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The world of independent television is pretty chaotic right now, largely because, unlike the indie film scene, there’s no clear trajectory to success. Some shows threw all their money into shooting a pilot. Some shows have shot multiple episodes. Some shows have found alternate distribution opportunities already. Some shows remain unseen. All of them, though, want to go beyond their current status.

Read More: SeriesFest 2016 Winners Include Fan Fiction and Irish Crime

As an attendee of SeriesFest 2016, I had the opportunity to see a large percentage of the pilots screened as part of the independent pilot competition. Some of these pilots were not world premieres, but all of the ones I saw represented the impressive state of independent production today; where a shoestring budget can still produce content on a level equal to what you might watch on TV. Below are just a few of the pilots that impressed me most,...

For the second year in a row, the Denver-based independent television festival SeriesFest has selected winners from its pool of 34 original pilots.

Read More: SeriesFest: There’s a Diy Way to Break into TV

Winning for Best Drama was “Farr,” a crime drama set in Northern Ireland (which also won the same prize at last fall’s ITVFest). Per the drama jury’s statement, “The pilot we would like to recognize is ‘Farr’ since we were invested in the characters and storyline. We can’t wait to see how it unfolds!”

Best Comedy was awarded to “Truth Slash Fiction,” which revolved around a teenage girl’s discovery of erotic fan fiction. According to the jury’s statement, “We decided to recognize work that exists as a true pilot – establishing a mood, conflicts, characters, relationships and an ongoing story that would make a compelling series. With our choices, we wanted to...

With the season five premiere of Game of Thrones imminent, it is appropriate for us to use this column as an update on one of the shows former stars. Harry Lloyd, who played Viserys Targaryen on the first season of HBO's fantasy series, has offered a fictional account of his post-Thrones life with a three-part web series called Supreme Tweeter.

Supreme Tweeter begins, as many web series do, with Lloyd auditioning. In his case, he's up for the lead role in a movie about Henry V. As the episode goes on, we watch as Lloyd struggles to become more than just that guy from Thrones who got molten gold dumped on his head. Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin and series star Maisie Williams both appear in the first episode; they each give Lloyd advice on how to break out of the rough patch in his acting career.

The...

Beggar king Viserys Targaryen got his crown of gold back in season one of Game of Thrones. (Not exactly what he'd had in mind.) The actor who portrayed him, Harry Lloyd, finds himself crowned king of Twitter in his new fictional web series, "Supreme Tweeter," when Kim Jong-un — apparently a GoT fan — starts following him. Lloyd, who had a hand in creating the series and plays a version of himself, managed to snag Maisie Williams and George R.R. Martin for cameo roles. During a Skype conversation in one episode, Martin tries to reveal the ending of the series to Lloyd, "but he's too consumed by his own career, and he hangs up on him," the actor laughed. Ahead of the season-five premiere, Vulture sought Lloyd's assessment of the possible supreme leaders of Westeros — who has the best claim to the throne? Who would make the best ruler?...