Stareable Fest 2020 Official Selections and Virtual Event Programming

Stareable Fest 2020, the third annual premier web series and indie TV festival, announced its 2020 Official Selections and virtual event programming taking place October 14 – 18. Talented web series and digital creators from around the world submitted their work for the opportunity to be considered for virtual meetings with major network executives and official selections will be reviewed by an esteemed panel of judges for overall category winners. The festival’s programming has been adapted to become entirely virtual while expanding opportunities for networking and meetings between creators and industry executives.

“It’s exhilarating to see the national and international talent that submitted our largest seen number of submissions for Stareable Fest – in fact, we received 30% more submissions this year over last year,” said Ajay Kishore, founder of Stareable, the platform hosting Stareable Fest. “We’ve created a dynamic virtual program this year that offers our under-represented creators the chance to put their work in front of top executives. We already know many of these submissions will become trending hits.”

This year’s festival showcases 42 Official Selections representing the new generation of web series and television talent from around the world. The selections include 15 short-form comedy, eight comedy, nine short-form drama, five drama, and five unscripted/reality/documentary. Awards will be given for: Best Of, Writing, Acting, Editing, Cinematography, Directing, and Innovation in Storytelling (i.e. new media interactive/transmedia elements).

Representing 10 countries, the Stareable Fest 2020 Official Selections are:

Short Form Comedy (under 10-minute episodes)

“Alex Is Black” (U.S.)
All Hail Beth (U.S)
Avocado Toast (Canada)

Bong Zombies (U.S.)
The Boxcar Adults (U.S.)
Grey Nomads (Australia)
Hammersmith (U.S.)
Heart to Heart (United Kingdom)
Hospital Show (Canada)
How to Buy a Baby (Canada)
Hyper-Distracted (Canada)
Just Hysterics (Canada)
Pull My Finger (Australia)
Sideways Smile (U.S.)
TANKED (Canada)

Comedy (10 minutes+)

An Introduction to Thribing: Snapshots of Kiren (U.S.)
Butch Pal for the Straight Gal (U.S.)
Carpark Clubbing (Australia)
Embarrassing Parents Anonymous (Australia)
‘Entitled’ (U.S.)
Head Honchos (U.S.)
LO: The New Adventures of Ultimate Man’s Ex-Girlfriend (U.S.)
Pre Mortem (U.S.)

Short Form Drama (under 10-minute episodes)

The Crown Experiments (U.S)
Detention Adventure (Canada)
La Festa Triste (“The Sad Party”) – Game Series (Italy)
Nun Habits (U.S.)
One Woman (Israel)
Save Me (Canada)
SCRiBBLES (U.S.)
The Square Root (U.S.)
W. (Luxembourg)

Drama (10 minutes+)

Haus Kummerveldt (Germany)
Peter Pan (U.S.)
STORMCHASER (U.S.)
SWIPE (Netherlands)
Work/Friends (U.S.)

Unscripted/Reality/Documentary

Bananas (Australia)
Get It To Te Papa (New Zealand)
How Do They Bone? (U.S.)
Racist Trees (U.S.)
Who Killed Lucy the Poodle? (New Zealand)

The lengthy list of selections represents those who are often not given the chance to share their voice including women, people of color, and the LGBT+ community. This year, AMC Networks is sponsoring a competition to recognize the best female creators and award those finalists meetings with AMC executives for consideration to be acquired by the major network. Over the last two years of the festival, Official Selections had one-on-one meetings with HBO, Comedy Central, PBS, NBC Universal, and more, resulting in acquisitions by the major networks.

The Festival will take a virtual approach to programming, enabling even more opportunities for talented creators to meet and engage with top industry executives. The extended festival will take place online October 14 – 18 with early rate tickets for $10, regular tickets $20, and tickets during the festival will be $30. Early rate tickets can be purchased starting August 21st https://bit.ly/SF2020tix. Attendees will enjoy screenings, workshops, panels, an industry marketplace, a live pitch competition, and an awards ceremony honoring the best creators and talent in the business.

Interactive panels and discussions with entertainment industry icons will include:

Balancing Access and Agenda in Non-Fiction: How do non-fiction filmmakers make compelling content while balancing issues of access and agenda? Documentaries like Michael Jordan’s The Last Dance make it clear that today’s athletes want to control their own biographies. But how do filmmakers weigh that against their pursuit of objective storytelling capturing multiple perspectives?

The Online Comedy Landscape: Covering 1) the rapid evolution of the ecosystem over the past few years 2) whether it is still economically viable to make content for an online-exclusive audience and if so, how? 3) what are the companies and business models that are navigating this the best?

Producing during COVID: How is the industry rising to the challenge by continuing to produce content during the pandemic? What do virtual writers’ rooms look like? How are we creating social distancing on set? What are the lessons being learned that will still be applicable when life returns to normal?

Narrative Storytelling as Activism: How can narrative storytelling support social justice initiatives, even when it’s not explicitly political in nature? How do we reckon with television’s role in perpetuating biases and stereotypes, and collectively make a change for the better? Why is storytelling such an important asset in the revolution?

The program schedule will be announced soon. Among this year’s sponsors are AMC Networks, collaborative screenwriting software brand WriterDuet, and coffee subscription service, Yes Plz Coffee, with other big-name brands to be announced soon.

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