The seventh day of the ATX Television Festival Season 10 kicked off with another live episode of The Daily from the Hotel Magdalena. Unfortunately, there was a technical glitch and we had no audio for the live portions. My lip reading skills are a bit rusty, but I can only assume that festival co-founders Caitlin & Emily first discussed yesterday’s programming and previewed today’s events before they were joined by guest Jim O’Hanlon, the EP/director of Apple TV’s Trying, which recently launched its second season. Afterwards, they talked with Graham Yost (who was also Zooming in from London). The feed eventually cut out, but they released it on VOD later in the day.
Later in the day there was a live Happy Hour, where Caitlin & Emily recapped some of the stuff from this morning’s The Daily that was muted. They were then joined by special Zoom guest James Lafferty (One Tree Hill) to share his memories of the festival, starting with the very first season, and his Everyone is Doing Great series.
Today’s programming was primarily “scary” themed…
Beyond the Scares: Healing & Catharsis in Horror
In this panel, moderated by HorrorGirl Problems Podcast host Angel Melanson, creatives behind some of the creepy shows on TV talked about how horror can be used to explore themes of grief and trauma, why viewers want to be scared, and how they can use these programs as a way to deal with their emotions and experiences. The panelists included Vera Miao (Creator/Director/Executive Producer, Two Sentence Horror Stories), Elizabeth Klaviter (Showrunner/Executive Producer, Clarice), Nick Antosca (Co-Creator/Showrunner/Executive Producer, Brand New Cherry Flavor, Executive Producer, Chucky series) & Rebecca Breeds (Actor, Clarice).
Pandemic-Proof: Animated Series
Moderated by Ben Travers of IndieWire, this panel took a look at how writers, voice actors, and animators were able to quickly adapt to remote production, which kept them rolling even while live action productions were forced to shut down. The panelists included Wendy Molyneux & Lizzie Molyneux (Creators/Showrunners, The Great North), Ralph Farquhar (Executive Producer, The Proud Family: Louder & Prouder), Mike McMahan (Creator/Showrunner/Executive Producer, Star Trek: Lower Decks) & Barry J. Kelly (Director at Titmouse, Star Trek: Lower Decks), and Joe Hardesty (Executive Producer, No Activity).
The panelists discussed what stage of production they were in when the pandemic began, and the immediate challenges they had to overcome, such as giant file sizes and recording voice talent remotely. They also talked about how staffing requirements changed, how it’s been easier to get voice talent, and more. Joe Hardesty talked about pivoting his series from live action to animation, especially with the new COVID protocols that made trying to share actors with other live action shows logistically impossible. He said they also needed some new technology in order to have the actors’ improvised scenes be captured for the animators. The Lower Decks guys talked about the microphone shortage when the pandemic began as everyone was moving home, the network asking to premiere 90 days earlier due to their content shortage, how much longer ADR took due to latency and other noises at people’s homes, and ensuring the psychological wellness of the staff. Though Ralph Farquhar said that using Zoom actually brought his staff closer. This was a really fun conversation, that had me laughing quite a bit—especially when the folks from The Great North and Star Trek: Lower Decks were talking.
UFO: Premiere Q&A
UFO is an upcoming a four-part Showtime docuseries from Bad Robot that premieres August 8. The series explores the history and fascination with UFOs, extraterrestrials and related phenomena, what the government may or may not know, and more. Attendees were treated to an early screening of the first episode, which looks at the U.S. government’s connection to UFOs. This was followed by a Q&A moderated by Anthony Breznican of Vanity Fair, who spoke with director Mark Monroe, executive producer Glen Zipper & investigative journalist Leslie Kean.
Horror Anthologies
This live panel sponsored by Shudder was moderated by Damian Holbrook of TV Guide Magazine & TV Insider, and featured Greg Nicotero (Showrunner/Writer/ Executive Producer/Director, Creepshow), and Tananarive Due & Steven Barnes (Writers, Horror Noir), director Chloe Okuno (V/H/S 94) & director Adam MacDonald (Slasher: Flesh & Blood).
The panelists talked about what got them into horror, their favorite sub-genre, fast vs. slow zombies, how anthology series/movies can give viewers a sampler platter of different genres, using creatures in their work, and more. Chloe Okuno talked about the premise of her V/H/S 94 movie, which is an anthology in that it contains several separate segments. Tananarive Due & Steven Barnes discussed their upcoming series Horror Noir, where each segment will be separate, but similar in tone. They said that the series will be streamed as both a series and a unit. They are writing two of the stories, and appreciate that the series is helping to change the genre to make the Black characters not the punchline or the character killed off first, or who is killed to save the white character. Adam MacDonald talked about the premise of the new season of Slasher: Flesh & Blood, where each season is a different cast/story. He also discussed the elevated look and aesthetic of the new season. Greg Nicotero discussed Creepshow and how they shoot 2 stories every 7 days and so have just 3.5 days to turn over the entire set and cast. He talked about the joy of being able to do so many different things on the series, including comedy. He also talked about the episode that breaks tradition and used the entire hour for a single story. The episode was based on a game he used to play with his colleagues. Nicotero also mentioned that Season 2 of Creepshow will premiere September 6 on AMC or those who don’t have Shudder or AMC+. At the panel, they showed some clips from these various projects as well as the Horror Noir documentary (not the upcoming scripted series). They also discussed how good horror movies can more subtly make social comments to the audience without preaching and turning people off. This led to a discussion about what horror stories may look like after this past year’s events. And an audience question asked the panel why horror on TV is what the world needs right now.
Virtual Festival Badges and Day Passes for Season 10 are still available. To purchase a Badge, Pass, or learn more, visit atxfestival.com/attend.
