NATPE To Honor Lifetime’s ‘Coming Home’

Coming Home, Lifetime’s look at surprise reunions of American military personnel with their families as they return home from active duty, will be honored with NATPE’s fourth annual Innovator Award at PitchCon 2011 on Friday, June 10. Tom Forman, CEO of RelativityREAL and executive producer of the show, will accept the award at a special lunch that day.

Rick Feldman, NATPE president-CEO, also announced that Peter Lenkov, executive producer of CBS’s Hawaii Five-O, will be part of “Coffee With,” the kickoff session of PitchCon 2011. Lenkov joins a lineup of TV and digital content producers, development executives, agents, advertising and brand executives and Pitch Pit companies at the conference. His session opens the two-day event, taking place June 9-10 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles.

NATPE created the Innovator Award to recognize outstanding achievement in nonscripted programming. Recipients of the award showcase extraordinary passion and leadership, leveraging their platform in new, innovative and productive ways.

“Coming Home has done an incredible job of highlighting the commitment and sacrifice of not only the men and women serving in all five branches of the armed forces, but of their families as well,” Feldman said. “NATPE is proud to honor both our troops and the show for its contributions with the Innovator Award.”

The PitchCon 2011 roster includes panels on multiplatform pitching; pitch prep; developing reality show ideas; succeeding as an independent producer; and creating a sizzle reel.

Confirmed speakers and panelists include Steven Amato, Omelet; Christina Davis, CBS Entertainment; Liz Dickler, AETN International; Page Feldman, Mark Burnett International; Mark Feldstein, Stun Creative; Scott Freeman, Bunim/Murray Productions; Mark Gantt, Company Gantt; Jen Grisanti, Jen Grisanti Consultancy Inc.; David Hillman, Lifetime Television; Mark Hoebich, TVtracker.com; Brian Seth Hurst, The Opportunity Management Company, Inc.; Joe LaBracio, UTA (United Talent Agency); Eli Lehrer, Bravo Media; Greg Lipstone, International Creative Management (ICM); Hayley Lozitsky, Ellen Rakieten Entertainment; Kary McHoul, Big Red 2 Entertainment; Josh Pyatt, WME Entertainment; Maury Rogow, RipMedia Group; Brad Roth, Stun Creative; George Ruiz, International Creative Management (ICM); Edward Sabin, Discovery Communications; Eric Schotz, LMNO Productions; Timothy Shey, YouTube; Mark Simon, Sell Your TV Concept Now, Inc.; Dan Snook, 3 Ball Productions, LLC/Eyeworks US; Scott Sternberg, Scott Sternberg Productions; Sarah Weidman, Style Network; and Brent Zacky, TLC.

The Master Class schedule will offer instruction on production budget and scheduling, legal issues, producing web video, short-form entertainment and multi-platform writing. Other highlights include pitch critiques; YouTube NEXT with emerging producers; a how-to session on spec scripts for writers; and the inimitable Pitch Pit, giving writers and producers a unique chance to meet with “Catchers” from more than 50 companies.

Now in its ninth year, the Pitch Pit will be filled with representatives from CAA, APA Talent and Literary Agency and Abrams Artists Agency, as well as people from AOL, BET Networks, BrookEntertainment, Creative Convergence, DECA, FreemantleMedia, Hasbro Studios, ITV Studios, Lakeshore Entertainment, Lionsgate Entertainment, MTV, My Damn Channel, NBC Universal, Quinn Media Management, Shed Media U.S., TBS, Telepictures/Warner Bros. and William Morris Endeavor Entertainment (WME2).

Registration information, a complete agenda with a list of speakers and additional details are available online at http://www.pitchcon.org.