Flavorwire Premiere: See Dan Harmon in NY Television Festival-Rejected Pilot ‘Central City Television Festival’

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Next week marks the beginning of the New York Television Festival, six days of TV-related panels and events that also doubles as a “year-round development incubator.” In simpler terms: NYTVF screens independent TV pilots that compete for development deals. Of course, not every pilot makes the cut. David Seger’s Central City Television Festival was rejected from the 2014 competition — perhaps because it takes place at a TV festival very similar to the real New York Television Festival. It’s a shame because the pilot, which stars comedian Steve Agee and features an especially funny appearance by Community‘s Dan Harmon, is a great workplace comedy with shades of Party Down and 30 Rock.

Central City Television Festival centers on the ups and downs of a group of workers at an independent television festival. The pilot episode skillfully navigates the balance between the actual work — such as Harmon dropping out of the keynote address — and the interpersonal relationships between the employees. It’s a solid, too-short, and funny episode that showcases the unique humor and fierce creativity that goes into all of Seger’s Channel 101 pilots. It may not have won over the NYTVF, but you can watch the official premiere of, as Seger dubs it,”The spec pilot the New York Television Festival doesn’t want you to see” below.