My second day of season 13 of the ATX Television festival began with a panel called “Presidential Forum: On TV, the Industry, and What’s Next” in The Driskill Ballroom. The presidents of five content studios discussed the state of the TV industry how we are past Peak TV, but also how fewer shows is actually a good thing. The also shared their opinions on binge versus weekly releases, episode order numbers, and more. The women talked about some of their favorite projects from the past that were canceled too soon, and some of the projects teenage them would be excited about. The participants included Nicole Clemens (President, Paramount Television Studios), Lisa Katz (President, Scripted Content, NBCUniversal Entertainment), Erin Underhill (President, Universal Television), Katherine Pope (President, Sony Pictures Television Studios) & Karey Burke (President, 20th Television).
After this, I headed across the street to the Stephen F. Austin Royal Sonesta’s Royal Fork to interview the star and showrunner of MGM+’s Billy the Kid, which returns for the second half of its second season this Sunday. You can find my interview with Tom Blyth and Donald De Line here. If you haven’t checked out this amazing series, there’s time to catch up!
Next, I headed over to 800 Congress for the Resident Alien panel with series creator Chris Sheridan and star Alan Tudyk. It was a fun discussion where they talked about how Alan was cast in the role, and many of the bloopers and actors breaking that happened while filming, such as a moment where Alan insisted his character’s love interest, the bird-like Heather, chew up sunflower seeds and spit them into his mouth, but he and co-star Edi Patterson couldn’t stop laughing while filming the ridiculous scene. Sheridan also talked about how the revised episode count for season 3 actually ended up benefitting the series but speeding things along faster. The series recently finished its third season (on quite the cliffhanger) and has yet to be picked up for a fourth. I really hope we get more of this show!
I headed across the street to the Stateside Theater, where the advance screening of Sunday’s episode of Billy the Kid was underway. It was nice to see it on the big screen as the series is quite cinematic. Afterwards, showrunner Donald De Line and star Tom Blyth answered questions from the moderator as well as from the audience. They talked about how a delay in shooting actually turned into a blessing, causing them to film in the snow, adding another layer to the story. In the answer to a fan question, Blyth talked about his punk rock playlist and essential oils routine that helps him get into character, and integrating some of his own personality into Billy.
After the Q&A, I rushed over to the Driskill to try to get into “The Monologue Case Study with Mike Flanagan” panel, but unfortunately the room was already full (I kind of figured it would be, especially only arriving 15 minutes beforehand), so I headed back to my hotel to start writing up today’s activities before my other events later this evening.
My first event of the evening was in the Mezzanine section of the Driskill hotel, where Universal Studios Group hosted a happy hour meet-and-mingle with the talent they had brought to the festival. This included showrunners Debby Wolfe (Lopez vs. Lopez), David Hudgins (FBI: Most Wanted), Meredith Scardino (Girls5eva) & Chris Sheridan (Resident Alien), and actors Travina Springer (The Irrational), Octavio Pisano (Law & Order: SVU), Daniel Kyri (Chicago Fire), Alan Tudyk (Resident Alien) & Mark Indelicato (Hacks). There was a bar and some appetizers out on the balcony, and it was fun to just take some time to relax and informally talk with other press folks and the talent.
As this came to a close, they has us hop in a van and brought us to the Girls5eva Karaoke Night at 800 Congress. When we arrived, things were already in full swing, with darkened lights and blinking pink cowgirl hats for everyone. We were led to a special cordoned-off VIP section with comfortable couches where we could enjoy the music (most of the time) and chat. There was pizza and drinks available for all, and it was quite the lively party. At one point, Girls5eva series creator Meredith Scardino took the stage to thank everyone for coming.
After about an hour, we left to head over to MGM+’s happy hour for Billy the Kid and Hotel Cocaine. I felt properly dressed with my new cowboy hat! As we arrived we were handed an Old Fashioned shot in a Billy the Kid-branded shot glass as well as a drink ticket to redeem for one of the two special cocktails—a “Mutiny Margarita” for Hotel Cocaine or an “Outlaw Old Fashioned” for Billy the Kid—or a credit towards anything else we might want. I got the margarita and sat with some press folks on the balcony. The talent for both shows were supposed to be there, but it was getting late and we hadn’t seen anyone yet. As we prepared to leave, we did notice that Hotel Cocaine stars Danny Pino & Mark Feuerstein had made it into the bar. We also ran into Ghosts actress Danielle Pinnock (“Alberta”) as we were about the leave, and chatted a bit with her.
Once again, there were more panels than I could possibly attend today, and I look forward to checking them out once they show up on the festival’s YouTube channel and/or podcast.
You can find our other daily recaps of Season 13 here: Day 1, Day 3, Day 4.
