Ed Helms’ Pacific Electric Partners With SeriesFest On Comedy-Themed Edition Of Storytellers Initiative

EXCLUSIVE: SeriesFest, the non-profit organization dedicated to advancing and celebrating innovation in episodic storytelling, is partnering with Ed Helms and Mike Falbo’s Pacific Electric Picture Co. on a new, comedy-focused iteration of its Storytellers Initiative, a premier competition designed to discover and elevate emerging storytellers.

In search of bold, unique, and diverse comedy series with compelling characters and strong points of view, the Storytellers Initiative offers participants a two-day virtual creative workshop with industry experts, featuring sessions on pitching and mini writers’ rooms. This year’s workshop will take place the week of March 17, 2025, and will focus on getting to know the creators and further developing the scripts they’ve submitted.

The program will also feature a live read of participants’ scripts with professional actors during SeriesFest: Season Eleven. The winning artist(s) will be offered an exclusive development deal with Pacific Electric.

Those interested in taking part in the initiative must submit a 20 to 30-minute pilot script, plus a deck for the project featuring a synopsis, Season 1 outline, and more. Submissions are now open at FilmFreeway and will remain so through December 13. The collaboration with Pacific Electric comes on the heels of SeriesFest partnerships with Janelle Monae’s Wondaland, Ben Silverman’s Propagate, and Kyra Sedgwick’s Big Swing Productions.

In a statement to Deadline, Pacific Electric’s Helms and Falbo said, “SeriesFest and Pacific Electric Picture Co share a common mission to discover new stories and the talent behind them, so partnering on the Storyteller’s Initiative is a natural fit. We are excited to provide a unique opportunity to comedic television writers.”

Stated SeriesFest Co-Founder & CEO, Randi Kleiner, “The Storytellers Initiative has been a signature program since our inception 10 years ago, and we are so excited to partner this year with the incredible team at Pacific Electric. This program gives emerging artists the opportunity to connect with industry executives, which exemplifies the core of our mission, and we look forward to focusing on comedy pilots for this iteration.”

Founded in 2012, Pacific Electric is best known for producing the series Rutherford Falls and True Story with Ed & Randall for Peacock. Other past projects include the Netflix sketch show Aunty Donna’s Big Ol’ House of Fun and the WGA Award-winning Comedy Central Special The Fake News with Ted Nelms, along with features like Corporate Animals and Netflix’s Coffee & Kareem.