The New York Television Festival will introduce the NYTVF fellowship program at this year’s festival, which will begin Wednesday.
The program will pair four seasoned television producers with the creators of four of the independent pilots that will be screened (at this year’s festival.
The producers participating are Mitchell Hurwitz, creator and executive producer of Arrested Development; Michael Davies, executive producer of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and The Power of 10; Tom Fontana, executive producer of St. Elsewhere and Oz; and Phil Rosenthal, creator and executive producer of Everybody Loves Raymond.
Each producer will pick the pilot maker they would like to mentor based on their work in the independent pilot competition. From there, they will help the pilot maker develop their next television project.
The inaugural fellowship class will be announced at the closing-night awards ceremony Sept. 9.
“The fellowships speak directly to the core mission of the festival, which is to facilitate access in television,” NYTVF founder Terence Gray said. “Now, some of our most promising pilot makers have an incredible opportunity to further not just their careers, but their maturation as artists under the guidance of some truly outstanding TV minds.”
