Television is an audiovisual medium that has gone through an unprecedented revolution in the past few years, with platforms opening up for television shows that have gone beyond what anyone could imagine. Today, TV series are released in platforms such as Netflix, Amazon and even Yahoo, giving the consumer the freedom to watch their show at their own pace without waiting for a specific time to watch the next episode (which is how television has worked for years). Thanks to these opportunities and what has been seen of television nowadays, many filmmakers are moving to television in search of more of these opportunities.
Which is why this year, the Guanajuato International Film Festival (always proud to remain a step ahead) is proud to present its first ever edition of the SeriesLab with the purpose of giving interested filmmakers a taste of what it’s like to work in television. This space will offer conference dedicated to top showrunners, directors, screenwriters and talent, as well as the biggest television platforms in the world, such as HBO, SONY, MTV, NBC, DREAMWORKS, FOX and WARNER BROS.
Kirk Ellis, producer of the multi-award-winning HBO miniseri
es John Adams, will be present among other talent from around the world and plenty of national talent including Demián Bichir, Patricia Arriaga, Anaí López, Stephanie Sigman, Carolina Rivera (currently writing for Jane the Virgin), Fernando Sariñana y Gary Alazraki (producer Club de Cuervos, Netflix’s first Mexican television series which will premiere on August 7th).
These workshops and conferences given throughout SeriesLab will show interested filmmakers what a showrunner is, how the television business works, how to adapt a story so it can be told within the frame of a television series, to identify the best platforms and networks for their specific television show, among other doubts they have about this medium that keeps exploding. We will also have a Pitching Market where television executives will hear the pitches that were already signed into this year’s market.
