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SeriesFest · May 6–10, 2026 · Denver, CO

SERIESFESTDenver, 2026

Six members of a cast and producing team lined up on the SeriesFest red carpet at Season 12's opening night, the SeriesFest step-and-repeat behind them.

Opening night

Opening night, and it is always a joy to step back into this room. Co-founders Randi Kleiner and Kaily Smith have built something rare in Denver: an episodic-storytelling community where creators, audiences, and industry actually share the same air.

A small group talking in front of the SeriesFest 2026 sponsor wall on opening night.
Opening night — the mingle before the first screening.

We went on a scouting mission to the Sie FilmCenter for the first-look screening of The Four Seasons Season 2, followed by a live Q&A with co-showrunner Tracey Wigfield and stars Marco Calvani and Kerri Kenney-Silver. We asked the panel about the inverse of character development — across a show where each season covers four in-show seasons, how do they decide what stays unchanged? Kerri's answer: the people who knew you before still pull you back. (She called the question a plant. No foliage was involved.)

An official-selection pilot on the big screen, a panel seated below for the post-screening Q&A.
An official-selection pilot, mid Q&A.
Photographers and press gathered in front of the branded SeriesFest step-and-repeat.
The press line, working the step-and-repeat.
Two kinds of showrunner exist — those who delegate and trust their people, and those who hoard information. The first kind makes better shows.

The panels

The NBC100 drama-writers panel — David Greenwalt, Arika Mittman, and David Schulner — got at what a showrunner actually does: hire great people, get out of their way, and evangelize what the show IS to every department so everyone builds toward the same vision. Two kinds exist, they said — those who delegate and trust their people, and those who hoard information. The first kind makes better shows.

The back half of the week turned to the business of the craft. Susan Rovner and Jana Winograde, both former network executives, walked through aTwist — a vertical-microseries platform producing sixty to ninety minutes for around $200K a series. Set that against premium TV's $8M-per-episode average and the whole risk equation flips.

A panel of six on stage at a bookstore venue, the screen behind reading Behind the Deals: Agents & Managers.A panel of five, the screen behind reading State of Indie TV: Risk, Innovation & Opportunity.A panel of four, the screen behind reading Impact in TV: Littleton Road Productions.
Three of the week's sessions — Behind the Deals, State of Indie TV, and Impact in TV.

The Soirée

At the Soirée, the festival's signature gala, the inaugural Visionary Award went to John J. Sie — cable pioneer, founder of Starz, and the man whose foundation built the Sie FilmCenter where most of the festival happens. Real visionaries build the conditions for the next generation. Full circle.

The Soirée stage under the 2026 titlecard, a host and pianist performing in front of the seated dinner crowd.
The Soirée stage, the dinner crowd below.
Two people at the SeriesFest podium, mid-embrace, the branded screen behind them.
A moment at the podium, mid-program.

The back half of the week belonged to the business of the craft as much as the ceremony — a gala built on the same relationships the whole festival runs on.

A crowd gathered on a sunlit patio at a SeriesFest weekend gathering.
Sunday's patio brunch, the weekend winding down.

By the final day, a counter-thesis kept surfacing: as the synthetic proliferates, the value of real human encounters only increases. A week of screenings, panels, and pitches collapsed into one room of relationships that carry forward — and SeriesFest's programming runs year-round, all the way to Season 13. SeriesFest, Denver, Colorado, May 6–10, 2026.

A lineup of Season 12 honorees on stage, the Awards Ceremony titlecard lit up behind them.
The week's honorees, on stage together, one more time.
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