Rene Reyes, director of public programs and festivals for the Paley Center for Media, says that about a decade ago, “We noticed that there really wasn’t a festival devoted to TV that would give it the same feel and importance of a film festival.”
Back then, the Los Angeles festival was held at the Center’s Beverly Hills home in a theater holding less than a couple hundred people.
The event eventually moved to the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills and then in 2014 to the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, which can hold upwards of 3,000. In the same period, there has been an explosion of TV shows now being offered on new platforms.
So who knows what they will need next?
This year, the 34th annual PaleyFest kicks off the first of 10 days on Friday, and the lineup includes celebrations of some of TV’s most exciting shows, including NBC’s “This Is Us,” AMC’s “The Walking Dead” and HBO’s “Westworld.”
Deciding what becomes part of the Paley lineup, says Reyes, is a combination of what is available at the time and what they hear from fans.
“It’s an exciting process but it’s also daunting with so many great shows on and keeping up with fans to find out what they are interested in,” says Reyes. “We also take note of what is on top critically.”
With series filming at different times of the year, sometimes it’s just impossible to get a show for the festival. Then things work out.
Reyes says he has wanted to get BBC’s America’s “Orphan Black” starring Tatiana Maslany ever since its first season, but the production and the actress’s schedule never allowed it. Now that the show is wrapping — its fifth season starts June 10 — the festival was able to add it to this year’s lineup.
Reyes says the festival is “making history because it’s really the first time the entire cast of ‘Orphan Black’ will be on a panel together. It’s a fitting way to celebrate the show by going out with a bang.”
“Westworld” was another show Reyes was aiming for.
“As soon as I saw the first episode, I knew it was special and was something we wanted for the festival,” she said.
Cast members Evan Rachel Wood, Ed Harris, Thandie Newton and Jimmi Simpson, along with co-creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, will be attending.
Since “Westworld,” which aired last fall, won’t be back until sometime next year, fans undoubtedly will be hoping that they might get a few clues as to the direction of the show when it finally returns.
“We’ve been often able to break news because a show’s creators often use the festival as a platform to talk about where a show might be going,” says Reyes.
The festival offers something for all types of TV fans — with nights for old favorites like ABC’s “Scandal” to NBC’s new hit “This Is Us.”
Reyes said back in September, the Paley Center did a premiere of the show, and even then “you could see how people were reacting to the episode. It’s gratifying to watch it being embraced by audiences.”
Another night is “An Evening of Laughs with James Corden & The Late, Late Show.” Reyes is hoping Corden will do some karaoke with the fans.
The festival benefits the nonprofit Paley Center, home to publicly accessible archives of television and radio content, including more than 160,000 programs.
“Obviously, with social media and all the different ways to consume television, you don’t have the all-consuming water-cooler experiences that you used to when most people were just watching TV on the major networks,” notes Reyes.
“We get a lot of genre-specific fans — like fans of ‘The Walking Dead’ who might watch the CW superheroes shows,” Reyes adds. “Then there are fans of ‘Scandal’ who may watch ‘NCIS: Los Angeles’ but may not watch ‘The Walking Dead.’ ”
So festivalgoers aren’t likely to be fans of all the shows, but they can buy individual tickets along with event passes.
As happens at any festival, fanatics of any show can get pretty creative. Reyes remembers that for PaleyFest’s event for the first season of “American Horror Story,” several people in the audience — of both sexes — came dressed up as Jessica Lange’s character on the series, a creepy neighbor.
“It was so much fun just seeing her reaction,” says Reyes. “I don’t think she ever experienced that level of fandom before.”
