The North Fork TV Festival announced today that it will be returning with in-person screenings for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic. The festival is a celebration of independent scripted television and provides a platform for emerging creators. Events will take place on Saturday, November 18th at the Borghese Vineyard, in Cutchogue, NY and the Sound View Hotel in Greenport, NY.
The recipient of this year’s Canopy Award will be Emmy Award-winning actress Carrie Preston. The Canopy Award honors a member of the New York television community and its recipient champions the creative ambitions of diverse storytelling through their persistence, integrity, and inclusive nature. Past honorees include J. Smith-Cameron, Jeremy Sisto, Kelsey Grammer and Aida Turturro. Preston will be introduced by her husband and Emmy Award-winning actor Michael Emerson. There will also be a Q & A with Carrie moderated by actress, Jenn Lyon.
The festival’s programming will also feature Frasier: The Next Chapter Begins – A Conversation with Tom Russo. The “Frasier” Emmy-nominated executive producer will participate in a Q & A about the Emmy-winning series’ return to television this fall. The event will take place at 11 AM at the Sound View Hotel in Greenport, NY and will include an episode screening of the Paramount+ original series which premieres on October 12th.
“We are honored to have Carrie Preston as this year’s recipient of the Canopy Award,” said festival Founder Noah Doyle. “Preston is the embodiment of what this award stands for. Carrie’s artistic range, involvement in front of and behind the camera and magnetic presence as an actress makes her a no brainer when it comes to this award. Over the years, Carrie has been a distinctly powerful voice within New York’s television landscape, which is what the North Fork TV Festival aims to highlight each year.”
There will also be in-person screenings of the Independent Script & TV Pilot Competition winners, which received hundreds of submissions, the most in the festival's history. Winners of the Independent Script & TV Pilot Competition will be announced on Monday, September 18th. Individual tickets to screenings will also go on sale on Monday, September 18th at www.northfork.tv
The competition’s judging panel includes the following industry professionals:
- Jocelyn Sabo - SVP, Development at Lionsgate
- Kory Lunsford - President at Cakestart Entertainment
- Nicholas Turturro - Actor (Blue Bloods & NYPD Blue)
- Michaela Qvale - Manger of TV Development at Miramax
- Jack Leary - Director of Development AMOEBA
- Kevin Chapman - Actor (Rescue Me & Person of Interest)
- Elana Sofko - Chief Strategy Officer, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment
- Sean Ringgold - Actor (One Life to Live & 30 Rock)
A limited number of 2023 Festival passes are now on sale at www.northfork.tv. Festival passes start at $200.
For more information, including the full list of events and screenings at this year’s festival, visit https://northfork.tv/ and follow @NorthForkTV on Instagram and X.
ABOUT NORTH FORK TV FESTIVAL
In its eighth year, The North Fork TV Festival celebrates the evolution of television and independent television while convening the innovative minds of executives, directors, writers and actors alike. Held annually in Greenport, New York, the festival supports independent program development and embraces exciting, innovative voices from around the world. Founded in 2016, the North Fork TV Festival, a registered 501(c)3, offers year-round programming. For more information, visit www.northfork.tv and follow @NorthForkTV on Instagram and X.
ABOUT CARRIE PRESTON
Emmy Award-winning actress Carrie Preston has been described as a “scene stealer” by Variety, E! News, the New York Post, Entertainment Tonight and countless others. Carrie’s TV credits include “Claws,” “True Blood,” “Person of Interest,” “Crowded,” “When We Rise,” “Brockmire,” "Dr. Death,” "Lost” and “Desperate Housewives.” Upcoming: “Elsbeth.” In film, she has appeared in “My Best Friend’s Wedding,” “Duplicity,” “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” “Transamerica,” “That Evening Sun,” “One of These Days," “To The Bone,” “Space Oddity” and “THEY/THEM.” Upcoming: “The Holdovers.”
Trained at Juilliard, Preston made her Broadway debut playing Miranda to Patrick Stewart’s Prospero in "The Tempest" and later played Honey with Stewart and Mercedes Ruehl in “Who’s Afraid of Virgnia Woolf?” at The Guthrie Theater. Other stage work includes “Festen” with Jeremy Sisto and Julianna Margulies, “The Rivals,” “Antony and Cleopatra” with Vanessa Redgrave, and playing Mia Farrow’s daughter in James Lapine’s “Fran’s Bed.” Preston is also a sought-after director. Television credits include two episodes of “The Good Fight”, two episodes of Showtime’s “Your Honor”, and two episodes of “Claws”, in which she also starred. She also directed the Sundance Film Festival feature “That’s What She Said” starring the late Anne Heche, Marcia DeBonis, and Alia Shawkat. Preston lives in New York City with her husband Michael and their adopted dog, Chumley. In her free time, Carrie supports LGBTQIA+ rights and GLAAD, is an honorary board member for the new play development organization, The New Harmony Project, and is a supporter of Parkinson's Research. Her birthday is on June 21. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @carriepreston.
ABOUT TOM RUSSO
Tom Russo is an Emmy-nominated producer and the Head of Film and Television for Kelsey Grammer's Grammnet NH Productions.
Previously, Russo served in the same position for Laurence Fishburne's Cinema Gypsy Productions, where he developed the Emmy-award winning comedy, "Black-ish" for ABC. He was also Senior Vice President, Current Programming, for Paramount Network Television, supervising all broadcast and cable scripted comedy and drama series. Under his watch, Tom oversaw series including "NCIS”, “Frasier” (1993), “Deadwood,” “Girlfriends” and its spinoff “The Game” (2007). Other producing credits of his include Hulu’s “Light as a Feather,” the Paramount+ revival of “The Game” (2021), and Amazon Prime Video’s “Phat Tuesdays: The Era of Hip-Hop Comedy.”
He currently serves as executive producer of the original series “Frasier” (2023) for Paramount+ premiering Thursday, October 12. He also executive produced the 2022 Lifetime holiday film “The 12 Days of Christmas Eve'' starring Grammer and his daughter Spencer.
Russo, a native New Yorker, currently resides in Los Angeles.
ABOUT FRASIER
The Paramount+ original series FRASIER stars Kelsey Grammer, who reprises his EmmyⓇ- Award-winning role as Frasier Crane. Filmed in front of a live studio audience at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles, the new series follows Frasier Crane (Grammer) in the next chapter of his life as he returns to Boston with new challenges to face, new relationships to forge and an old dream or two to finally fulfill. The series is produced by CBS Studios, in association with Grammer’s Grammnet NH Productions. This fall marks 30 years since the original Frasier first premiered on television, which still holds the record for most Emmy wins for a comedy series with 37 wins and 107 nominations. The original series is available to stream on Paramount+ and Pluto TV. The 10-episode new season will premiere in the U.S and Canada on Thursday, October 12 with two episodes. New episodes will then drop weekly on Thursdays, exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S. and Canada.