PREVIOUS NEXTV WINNERS
Watch their movies here…
(CLOCKWISE) Michael Swingler (Grand Prize Winner and recipient of the NexTv Grant worth $140,000 for MIDLIFE), NexTv Founder, Randy Becker with Alex Cohn (winner of Writing Competition’s Flip Camera Challenge), Brigham Cottam (Best Unscipted Comedy), Omer Zigdon (Best Scripted Drama, BANISKO), Zeus Quijano Jr. (Best Unscripted Drama, POINT OF ENTRY)
Congratulations to our winners from our Next TV 2009 Web Series & Short Film Competition:
The idea of judging art is paradoxical in many ways, especially when we’re dealing with a wide variety of outstanding submissions. We try to use criteria that reflect the reality of today’s marketplace, keeping us out of that festival/competition ‘bubble’. Can your work be re-imagined for tv? Does your work have value as a seed for something greater?
We instruct our judges to choose the one they feel is “best”, but that “best” in this case is a true combination of their personal favorite and the one they think is most viable as content in today’s actual marketplace. We bring in judges who are working and making decisions in today’s industry not just to give you the opportunity for high-level exposure, but also so we can get a panel that is intuitively atuned to what works in the real world.
The marriage of art and commerce is the goal. Marriage is a challenge, but when it works, the result is transcendent.
Oh wow, this sounds like the best competition ever! Exposure is a BIG deal for me….and I’m sure for many others. Those judges are some top dogs…I’m a lil nervious
This is a great competition. Everyone at NexTv has been on both “sides” of the table when it comes to filmmaking and really understand what is relevant to up-and-coming artists. The one thing I’d say is that all of the judges, and this list will expand greatly, are cool people and love writers and filmmakers. The only reason they agreed to do this is because they still have a passion for this business and for finding fresh, cutting-edge talent. So happy to hear that you’re excited about the competition…this is our creation and we work our asses off everyday to make it relevant and valuable.
I caught a screening of Cottam’s project at a festival in Utah, it was fantastic. Great job for recognizing this guy.