SeriesFest has announced the official lineup for SeriesFest: Season 9, which will be held from May 5 to 10 in Denver. RuPauls Drag Race producers will be presented with the SeriesFest Impact in Television Award at the annual festival, Variety can exclusively reveal.
SeriesFest: Season 9 has slated a wide variety of screenings, panels, workshops and sneak peeks/television premieres at this years festival. The non-profit organization is committed to showcasing and uplifting rising talent and underserved communities through episodic storytelling.
This years Impact in Television Award will be presented to RuPauls Drag Race producers Randy Barbato, Fenton Bailey and Tom Campbell, for their pioneering and creative developments in the world of television production. Barbato, Bailey and Campbell will also participate in a panel on Monday, May 8, where audiences can ask the creatives questions.
Were excited to celebrate this amazing content and embrace conversations about the ever-changing industry, Randi Kleiner, co-founder and CEO of SeriesFest, said in a statement. This years festival is an important opportunity for the creative community to come together, to reflect and look forward.
The events screening lineup includes the U.S. premiere of Netflixs Mulligan with creators Robert Carlock and Sam Means; the world premiere of Amazon Freevees Primo with creator, writer and executive producer Shea Serrano and series stars Ignacio Diaz-Silverio and Christina Vidal; and a Season 2 screening of NBCs Grand Crew with creator, executive producer and showrunner Phil Augusta Jackson. A special screening of Foxs Animal Control will be shown at Red Rocks Amphitheatre during the festivals closing night on May 10.
Also on tap: Screenings of Nat Geos A Small Light with writers, showrunners and executive producers Tony Phelan and Joan Rater; a screening of the season two pilot of Everyone is Doing Great with creators and stars, James Lafferty and Stephen Colletti; and the world premiere screening of CNNs The 2010s followed by a panel with executive produce Mark Herzog.
A variety of original pilots will also be making their debut at SeriesFest, including Hit Man: Secrets of Lies, Full Bleed and Grown.
Partnering up with Liberty Global, SeriesFest will honor creatives from across the globe with an international spotlight. An array of eight original works will make their U.S. or world debut at SeriesFest. Many of the series stars and showrunners will be present at the festival, including Elles Kitchen (France) showrunner Lucie Moreau and lead Annabelle Lengronne and Grace Dove from Bones of Crows (Canada). Additional projects and countries represented include Traitor (Israel), The Aerobics Project (France), Dark Angel (Singapore), The Architect (Norway), Detective No. 24 (Sweden) and Snow(Germany).
Panels will include Make Em Laugh! A Spotlight on Comedy Showrunners with Gloria Caldern Kellett, Meredith Scardino, Shea Serrano, Phil Augusta Jackson and Sam Means. Changing the Hollywood Landscape for Persons with Disabilities panel will include Sue Ann Pien (As We See It), Lauren LoLo Spencer (Sex Lives of College Girls) and Madison Tevlin (Champions).
SeriesFest will also feature a live recording of Paul Giamattis Chinwag podcast with Stephen Asma; the Storytellers Initiative Live Read in partnership with Janelle Mones Wondaland Pictures (with this years winner of SeriesFests Storytellers Script Writing Competition, Soul City written by Lori Webster Forand directed by Denzel Whitaker); and the closing night event, A Night of Comedy at Red Rocks Amphitheatre with guests Jay Pharoah, Adam Ray, Joel McHale and Chelsea Handler.
The full lineup can be found at seriesfest.com.