Amid the classic, flashy film and television premieres this week at SXSW, the festival also offered a forum for burgeoning creators to showcase their work in the Independent TV Pilot Program.
These seven wide-ranging pilots rely primarily on personal experiences — from mental illness to queer identity — while also taking creative risks to offer something new to the television landscape.
Screened throughout the week, the pilots debuted at the Rollins Theatre at The Long Center on March 9 to a receptive crowd, which included Woody Harrelson, who attended in support of former Champions co-star Kevin Iannucci’s project R&R.
Following the premiere screening, the creative teams from each project took the stage to discuss the unique challenges that independent filmmakers are facing in the current television environment and how those were overcome on their projects, including lack of financing and resources.
Woody Harrelson, Kevin Iannucci, JJ Herz
SXSW
Per the jury results, F*ckups Anonymous, from Showrunner Joe Tierney and director Kat Whalen, won the competition and Denim, from showrunner and director Tedra Wilson, received a special jury award.
However, the audience still has yet to weigh in on a winner. Audience Award Voting will conclude on Saturday, March 15. Winners will be announced that week.
See more about each pilot below.
BULLDOZER
Screenwriter: Joanna Leeds
Director: Andrew Leeds
Logline: An under-medicated, chronically impassioned young woman lurches from crisis to crisis of her own making.
CIGARETTES
Screenwriter: Sarah Mokh
Director: Sarah Mokh
Logline: While awaiting her college decision, Nora sees Ali outside a gas station asking for cigarettes and impulsively buys him a pack. What starts as a small gesture quickly escalates when she decides to spend the day helping him settle a pressing debt.
DENIM
Screenwriter: Tedra
Director: Tedra
Logline: In this pilot episode of “Denim”, we explore the powerful journeys of three LGBTQIA+ creatives who are shape shifting their industries through fearless self-expression. Kidd Kenn, carving out his own path as a queer rapper in hip hop, speaks boldly about transforming the music scene. Bishme Cromartie, winner of Project Runway All Stars Season 20, opens up for the first time about being a gay designer from Baltimore and navigating the fashion world. We also introduce Deniim, a Baltimore creative who shares her story of sexual reassignment surgery through a beautiful fusion of animation and music. Each of these trailblazers is pushing boundaries, driving the change the creative world needs.
F*CKUPS ANONYMOUS
Screenwriter: Joe Tierney
Director: Kat Whalen
Logline: Having pushed his mother to the point of last resort, rebellious teenager Joe is abducted from his bed and delivered to a therapeutic boarding school with controversial methods. Now in the unenviable position of being the new kid on his first day, he witnesses a vicious public dressing down of a fellow student at the hands of both staff and students. Joe is forced to come to an understanding of both why he’s here and what he can expect from the new set of rules that are thrust upon him. Based on writer/producer Joe Tierney’s own personal experience.
MR. CORRUPTION
Screenwriter: Simeon Hu, Stephen Law
Director: Simeon Hu
Logline: In 2012, China launched its massive anti-corruption campaign, Cai is one of the many Chinese businessmen that fled to the US. A post plastic surgery Cai meets his estranged son James at a burger joint in Ojai. With a poorly drawn map, the duo begins their journey into the mountains to find the buried 3 million dollar cash, for Cai to escape and for James to pay his debts. Yet, someone is already tracking them down.
R&R
Screenwriter: JJ Herz
Director: JJ Herz
Logline: “R&R” is a comedic pilot following Robbie and Rachel, codependent twins trying to “make it” in LA. Rachel (a sarcastic, raunchy, gay mess) brings the chaos, and Robbie (a neurotically organized, hopeless romantic with Down syndrome) cleans up the pieces.
In a typical, yet chaotic, day in their lives, the twins do all the quintessential 20-something things: work horrible service industry jobs, accidentally take laxatives, fill up their gas tank in $10 increments, and of course, start a podcast. Offering audiences the chance to laugh with the leads instead of at them, “R&R” takes your preconceptions about queer and disability representation and gives it the big middle finger.
STARS DINER
Screenwriter: Mary Neely, Fidel Ruiz-Healy, Tyler Walker
Director: Fidel Ruiz-Healy, Tyler Walker
Logline: Between threats of foreclosure, complete incompetence, and angry customers, Wendy and her ragtag staff struggle to keep their beloved Stars Diner afloat. And to make things worse – a geologically improbable volcano threatens to end all life in Fresno, California. Can Wendy find inner strength and use the power of friendship to save the diner from pyroclastic pandemonium and the mediocre forces of regional banking?
