By Ryan Flaherty

As we conclude our coverage of Seriesfest Season 5, it’s crucial to remember why independent television is so paramount to the future of the business.

Within the entertainment industry, television is often perceived as inferior to film. The largest festivals in the circuit, like Sundance and South By Southwest, have a huge emphasis on film, and television is secondary. Even things like the ATX Television Festival don’t have a focus on independent television- only big ticket items like screenings and panels for mainstream shows. In short, there really isn’t an event focusing on indie television (except for SeriesFest). Independent projects are an incredibly crucial part of the film business with cult favorites like Donnie Darko, The Usual Suspects, and Lost in Translation- and the list is expanding every year. Unfortunately, the same doesn’t exist on that scale for television, although it should. This year at SeriesFest, some of the projects that I saw I enjoyed more than most television I’ve seen throughout this entire year. It’s often that mainstream shows I watch simply don’t hold my attention, but the independent projects that I’ve viewed this year I would certainly come back to again and again. 

Television has changed drastically in the past few years due to more scripted content to compete with, higher budgets, and the increased migration of consumers to streaming services and the movement away from broadcast networks. All of these things have contributed to shows that are made to please absolutely everyone they can in an increasingly competitive market. The days of boutique television are over now that HBO and FX have a bigger budget from mergers, meaning there’s a void in the industry. Independent television is in a prime spot to fill that. Although there isn’t quite a culture surrounding indie TV yet, there have been success stories. The creators of Broad City, Drunk History, Adam Ruins Everything, Crazy Ex Girlfriend and Insecure all started creating web content- and that’s only naming a few. 

It’s clear that there’s something else missing from the television industry as well- especially for teenagers. The two shows that I hear about the most from my peers are ‘Friends’ and ‘The Office’. So why aren’t teenagers’ favorite shows current programming? Because there’s simply less that we’re connecting to. The biggest shows that are on right now concern mainly adult issues, meaning my generation is losing out. Indie TV comes from young creatives that are just starting out in the business, meaning they tackle more current topics that we can relate to. To give an example, independent pilot ’The Filth’ takes the idea of being queer in a very different direction than what I’m seeing in mainstream Hollywood. Most shows today about LGBTQ+ characters are about diversity; having the most labels and representing the most people. ‘The Filth’ isn’t worried about that at all, and instead chooses not to use any labels for the characters. This is a way more progressive approach, and certainly one that my liberal arts high school would identify with. I know that there’s a massive fear in my generation about the journey to figuring out who we are in sexuality and gender, but I’ve yet to see a project besides ‘The Filth’ that talks about that. 

Television studios need to start mirroring what the independent film business is doing and focus their resources on finding young talent, and SeriesFest is certainly a great place to start. There are so many projects that need distribution but simply aren’t getting it because there isn’t a culture around independent TV yet. TV Wasteland is going to start doing our part by beginning an “Emerging Artists” social media spotlight every week to champion young actors and creators. Our goal is to create a conversation about indie TV, and hopefully bring more attention to this community that isn’t being talked about enough.