Channel 101 is a creation of Dan Harmon and Rob Schrab in which participants submit a short film in the format of a pilot under five minutes in length.

The top five shows are entered into the "prime time" slots on the Channel 101 website, and get to make a follow-up episode for the next screening.

This process continues with new "episodes" being shown at each screening until one fails to make the top five, at which point the series is cancelled.

Introduced in October 2003, it was done away with in November 2005 due to the popularity of the festival making it difficult for the honor system to be viable.

The name "Channel 101" is not meant to suggest an educational course; rather, it derives from the Hollywood convention for numbering a TV show's seasons and episodes.

In 2003, Schrab and Harmon named their creation the Super Midnight Movie Show and decided on a monthly screening and a five-minute format.