted by pioneering videoblogger, Amanda Congdon. Amanda road-trips her way across the country visiting quirky places of cultural significance. From an ancient technology superstore to the world’s longest and highest staircase, from the red rocks of Arizona to the shores of Waikiki, Amanda gets around. Amanda is known to get interactive by asking her Twitter followers and Facebook friends to suggest places for her to visit. |
| 11:30 AM | The Jon and Eddie Show | The Jon and Eddie Show follows the fun and fantastical world of Jon and Eddie. From dancing to dining, lounging to figure-skating, each day is an adventure- Just ask their pig, Winston! |
| 5:45 PM | Cell: The Web Series | When a man wakes up in a cell, it doesn’t take long for him to learn he’s not in jail and he’s not alone. As he adapts to his mysterious confinement, he fights to stay who he is while helping someone else remember who they were. |
| 5:45 PM | Olga Kay’s Circus | (see description from August 3 showing) |
| 5:45 PM | Solo- The Series | The saga of an unlikely reality star who is stranded in space when his series is canceled and his wife declares him legally dead. |
| 7:30 PM | Special Screening: Stupid for Movies | In this live 5 camera interactive show, LA Film Critic Association members Mark Keizer and Wade Major (The Digigods) – bring you a weekly look at the best and worst in movies. With their comedic, sometimes neurotic take, Keizer and Major review the latest movies to hit the theater, recommend DVDs to “buy, rent or burn” and assign homework in their “Try This at Home Segment” where the live audience then becomes the critic via Skype and chat room. Special anchor man Chad Vader brings you the news each week. |
| 9:00 PM | Octane Pistols of Fury | (see description from July 30 showing) |
| 9:00 PM | Off Campus | (see description from July 30 showing) |
| 9:00 PM | 15 Minutes | (see description under July 30) |
Curious about what the event will be like? Check out the blog Red Carpet Closet’s post from last year called “ITVFest Opening Gala.” You may also go directly to the ITVFest website at ITVFest.org.
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