Channel 101 is a community-driven non-profit film festival where the audience decides what gets made. Create a 5-minute pilot. Submit it. Let the audience vote. If they love it, you make more episodes. If they don't, you come back stronger.
THE CHALLENGE
Everyone in the world is invited to submit a Channel 101 pilot. Make the first episode of any kind of show you want—comedy, drama, horror, animation, documentary, whatever.
No longer than 5 MINUTES. Do not strive to fill 5 minutes. It can be five seconds long. 5 minutes is the absolute maximum.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
DO THIS
- Create a 5-minute (or less) pilot for your TV show
- Give your show a clear, memorable title that appears on screen
- Submit from anywhere in the world—we accept all submissions
- Make it something you'd actually want to watch
- Be bold, be weird, be authentic
- Submit via YouTube, Vimeo, or Google Drive link through our form
DON'T DO THIS
- 5 minutes of your live improv show shot from the back of a theater
- A movie trailer for your TV show ("In a world...")
- 13 episodes at once with instructions about which to show when
- A 20-minute short film renamed "Episode 1"
- AI slop
- Vertical video or repurposed TikTok content (16:9 widescreen, please)
ABOUT CHANNEL 101
Channel 101 is a quarterly short film festival where filmmakers compete for a spot on our primetime lineup. But here's the twist: the audience decides everything.
Four times a year, a panel of current showrunners watches all submissions and selects their top five favorites. These five new pilots screen alongside new episodes of existing primetime shows at our live event (also livestreamed globally). Then the audience votes.
The top five shows with the most votes become the new primetime. That's it. No network executives. No focus groups. Just you, your show, and an audience that loves (or doesn't love) what you made.
Here's what you learn: How to fail. How to succeed. And finally, how there is no difference between the two. The only thing as bad as being told your pilot failed is being told your third episode was worse than your second. And the only thing as good as having the number one show is having a chance to come back with something new.
Based in Los Angeles but open to the world. Four screenings a year. Total creative freedom. Absolute audience accountability.
HISTORY
- 2003 Channel 101 is born—created by Dan Harmon & Rob Schrab as a living, autonomous, untelevised TV network
- 2009 Switch from Cinespace to Downtown Independent—a new era of high-quality shows begins
- 2020 Live streams on Twitch start due to pandemic
- 2025 Public Displays of Altadena burns down in LA fires—we relocate to The Last Bookstore DTLA
- NOW Still running, still audience-powered
2026 SCREENINGS
Live screenings at The Last Bookstore. Pick a screening to see results or submit your pilot.