‘Lovin’ Lakin’, ‘D-TEC’, ‘Cartoon Lagoon’ Big Winners At NYTVF

The New York Television Festival took place last week, and aside from several neat panels (including an appearance from our very own Josh Cohen!), the yearly celebration of all things TV handed out awards and pilot money to several excellent series, including a few from the web series world that deserve particular mention.

NYTVF awarded its Best Web Series Pilot award to Lovin’ Lakin, a meta-comedy where 90s child star Christine Lakin attempts to revive her career in Hollywood. The series is buoyed by appearances from several Hollywood big names: Kristen Bell, Jamie Lee Curtis, Seth Macfarlane, and Kristen Chenoweth all make appearances. Check out the trailer below (you may have to turn your sound up.)

Several studios awarded pilots to independent projects; Amazon Studios chose Captain Cornelius Cartoon’s Cartoon Lagoon as its winner; the animated comedy will be very similar to Mystery Science Theater 3000, but instead of riffing on terrible B-movies, the three characters in Cartoon Lagoon will use awful children’s cartoons as their fodder. That trailer is also available on the NYTVF YouTube channel.

On Friday, the Samsung Second Screen Storytellers Challenge took center stage. The contest for interactive media pilots ended up in a victory for D-TEC, a futuristic blend of sci-fi and crime drama that will feature social media integration. The full pilot is available for your viewing pleasure, and I’d expect the $300K budget that D-TEC’s creators have received will lead to a very impressive look for the completed series.

You can check out the rest of the winners at the NYTVF website, and all of the trailers are available on the festival’s YouTube channel.