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SAG-AFTRA has been a part of the SeriesFest lineup since Season One, before the world had any idea of the future impact this festival would have on the landscape of television. For those of you who may not know, SeriesFest is a festival where television pilots go to be discovered. It is affectionately called the “Sundance of television,” attracting content creators from across the United States and around the globe.

SeriesFest, the esteemed international festival and non-profit organization dedicated to championing emerging and underrepresented voices in episodic storytelling, today announced the 45 titles from all over the world participating in the International Independent Pilot Competition at SeriesFest: Season 10.

SERIESFEST REVEALS ADDITIONAL EVENTS FOR SEASON 10 LINEUP FEATURING DAYMOND JOHN, LINDA POWELL, SHARI BELAFONTE, JODI LONG AND KICK GURRY, SCREENINGS FROM APPLE TV+, PEACOCK AND SYFY, PLUS MARK DUPLASS HONORED WITH ‘EXCELLENCE IN ACTING’ AWARD

BEYONC​​É’S “COWBOY CARTER” DANCE PARTY WITH GRAMMY-WINNING DJ YOUNG GURU AT ICONIC RED ROCKS AMPHITHEATRE FOR CLOSING NIGHT CELEBRATION

Randi Kleiner felt like an 8-year-old at her birthday party as she fretted inside the Sie FilmCenter. It was 2015, the opening year of the SeriesFest TV festival and, as with a birthday party, there was no guarantee people were going to show up.

” ‘Is anyone actually coming?’ ” the festival co-creator recalled wondering as she unlocked the doors at the theater on East Colfax Avenue. “I was anxious.”

Not only did people show up that first year, they’ve also continued to blow past her expectations. Now in its 10th year, the nonprofit SeriesFest draws more than 12,000 attendees annually and commands a $2.7 million budget. Kleiner expects attendance to grow by another 2,000 this year, based on current ticket sales for the public event.

DENVER — Actor Jocko Sims and Dr. Nia Schwann Mitchell joined forces at SeriesFest: Season 10, an annual TV festival in Denver to participate in a panel on the importance of Black doctors.

The event included a screening of the TV show “New Amsterdam” followed by a panel discussion on representation in medicine on the big screen and in real life medical settings.

Sims, who played Dr. Floyd Reynolds on the show “New Amsterdam,” said the role taught him about the impact he can have on future generations who watch the show and see a Black man playing the role of a doctor.

“Being on New Amsterdam, I had parents reach out to me to say, ‘Thank you for the role that you’ve played… My Black son or daughter now want to be doctors because of Dr. Reynolds.’ And that was very inspirational,” Sims said. “I think it was about that time where I started to realize, well, this show and this role that I have is making a greater impact than I realized. And I started to look and I started to learn about the disparities in health care.”

Sims said those disparities recently hit close to home.

SeriesFest is thrilled to announce award winners for Season 10!

International television festival and non-profit organization SeriesFest revealed the winners of its Season 10 Independent Pilot Competition at an awards presentation on Sunday in Denver, capping off the 2024 event. Jurors screened 45 pilots from creative voices around the globe at this year’s milestone celebration and selected winners in categories including “Independent Pilot,” which receives $25K in-kind post production support from Company 3, “Digital Short Series,” “Late Night” and “Pitch-A-Thon.”

For the past five years, Beers, alongside Shondaland founder Shonda Rhimes and Head of Creative Production Tom Verica, have partnered with SeriesFest to offer on-the-rise female directors the opportunity to shadow Shondaland productions with the Women Directing Mentorship (…) As for the SeriesFest leadership team, they have nothing but praise for Beers and her Shondaland team, as they continue to work together with the Women Directing Mentorship program, which was awarded this year to writer/director Shelby Blake Bartelstein.

Most people, after having the marathon couple of months that Shondaland Creative Partner Betsy Beers has had, would take some time off to unwind. While it’s normal for the self-described “Eveready Bunny” to hop from one thing to the next without pause, the past few months have required an especially large amount of stamina: going to Denver in May to accept a well-earned Impact in Television Award at the TV symposium SeriesFest and then to New York weeks later for the global premiere of the third season of Bridgerton, as well as the London premiere soon after that, along with the day-to-day demands of being half of the top TV team in Hollywood, alongside Shonda Rhimes.

SeriesFest is a non-profit organization that champions and empowers artists at the forefront of episodic storytelling. Each year, they host a one-of-a-kind television series festival, which features up-and-coming work and their makers screening alongside industry leaders in discussion about the television and streaming industry. Here’s our Managing Director Amanda Needham’s top five takeaways from the event.