The NYC Web Fest (NYCWF), a leading showcase for digital storytelling and innovation, is back for its 11th annual edition. This year, the festival will once again be held at The Producers Club, located in Manhattan’s storied Theatre District, from November 8-10, 2024. After last year’s successful return to New York City, the festival continues to be a prominent platform for web series, short films, and pilot episodes.
NYC Web Fest 2024
Submissions Now Open
The NYC Web Fest 2024 invites content creators worldwide to submit their projects for consideration. Whether it’s a captivating web series, a compelling short film, or a promising pilot episode, the festival provides a platform for both emerging and established talents to showcase their work and connect with industry leaders.
Submissions are now open and can be made through the festival’s official website, www.nycwebfest.com. Early submissions are encouraged, with the deadline set for August 31st, 2024.
Celebrating Digital Storytelling
The NYC Web Fest, founded by Lauren Atkins in 2014, has grown into a significant event that brings together creators, industry professionals, and enthusiasts from around the world. Atkins emphasizes the festival’s mission: “Our goal is to make this festival the premier home for digital producers on an international level. An organic space where creators can showcase their talent, network with other artists, and learn from industry insiders.”
Founder Lauren Atkins Speaks About the Jury
“This is a great jury!” exclaimed NYC Web Fest founder Lauren Atkins. “Like Jack, Meredith and Rick, Cylla is also an NYCWF alum, and I’m so glad to be working with her, she’s spoken on several panels at the festival and we welcome her back for 2024. I’m equally delighted to have Jen and Frank with us, they’re experience and expertise in the industry is a valuable asset to the festival as we head into our second decade.
“After returning to New York last year for the first time since before the pandemic for the Tenth Anniversary, finally things feel stable again. Submissions are higher than in 2023, with some amazing local and international talent once again.”
Meet the 2024 Jury
This year’s festival jury comprises a blend of seasoned professionals from various facets of the entertainment industry. This is the full line-up revealing three more jurors on top of the previous three that were announced earlier this year.
Cylla Senii
Cylla Senii is a versatile and daring artist who shines both on and off-screen as an actress, producer, director, and writer. Her series SITUATIONSHIPS, which she created, wrote, directed, produced, and starred in, made its first debut on BET and is now available on Tubi & Amazon. SITUATIONSHIPS is currently in development for television with Monami Productions. Cylla is a member of the Producers Guild of America.
Cylla is thrilled by the release of her new series BOUGIE & ABROAD on Blavity TV highlighting her passion for travel as a millennial. Upcoming, she is starring, producing, and writing a new unscripted series on TV ONE. In addition to developing her slate of film and TV projects under her production company, Featherstone Entertainment, Cylla has several years of production and development experience working at the likes of Swirl Films, A&E, theGrioTV, Nickelodeon, Complex, HOT 97, Disney, Sony Music, and more.
Cylla is a graduate of the University of Georgia with a Bachelor of Arts and Journalism in Advertising with an emphasis in Film Studies and Music Business. In New York City, she sharpened her acting and improv skills by studying at Terry Schreiber Studios and the UCB Training Center. Currently, Cylla received the Cornell University Women’s Entrepreneurship certificate. In her spare time, she loves to travel, dance, read, and spend time with her loved ones. She reps her Liberian-Chinese-Trini background proudly and holds down Queens, New York where she was born and has a love for the deep southern city of Warner Robins GA, where she spent her youth.
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Jen Su
Jen Su is a television host and international entertainment correspondent for the Sunday Times. She covers film festivals and global red carpet events around the world from Oscars to Cannes—and works with diverse communities to educate through film, as a Board Director for the Philadelphia Film Society. Jen is also a commentator on film and fashion for Fox 29 in Philadelphia, as well as SABC3 Expresso in South Africa, where she lived for a decade and was host of 5 FM’s Hollywood Report with Gareth Cliff, as well as news anchor for Sky News’ “The African Business Report”.
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P. Frank Williams
Emmy and 8-time NAACP winner P. Frank Williams is the Director and Executive Producer of the highly-rated Hulu documentary Freaknik: The Wildest Party Never Told. Williams was also the showrunner and Executive Producer of the new Tubi true crime series Killing Hip Hop, hosted by Angela Yee.
He served as the Executive Producer and Showrunner of the 50 Cent and Mona Scott-Young-produced series Hip Hop Homicides on WeTV and ALLBlk in 2022. The series, hosted by Van Lathan, investigated the murders of rappers like Pop Smoke, Soulja Slim, XXXTentacion, Magnolia Shorty and more. He also was the EP/Showrunner of the Tina Knowles-produced Discovery Plus & OWN four-part series Profiled: The Black Man and the TV One music collaboration series Collab, hosted by legendary rapper Doug E. Fresh.
