ATX Television Festival Announces a ‘Parenthood’ Reunion and More Programming for 2020
It’s that time of year when we start counting down the days to the ATX Television Festival, an annual festival in Austin, Texas known for celebrating television.
The one-of-a-kind festival includes events in which attendees can interact with actors, writers, directors, creators, showrunners, music supervisors, casting directors and studio executives involved in all stages of bringing their favorite shows to the small screen.
The ATX Television Festival announced its first wave of programming for Season 9 (the festival’s ninth year), which will take place June 4-7, 2020. Season 9’s programming will include a Parenthood 10-year reunion live script reading and panel conversation to celebrate ten years since the series premiere of the NBC drama.
Creator/executive producer Jason Katims and writer/executive producer David Hudgins are confirmed to participate, along with cast members Peter Krause, Lauren Graham, Monica Potter, Erika Christensen, Mae Whitman, and Craig T. Nelson. Additional participants will be announced at a later date.
The festival will also reunite the writers room behind Justified for the 10th anniversary of the series’ premiere. Creator/executive producer and ATX Advisory Board member Graham Yost will be joined by writer/producers Fred Golan, Dave Andron, Benjamin Cavell, Chris Provenzano, Taylor Elmore, VJ Boyd, Ingrid Escajeda, Gary Lennon, and Wendy Calhoun for a conversation about the writers room’s collaborative process, the enduring creative partnerships that resulted, and their careers following the series.
Additionally, Season 9 of the festival will feature a look back at the groundbreaking series Oz, which debuted in 1997 as HBO’s first original one-hour drama. The retrospective will feature a conversation with series creator/executive producer Tom Fontana, and cast members Lee Tergesen and Dean Winters. Additional participants will be announced at a later date.
Attendees of the festival next year can also look forward to a panel conversation hosted by NBC which spotlights their pioneering Female Forward directing initiative. Female Forward seeks to expand opportunities for female directors in scripted television by pairing them with advisors and mentors across the network’s programming slate.
The panel will include NBC Entertainment Co-Presidents of Scripted Programming, Lisa Katz and Tracey Pakosta, along with participating showrunners and directors from the program’s inaugural and 2019 classes, who will be announced at a later date.
Also part of next year’s programming will be a rare screening of the unaired L.A. Confidential pilot. The pilot is based on the neo-noir novel by James Ellroy, which was previously adapted as a feature film in 1997. The screening will be followed by a Q&A conversation with series creator/executive producer Jordan Harper, executive producer Anna Fricke, and executive producer/director Michael Dinner.
On top of today’s exciting programming announcements, The ATX Television Festival has also announced three new additions to the festival’s Advisory Board: showrunner/executive producer/director/actor Gloria Calderón Kellett (One Day at a Time), creator/executive producer/director Tanya Saracho (Vida) and Lauren Whitney (President, Television, Spyglass Media Group).
“‘Excited’ is not a strong enough word to describe our feelings on the addition of our new Advisory Board members, Gloria, Tanya, and Lauren,” said festival co-founders and co-executive directors, Caitlin McFarland and Emily Gipson. “Each of them has brought and continues to bring a distinct, unique voice and value to ATX, and we cannot wait to work with them on building programming and growing the festival together.”
Calderon Kellett, Saracho, and Whitney are all confirmed to attend Season 9 as panelists, along with co-showrunner/executive producer Meredith Averill (The Haunting of Hill House).
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Head to the ATX Television Festival’s official site for more information on the event. You can also take a look at our coverage of last year’s festival right here.
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Ashley Bissette Sumerel
Ashley Bissette Sumerel is a television and film critic living in Wilmington, North Carolina. She is editor-in-chief of Tell-Tale TV as well as Eulalie Magazine. Ashley has also written for outlets such as Rolling Stone, Paste Magazine, and Insider. Ashley has been a member of the Critics Choice Association since 2017 and is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic. In addition to her work as an editor and critic, Ashley teaches Entertainment Journalism, Composition, and Literature at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.