5th Annual ATX Television Festival Announces Its Lineup

5th Annual ATX Television Festival Announces Its Lineup

The 5th Annual ATX Television Festival in Austin, TX is just around the corner, happening on June 9 – 12, 2016. The ATX Television Festival is unlike any other festival out there celebrating the wonderful world of television. The Festival proudly celebrates not only current and future television shows, but it also spotlights classic shows, never aired pilots, canceled too soon series, cult favorites. The festival is not only geared toward the television fan but also toward the person that is or wants to work in the television industry. The panels range in topics from "behind the scenes" looks at your favorite series, to more technical topics on where the medium is headed and how technology and "where we are watching" effects content.  Ultimately, ATX Television Festival has the goal of serving both the community and industry professionals equally by giving them the opportunity to discuss and celebrate all aspects of TV together.

Highlights of this year's festival include:

MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell will moderate the previously announced panel, "The West Wing Administration," which marks the 10th anniversary of "The West Wing" finale.  Also cast member, and now Senior Director of Justice for Vets, Melissa Fitzgerald, joins the line-up of creator/executive producer Aaron Sorkin, director/executive producer Thomas Schlamme, and cast members Bradley Whitford, Dule Hill, Joshua Malina, Richard Schiff and Janel Moloney on the panel.

Presented by CW Seed, "The O.C." Writers Room reunion with creator Josh Schwartz and the show's writers Stephanie Savage (CW's "Gossip Girl"), Leila Gerstein (CW's "Hart of Dixie"), along with a script reading of the pilot episode with a special guest cast.

GLAAD will present a "Bury Your Tropes" panel, which will take on the stereotypical tropes that have led to much discussion recently about the portrayal of LGBTQIA characters and storylines, and the panelists, which include Bradley Bredeweg ("The Fosters"), Javier Grillo-Marxuach (CW's "The 100"), Krista Vernoff ("Shameless," "Grey's Anatomy"), Carter Covington ("Faking It"), and Megan Townsend, Entertainment Media Strategist for GLAAD, will take part in a larger conversation about the importance of inclusion and positive representation on television.

"Keeping the Romance Alive" Falling in Love on TV" panel with Jennie Snyder Urman (CW's "Jane the Virgin"), Hart Hanson ("Bones"), Leila Gerstein (CW's "Hart of Dixie"), Liz Tigelaar (CW's "Life Unexpected"), and Carter Covington (Faking It), all writers whose TV series centered around a romantic through-line, what pitfalls that can bring, and how to keep an audience caring through the third, fourth, and fifth break ups…or even more, after the central couple commits for the long haul or worse decides to leave the show.

ATX will host a special screening of an episode from the final season of USA Network's "Royal Pains" followed by a panel featuring cast members Mark Feuerstein, Henry Winkler, Paulo Costanzo, Brooke D'Orsay, Reshma Shetty and Ben Shenkman, along with creator and executive producer Andrew Lenchewski, and executive producer Michael Rauch.

Entertainment Weekly's editor-in-chief Henry Goldblatt will sit down with Shondaland's Betsy Beers for "3 Rounds with Betsy Beers: a Look Inside Shondaland," during which the two will discuss the inner workings of Shondaland over three rounds of drinks, inspired by EW's "3 Rounds With…" feature in the magazine, which will be themed around the leading ladies of "Grey's Anatomy," "Scandal," and "How to Get Away with Murder."

The "Fantasy TV: Creating the Believable in an Unbelievable World" panel is about what goes into the process (freedoms and limitations) of creating a fantasy TV series, from building the look of a new world and the characters that inhabit it to placing supernatural characters into our everyday lives.  Jason Rothenberg ( CW's "The 100"), John Wirth ("V"), Joanna Klein (SVP Scripted Development, The CW) will be on the panel.

And TV legend Norman Lear (creator of "All in The Family", "Good Times", "Sanford And Son", "The Jeffersons") will receive this year's ATX Award for Achievement in Television Excellence.

As I do every year, I will be attending my favorite festival and reporting back to you on the ATLCW.TV website and on Twitter and Instagram.

For the schedule lineup, tickets and badges, visit the ATX Television Festival official site www.atxfestival.com.

Here are a few photo highlights from last year's ATX Television Festival click here or here.