ATX TV Festival

What ATX TV Festival does

ATX TV Festival (legal entity: ATX Television Festival, LLC) is a privately-held annual television festival founded in 2012 in Austin, Texas by co-founders Caitlin McFarland and Emily Gipson, with roots tracing to 2011. The company positions itself as the first festival devoted exclusively to television, producing a multi-day in-person event each year featuring screenings, panel discussions, cast reunions, Q&As, script readings, and world premieres across historic and contemporary programming. Programming decisions are shaped by a deliberate 50/50 fan-and-industry attendance model, with credentialed access segmented into Camp Badges (full access at $535), GP Badges (general access at $335), and TV Passes (limited access). Supporting programs include the Pitch Competition & Mentorship Program for aspiring writers and the newly launched Indie TV Pilot Competition & Showcase for independent TV creators, both designed to surface emerging talent and connect creators with industry decision-makers.

The underlying technology stack is conventional event-management infrastructure: a direct-to-consumer website (atxfestival.com) handling badge registration and ticket sales, third-party submission platform Film Freeway for the Indie TV Pilot Competition, email marketing, and social media distribution across Facebook, Instagram, YouTube (@ATXTV), and TikTok. Year-round engagement is delivered through the ATX TV Membership Program (subscription), the TV Campfire podcast, YouTube content distribution, and virtual events. Physical festival operations are anchored at the Paramount Theatre and State Theatres in downtown Austin.

The business model combines six revenue streams: (1) festival badge and pass sales, (2) single-event theater tickets, (3) transaction fees on Indie TV Pilot Competition submissions ($65 per pilot), (4) corporate sponsorships from a portfolio of Overall Festival Partners (NBCUniversal, HBO/Max, BritBox, Apple TV, Plex) and Programming Partners (Peacock, Hulu, Hallmark Media), (5) a year-round recurring membership program, and (6) merchandise sales through an online storefront. The company has not raised institutional venture capital; its only disclosed capital event was a $25,000 Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign in January 2012 to fund the inaugural event. With 1-10 employees and operating as a Texas LLC, ATX TV Festival runs a lean, founder-controlled operation that has compounded to 16 consecutive seasons with sustained enterprise sponsorship relationships.

Name

ATX TV Festival

Legal name

ATX Television Festival, LLC

Website

https://atxfestival.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

ATX TV Festival (ATX Television Festival, LLC) is an annual television festival in Austin, Texas, founded in 2012, celebrating TV's past, present, and future through screenings, reunions, panels, and competitions for TV fans and industry professionals.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Television Festival / Entertainment Events

NAICS

Promoters of Performing Arts, Sports, and Similar Events without Facilities (711320)

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900), Services-Motion Picture Theaters (7830)

akta.pro primary industry

Film Festivals & Festival Organizers (MPADAKAD)

akta.pro secondary industry

Festival & Event Producers/Organizers (MPAIAFAC)

Keywords

• Television festival
• Entertainment events
• TV industry networking
• Media panel discussions
• Creator competitions

Headquarters

HQ city

Austin

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Festival Badge Sales: Primary revenue from selling festival credentials/badges (Camp Badges, GP Badges) and TV Passes to attendees. Badges provide tiered access to festival programming including screenings, panels, and events.
2. Single Event Tickets: Sales of single tickets to select programming at Paramount and State Theatres for attendees who cannot attend the full festival.
3. Indie TV Pilot Competition Submissions: $65 submission fee per pilot for the Indie TV Pilot Competition.
4. Sponsorship & Partnership: Revenue from corporate sponsors including Overall Partners (NBCUniversal, HBO Max, BritBox, Apple TV, Plex, etc.), Programming Partners, Media Partners, and Specialty Partners. Sponsors gain visibility and access to the festival's unique audience of industry professionals and engaged fans.
5. Membership Program: Year-round membership program providing ongoing engagement and benefits beyond the annual festival.
6. Merchandise Sales: Festival merchandise sold through online storefront including apparel and festival-branded items.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

ATX TV Festival operates the only festival exclusively dedicated to television, held annually in downtown Austin, Texas. The festival offers multi-day live programming including screenings, panel discussions, Q&As, script readings, cast reunions, and world premieres, accessed via tiered credentials (Camp Badge, GP Badge, TV Pass). It also runs the Pitch Competition & Mentorship Program for aspiring writers and the Indie TV Pilot Competition & Showcase for independent creators, with year-round engagement through the ATX TV Membership Program and TV Campfire Podcast.

