Meet Emm O’Connor and Jim Mauro, co-founders of Viridian Coast Studios. They attended Catalyst this past year for the second time with their pilot "Under the Influence.” This is their incredible success story!
We attended ITVFest (now Catalyst) with our first pilot "Capital Advice" in 2016. We were selected to attend as part of the Network Notes mentorship program. We knew this was a big deal for us but didn't know just how life changing this week would be. This was the first pilot I had ever written and our first creative endeavor as a team. The whole way up I was nervous with anticipation and thinking about what notes we would receive. Upon arrival, we sat down with our mentor to discuss our show and what we hoped for going forward. Aside from the initial and detailed feedback, he also uttered a sentence that flipped a switch in both of our brains.
"You two should probably start your own production company."
He continued on, highlighting each of our unique skill sets and how putting our heads together would cover a lot of bases in the world of production. That day it clicked and five years later, we are coming up on our third year as Viridian Coast Studios, LLC. Thanks to that conversation and overall festival experience, we have become a pilot focused production company for independent content creators. This year we are on track to get some more projects up and running as well as premiering our third complete pilot "Brewtown," which, wild enough, was also born at ITVFest 2016.
Had it not been for submitting our show to ITV Fest in 2016, I cannot say for certain we would be here today. That weekend was transformative for us; we met people doing exactly what we wanted to be doing, saw work that we knew belonged on our television screens and sat in on panels that got the wheels turning and haven't stopped since. Attending this past year was just as impactful and exciting as this festival has grown into so much more since our first introduction. Today, whenever we onboard clients, we build a development plan that incorporates Catalyst Storieroad deadlines and encourage all of our clients to work toward getting into this festival. It's weaved into the fabric of who we are as a company.
Thank you for continuing to include us and for creating such a tremendous space for independent content creators. We look forward to returning this fall!
Stay up to date with Viridian Coast Studios at www.viridiancoaststudios.com and on social media at www.instagram.com/viridiancoaststudios and
