Split Screens Festival 2019
I got a chance to witness this year's Split Screens Festival, a festival dedicated to the small screen and all its intricacies from the stars of famous shows to show writers to producers. Everyone have a opportunity to talk about their current project to their potential future to the inspirations. I got a chance to spend a day at the IFC Center where the festival was taking place. The lineup for the day was pretty stacked with season finales to premieres of the top shows on premium cable to regular networks along with conversations of the stars and architects behind the scenes. The highlight of the day was the season premiere of "Fear the Walking Dead" which of course drew the biggest crowd. Before that though another highlight was the premiere of a exclusive episode from The Twilight Zone by Jordan Peele. This episode which discusses time travel and racial tension between blacks and police. I will say that it was the most important episode I have seen in some time and I do not watch much network TV but after this I will make a attempt to watch more especially of the Twilight Zone. I started the day with a conversation with William Jackson Harper, star of NBC's The Good Place. It was enlightening and hilarious as he discuss his upbringing and how that affected his approach to his character.
That how each day of the festival went: from one appearance to another. Unfortunately I got one day but it was worth it with all the premieres and appearances lined up. Another moment for me was the season finale of Warrior which is based of a treatment from Bruce Lee and finally put into development by his daughter. It is also broadcast on Cinemax. I never heard of this show but the season finale was definitely action packed and the dialogue between actors is spot on. Shannon Lee, Bruce Lee's daughter and executive producer of the series talk about how this is actually a predecessor to the 70s TV show Kung Fu. There are similiarities between the two but make no mistake there are different concepts. Another thing she touched on was the fact that there may be more treatments coming soon. The big moment was after the Warrior segment as the crew from Fear the Walking Dead started to walk in. The festival definitely made me realize that I need to keep that on demand button handy for the new shows coming out. This was interested because there is so many shows on now whether on Netflix, HBO, TNT or even NBC it is hard for one to watch them all or even a episode of any show in particular. The premiere of Fear the Walking Dead brought out a packed crowd and I could not get a seat anywhere but I was not there long once the premiere was over I headed back to home to eventually write this out. I must hope that I got another shot to document this again.