He was a Co-Executive Producer for the BET show Copwatch America, a documentary series about police brutality. Williams worked as an Executive Producer at TMZ and was a Supervising Producer for FOX’s Who Shot Biggie and Tupac. The Oakland native was a producer and co-host of the A&E Biography investigative series Who Killed Tupac? about the murder of Tupac Shakur. Williams was a director and senior producer for TV One’s acclaimed Unsung and Unsung Hollywood documentary series. The show won multiple NAACP Image Awards.
In the 1990s and early 2000s, Williams was Executive Editor of The Source Magazine where he interviewed Dr Dre, Suge Knight, Lauryn Hill and more. He started his career as a reporter at the Los Angeles Times and is a graduate of San Diego State University and The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He is the founder and president of For The Culture By The Culture Media Inc., an urban content creation company based in Los Angeles with satellite offices in Atlanta and the Bay Area.
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Jack Maxwell
Jack Maxwell hosted Booze Traveler, Booze Traveler: Best Bars, and The Trip (Travel Channel, 4 yrs/76 eps, domestic and int’l distribution). He has made guest star TV appearances on Lost, 24, House, Without a Trace, Beverly Hills 90210, General Hospital, All My Children, and others. He has shared the stage with Al Pacino, Jessica Chastain, and Dianne Wiest in Salome, and has appeared in several other theatrical productions.
Jack hails from South Boston, MA, and resides in Los Angeles. In 2023 Jack won Best Host/Solo Performer for his nominated TV Pilot Spirit Quest with Jack Maxwell at the Tenth Annual NYC Web Fest. He is a Lifetime Member of the Actors Studio.
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Meredith Thomas
Meredith’s first professional acting role as Tessie in Annie came while still in elementary school when she was living on the Great Island of New Castle off the coast of New Hampshire. She continued to act in summer stock productions in the northeast throughout her youth, but soon headed west to Los Angeles, securing a role in her first big-budget feature film, Pleasantville as a teenager. She hasn’t stopped working in film and television since.
She is second only to Vivica A. Fox in the number of Lifetime Television Movies. With chops for both comedy and drama, you’ll find her easily transitioning between thrillers like Lifetime’s The Wrong Blind Date, The Wrong Boy Next Door and the new Christmas classics A Christmas in Vermont with Chevy Chase, plus A Christmas in Royal Fashion. The latter was ION Television’s highest-rated movie in prime-time and ranked Number 2 that season among all the networks airing holiday movies with an average of 1.2 million views.
Meredith is also an award-winning director and producer who has made inclusion her passion. In 2018 she created a charity event called FYC Independents. It gave a platform to underrepresented talent including people of color, performers with disabilities, LGBTQ talent, seniors and women. In 2023, Spirit Quest with Jack Maxwell, a TV pilot she directed, was nominated for Best Pilot at the Tenth Annual NYC Web Fest.
Follow Meredith Thomas on social media here:
Rick Younger
Rick Younger is an actor, comedian, and singer who you’ve undoubtedly seen in numerous national television commercials. Film credits include Ordinary World, Morning Glory and Love Reconsidered. He’s appeared on TV in the Woody Allen Amazon Series, Crisis in Six Scenes, HBO’s Girls, Blue Bloods, Law & Order: SVU, The Last O.G., and The Other Two on HBOMAX. Rick has been on Broadway where he originated the role of Mr. Duvall in Mean Girls the Musical. Rick is also the star and co-creator of Rick Younger presents The Rick Younger Show starring Rick Younger as Rick Younger which won Best Pilot at NYC Web Fest in 2023.
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Join the Celebration
With an impressive jury panel and a vibrant platform for digital creators, the NYC Web Fest promises to be a landmark event in 2024. Creators and fans alike are encouraged to participate and witness the cutting-edge of digital storytelling in the heart of New York City.
For further information on submission guidelines, festival updates, and sponsorship opportunities, please visit the official NYC Web Fest website by clicking here.
Former guests and jury members of NYCWF include Actress Kate Walsh (Grey’s Anatomy, Emily in Paris) Actor Victor Williams (King of Queens, The Affair) Julie Halston (Tootsie, Sex & The City, And Just Like That) #OscarsSoWhite creator April Reign, Emmy Winners & Television Executives Evan Shapiro, and Frank Fernandez, ESPN SportsCaster Arda Ocal, Actors Gina Torres (9-1-1: Lonestar, Suits), Francia Raisa (Grownish, The Secret Life of the American Teenager), Danielle Savre (Station 19, Grey’s Anatomy) and more.
For more information about submission guidelines, festival updates, and sponsorship opportunities, visit www.nycwebfest.com. Don’t miss the chance to be part of this exciting celebration of creativity and innovation.