Today, the South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference and Festivals announced the Film Festival will now be called the Film & TV Festival to reflect the event’s long-standing and deep programming of episodics in the screening program, Film & TV tracks, and Keynote and Featured Speaker sessions in the Conference. SXSW was the first festival to program episodics a decade ago with HBO’s Girls in 2012, launched an Episodic section in 2014, and subsequently showcased the world premieres of some of television’s most iconic series, including Silicon Valley, Mr. Robot, Barry, What We Do In The Shadows, and Search Party, among 68 other Episodic Premieres and 57 Episodic Pilots.
Get BWT in your inbox!
Get BWT in your inbox!
“We are so proud of our rich history of showcasing both film and television, and wanted the festival name to reflect what we have been doing for a decade,” said Janet Pierson, VP, Director of Film & TV. “Whether in the screening program, the Conference, or associated activations on our footprint, SXSW has long been at the epicenter of the best new TV, and in 2023 we will once again thrill our audiences with exciting new work from some of the most talented creators.”
The SXSW Film & TV badge is available at the lowest rate from August 2 through September 15, 2022. Registration opens on August 2 to get the best hotel rates and options. SXSW Film, TV, and XR submissions open from August 23 through October 18, 2022.
History of SXSW Episodic Programming in the Festival
2012: World Premiere of HBO’s Girls by Lena Dunham is the first episodic featured in the festival program.
2013: World Premiere of A&E’s Bates Motel and Conference session Bates Motel: Story to Screen with Carlton Cuse
2014: Official launch of dedicated Episodic screening section, with six projects in the program: COSMOS: A SpaceTime Odyssey, and the world premieres of Deadbeat, From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series, Halt and Catch Fire, Penny Dreadful, and Silicon Valley.
2015: Five Episodic world premieres: Angie Tribeca, The Comedians, iZOMBIE, Mr. Robot, and UnREAL
2016: Five Episodic world premieres: Outcast, Preacher, Search Party, Vice Principals, and You Me Her
2017: Six Episodic world premieres: American Gods, Dear White People, I Love Bekka & Lucy, I’m Dying Up Here, Nobodies, and The Son
2018: Seven Episodic world premieres: This Is Us Season 2 Finale Episode (special event), Barry, Condor, Krypton, The Last O.G., Vida, and Warriors of Liberty City. This year we launched the Independent Episodics section with 13 titles. The section would be renamed the Independent Pilot Competition in 2019: Beast, Cleansed, Everything is Okay: Robot, First World Problems, Hold To Your Best Self, My Dead Ex, Night Owl, One Eye Small, Otis, Polar, Rapture, She’s the Ticket, and Unspeakable.
2019: Seven Episodic world premieres: Broad City Series Finale Screening, Love, Death & Robots, David Makes Man, NOS4A2, Ramy, Shrill, What We Do in the Shadows, and Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate SXSW Event, which included Conference session and several unique activations. 12 Episodic Pilot Competition titles: Baby Love, A Cure For Fear, East of La Brea, Hammerhead, M, Maggie, Moderately Put Together, Queering, Rainbow Ruthie, Revenge Tour, Sterling, and Who You Are
2020: 12 Episodic world premieres were programmed: Central Park, Chad, Cursed FIlms, Hightown, Home, Motherland: Fort Salem, Outcry, Snowpiercer, Solar Opposites, Tales from the Loop, Upload, and We’re Here. 14 Episodic Pilot Competition titles were programmed: Alisa, Beached, Bored, Embrace, Everyone Together, Heart To Heart, This Isn’t Me, Bananas, Chemo Brain, Cooper’s Bar, The Dream, Homecoming: The Journey of Cardboard, Lusty Crest, and Racist Trees.
(While the 2020 Festival was canceled due to the Coronavirus pandemic, some titles were screened among the 39 projects in Prime Video presents the SXSW 2020 Film Festival Collection, and all projects remained official SXSW Selections.)
2021: Six Episodic world premieres: Confronting a Serial Killer, Cruel Summer, The Girlfriend Experience, Made for Love, Sasquatch, and Them. Six Episodic Pilot Competition titles: 4 Feet High, Dale’s House, For the Record, Parked in America, The Position, and Pretend Partners.
2022: 12 World Premiere Episodics: Atlanta Season 3 premiere, 61st Street, The Big Conn, Brené Brown: Atlas of the Heart, DMZ, The Girl From Plainville, Halo, The Last Movie Stars, The Man Who Fell To Earth, Shining Girls, Swimming with Sharks, They Call Me Magic, and WeCrashed. Six Episodic Pilot Competition titles: Awayy, Brownsville Bred, Hidden Kingdom, My Year of Dicks, Something Undone, and We’re Doing Good
Film & TV Conference Highlights: Robust TV programming in the Conference preceded 2012’s first Episodic screening in the Festival. Highlights of Conference Keynotes and Featured Speakers, many covering both film and TV topics, include Bob Odenkirk in Conversation with Fred Armisen, Elizabeth Moss in Conversation with Brandi Carlile, Silicon Valley Cast and Creators Panel, Mr Robot Cast and Creators Panel, Veep Cast and Creators Panel, The Chi Cast and Creators Panel, Game of Thrones Cast and Creators Panel, Westworld Cast and Creators Panel, The Boys Cast and Creators Panel. Other Highlights include: Lizzo Keynote, Ava DuVernay Keynote, Barry Jenkins Keynote, Mark Duplass Keynote, Lee Daniels Keynote, Jill Soloway Keynote, Gale Anne Hurd Keynote, A Conversation with Neil Gaiman, A Conversation with Tilda Swinton, A Conversation with Elizabeth Banks and Aidy Bryant, A Conversation with Ethan Hawke and Jason Blum, A Conversation with Olivier Assayas and Richard Linklater, A Conversation with Chris Miller and Phil Lord, Spike Lee Masterclass, A Conversation with Wagner Moura and Alice Braga, A Conversation with Melanie Lynskey, and many more.
Iconic Film & TV Activations: Each year features dozens of inventive, immersive, award-winning installations promoting work in the Festival and Conference, as well as other projects that appeal to the unique SXSW audiences. These include HBO’s groundbreaking recreation of Westworld and subsequent Bleed for the Throne; Amazon’s Good Omens Garden of Earthly Delights, A&E’s Bates Motel; USA Networks’ recreation of Coney Island for Mr. Robot; AMC’s Preacher and Starz’ American Gods Installations, plus many others. 2022 featured Amazon’s Superheroes & Superstars Experience featuring The Boys and Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls, FX’s Atlanta Season 3 Amsterdam-style cafe pop-up fittingly called The Trip, Disney+’s Outdoor Screening complete with larger-than-life characters and all day outdoor screenings, the WarnerMedia House, the Peacock Playground and many others.
