SeriesFest, Second City Film School and IFA Chicago are proud to present the 2nd Pitch-A-Thon! Roadshow: Chicago. (With additional support from United for Business, Littleton Road Productions, Wana Brands, and Working Artist Group)
Our Pitch-A-Thon! Roadshow: Chicago will take place at 6pm on Wednesday, October 25, 2023 at Second City’s Danny’s Skybox Theater.
This unique program provides independent content creators with an opportunity to participate in an exclusive live pitch session with top television, new media and digital executives in hopes of moving their unproduced projects forward.
The Live Event
The four writers selected to participate in the Pitch-A-Thon! will receive complimentary pitch coaching from Working Artist Group, then pitch to a live panel of experts on October 25th in Chicago at Second City during the special event.
One lucky writer will be chosen as the winner and receive a badge to SeriesFest: Season 10, which takes place May 1 – 5, 2024!
Join Us in Chicago!
Attendees to the Pitch-A-Thon! will watch a talented group of content creators live pitch their new series ideas to top television, new media, and digital executives in hopes of moving their unproduced projects and careers forward. Scroll to learn more about our panelists and pitchers!
Our Expert Panel:
Sophie Blumberg
Manager of Development at Littleton Road
JJ Ingram
Producer on Operator, Chasing the Blues, The Long Dumb Road, Once Upon A River
Ryan Oestrich
Managing Director of Music Box Films
Reza Tabrizi
Executive Producer of Chicago Fire
Get to know the pitchers
Runner up!
Liam Fallows
Mobbed Up
Liam Fallows is from the Philadelphia area and is currently a Chicago-based comedy writer and performer. He is a graduate of The Second City Film School and currently enrolled in the Conservatory program at The Second City under the Saturday Night Live scholarship. He enjoys writing sitcom pilots in the vein of 1960s sitcoms.
Jerry Hsu
The Irresolute Desk
Jerry Hsu is a writer originally from the suburbs of Massachusetts. He’s a graduate of Yale University, where he studied Computer Science and Art, and spent six years working as a product manager at various tech companies before having an existential crisis that led him to enrolling at the Second City Film School. He would like to thank aforementioned crisis for bringing him here, to this point of his life.
Kara Victoria Kinsey
Sedentary
Kara Kinsey is a multi-faceted writer, comedian and performer known for captivating audiences with her indoor possum persona. With a unique blend of heart and horror, Kara explores the worlds of lovable savage monsters otherwise known as women.
Never using her master’s degree in economics, Kara is a stand up, improviser, and sketch comedian whose dad is shockingly not that disappointed in her. Louisiana born and raised, this Sagittarius could not stay put and took her comedy journey through Dallas, D.C., London, and New York before landing in Chicago. Attending illustrious institutions such as Southern Methodist University and The Second City Film School her hunger knowledge is only eclipsed by her hunger for entertaining the masses.
When taking a break from making audiences laugh, she wistfully looks out windows and thinks about being a feral bat in an abandoned glass factory or a three wick Anthropology candle.
Martina Reese
Natural
Writer-director Martina Reese is known for two feature-length films, Zombie (2021) and Exile (2022). Exile received the Best International Feature Film Award at the 2022 Polish International Film Festival. Her short films have received official selection status at international festivals, including Pity (2019 Malta Film Festival), Slow Me Down (2019 French Independent Film Festival, 2022 Golden Bridge Istanbul Festival), and The Librarians (2022 Paris Short Film Festival – Best Comedy Short Film: Festival Director’s Award, Audience Award). Martina lives in Chicago.
Anna Ross
Badger
Anna Ross is a Chicago-based comedy writer and performer. Her 30-minute comedy pilot, Badger, was a 2023 official selection and nominee for Best Short Screenplay at Cindependent Film Festival. Anna writes, directs, performs in and edits sketches for Gold Comedy Digital Production Team Lake Effect, whose sketches have screened at Catalyst Film Festival and with So Fucked It’s Funny in NYC, Chicago, and LA.