Product overview

ATX TV Festival is a physical festival event in Austin, Texas that serves as a one-of-a-kind celebration of television. The core offering is the annual festival featuring screenings, panels, cast reunions, and Q&As with industry professionals. Supporting programs include the Pitch Competition & Mentorship Program for aspiring writers, and the newly launched Indie TV Pilot Competition & Showcase for independent filmmakers. Festival access is structured through credential tiers: Camp Badges (full access including Micro Programming and exclusive Camp Events), GP Badges (general programming access), and TV Passes (limited programming access). The year-round ATX TV Membership Program extends the community beyond the festival dates, complemented by the TV Campfire podcast.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• ATX TV Festival Annual multi-day television festival held in downtown Austin, Texas, featuring screenings, panels, Q&As, cast reunions, script readings, and world premieres for dedicated TV fans and television industry professionals.
• Pitch Competition & Mentorship Program Annual competition for aspiring TV writers to submit 90-second video pitches and writing samples; 10 finalists are selected to pitch live at the festival, with winners receiving mentorship and pitch meetings with industry decision-makers.
• Indie TV Pilot Competition & Showcase Competition accepting fully-produced independent TV pilots (20–65 min) for screening at the festival, with 3 pilots selected and a Best Indie TV Pilot Award winner. Open to independent writers, directors, and producers seeking industry exposure.
• ATX TV Membership Program

Named customers6 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Regional players

• WonderCon: Smaller sibling convention to San Diego Comic-Con, held in Anaheim, with TV and entertainment programming. Competes for a portion of the same pop-culture fan base and regional sponsor activation budgets.

Direct peers

• SeriesFest: Independent festival dedicated to the art of episodic storytelling, with a creator-focused mission centered on pilot competitions and industry discovery. Directly comparable given shared TV-only positioning and indie creator programming overlap.
• PaleyFest: Long-running TV-focused festival produced by The Paley Center for Media, featuring panels and screenings with cast and creators. Most directly comparable peer given its exclusive focus on television content and similar fan-industry programming format.

Broad incumbents

• Sundance Film Festival: Premier independent film festival whose founder's festival experience informs ATX's co-founder. While primarily a film festival, Sundance increasingly features episodic/TV content and competes for indie creator attention and sponsorship dollars in the same network/streamer ecosystem.
• New York Comic Con: ReedPop-operated pop-culture convention with significant TV and streaming industry presence. Competes for the same engaged fan demographic and serves as a major activation venue for ATX's overall sponsors.
• Tribeca Festival (Tribeca TV section): Major New York-based film and media festival that includes a dedicated television programming track. Operates at significantly larger scale and broader scope, but its Tribeca TV strand competes directly for sponsor dollars and industry talent appearances.
• San Diego Comic-Con: The largest pop-culture convention in North America, with substantial TV programming including studio activations and panels. Competes with ATX for fan attention, talent bookings, and streamer/network sponsor budgets, though at a fundamentally different scale.

Others

• South by Southwest (SXSW): Austin-based mega-festival spanning film, music, and technology. ATX sits in SXSW's geographic and cultural ecosystem; SXSW's broader TV/film programming and high-profile activations overlap with ATX's audience and sponsor base.
• Film Freeway: Film and festival submission platform used by ATX for the Indie TV Pilot Competition. Serves as a distribution/submission infrastructure provider to the independent creator segment that ATX targets.
• Final Draft (Awards / Pitch partner): Industry-standard screenwriting software company that has partnered with ATX on the Pitch Competition since 2013. Functions as an ecosystem enabler rather than a direct competitor, but its adjacent brand reaches the same aspiring-writer audience.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/atxtv
• Facebookfacebook.com/ATXFestival
• Instagraminstagram.com/atxfestival
• TikToktiktok.com/@atxtv
• Xx.com/ATXFestival
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/atx-television-festival-llc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about ATX TV Festival