Laing, CEO of Los Angeles-based Rigel Entertainment, which returned to the floor last year after a number of years in the suites. “So we’d rather be on the floor. We’d rather have a presence.” And while he believes that “NATPE is not a place where you launch shows,” the company is still bringing a host of movies, including the high-octane Crazy Girls , starring Nikki Ziering, and Stuck, a dark psychological thriller with American Beauty’s Mena Suvari While Laing said he’d be happy to skip out on NATPE altogether, others, however, are more than willing to make the trip out to Sin City. “NATPE’s a good market for us,” said Brian Lacey, executive vice president, International, of New York-based 4Kids Entertainment. “It’s not nearly as expensive as MIP or MIPCOM, and you’re in and out in three days.” In recent years, Latin American she “wanted to be where the Latin traffic will be,” the U.K.’s Granada International chose the floor. “We upped our profile last year when we went back to the floor [after many years away],” said Tim Mutimer, Granada’s director of Sales, mentioning that NATPE has become a vital annual event for his company. Added Flavio Medeiros, a senior Sales exec at Granada, “NATPE has always been a strong market for Latin American clients as many of them don’t visit Europe that often. Also, the first quarter is when most Latin American channels lock their plans and start spending their annual budgets, so it’s important that Granada be present at the market and start the year strong.” Sheila Hall Aguirre, who looks after Latin America for the U.K.’s FremantleMedia Enterprises, concurred, saying that not only is NATPE a crucial market for Latin America, but that she’s so overwhelmed in Vegas that she often can’t fit in all her appointments. “We’re on the floor. I prefer it,” she said. “You get more traffic.” Despite her abiding affection for the convention floor, she does acknowledge that suites have their advantages too. “On the last day, people are literally tearing their booths down around you. In a suite, you don’t have to worry about that.” Telemundo’s Maria Alicia Parkerson, who operates out of the U.S. company’s Spain office, said that NATPE’s going to be big for her too. “It’s the first market of the year, making it a great opportunity to showcase what’s going on with us for the next 12 months,” she said. In recent years, she mentioned, she’s noticed a surge in the number of Asian buyers. In her opinion, “NATPE was in a slump, but it’s coming back.” Takeshi Okajima, director of Licensing for Adness Entertainment, a Tokyo-based firm with offices in Los Angeles, said that while his company had a large booth last year, Adness wouldn’t be exhibiting at this year’s NATPE. “We’ve been doing a lot of business with the Latin American market lately, and we already have contacts at each station,” he said. “Therefore, it isn’t necessary for us to exhibit.” In spite of this, Adness will be sending a few executives to Vegas just in case something unexpected should happen. Alejandro Parra of Argentina’s Telefe, was somewhat ambivalent: “We attend NATPE, but it isn’t the best time of year for us to introduce new product,” he said, explaining that the television season in Argentina starts in March or April. “But it’s still a market,” he added. “We will attend as usual.” Alternatively, Alfred Haber, founder of New Jersey-based Alfred Haber Distribution, Inc., said he’s looking forward to this year’s NATPE like never before. “NATPE is always a busy convention for us,” he said. “I wish it were five days.” The company is once again taking to the floor this year, and doesn’t see the benefit of being in a suite. “I’ve seen the line for the elevators at the Venetian stretched to the Waldorf in New York,” he joked. “People eventually get fed up and make their way to down to the floor, to where we are.” When it comes to the floor vs. suites debate, there are two main elements to evaluate: Are the savings a company gets from taking a suite worth the frustration patrons experience while attempting to get to said suite? According to Exhibitor Magazine , an industry exhibition trade publication, the average total cost of exhibiting on any exhibition floor is three times the price of the rented space. Therefore, for a booth of 74 square meters, typical of a medium-size distributor, total cost to exhibit would be NATPE if only to meet with studios to learn what to expect come the L.A. Screenings in May. Buyers from Englishlanguage territories, who consume the U.S. TV season’s content as soon as it emerges from the studios’ lots, are particularly concerned as to the outcome of the WGA walk-out. NATPE 2008 will feature a slew of panel discussions, keynote addresses, workshops and networking opportunities. Jeff Zucker, president and CEO of NBC Universal, will present NATPE’s keynote address. Last year’s NATPE boasted about 8,000 attendees, including 133 international exhibitors, of which Latins made up a large majority. NATPE organizers expect similar numbers this year. “It’s not a highpressure market,” said Rigel’s Laing, noting that it’s nice to start off the new year with an industry event. “The only question is whether people show up to see you there,” he said. V I D E O • A G E JA N U A R Y 2 0 0 8 (Continued from Cover) NATPE 42 Alfred Haber, founder of Alfred Haber Distribution Granada’s Flavio Medeiros Bender Media’s The Green Minute business has become a big part of NATPE, and while that will be true for 4Kids, the company’s also planning on doing business with key Canadian and European broadcasters. “Believe it or not,” said Lacey, “but we have some meetings set up with broadcasters from Central Europe and other emerging markets.” Susan Bender, president and CEO of New York’s Bender Media Services, a company that specializes in Latin American sales, is particularly excited about the market since she believes she has exactly what the Latins are looking for: green programming. She’s coming to NATPE with The Green Minute , a lifestyle show highlighting new green products. While Bender opted for a suite, saying U.S.$60,000. (This takes into account that NATPE charges $25 per square foot in order to exhibit on the floor, which reflects the U.S. average cost per square foot of $24.64.) For this investment, according to Exhibitor , those who opt for stands on the floor are expected to devote $130 per lead collected, to spend $126 per participant that visits the stand and $236 per participant that has a meeting with a staff member. Conversely, exhibiting in a suite of comparable floor dimension (in this case two suites at Mandalay’s THEhotel), costs are $7,547 each for a mandatory five days, for a total of $15,094. This represents a savings of about $5,000 over the floor and $30,000 overall. However, the cost per lead, per participant and per meeting is considerably higher, due to reduced traffic. While many companies coming to NATPE have been debating the floor vs. suites question for years, a new issue that’s arisen this year has to do with the Writer’s Guild of America (WGA) strike, which has been raging in the U.S. since the fall. Craig Cegielski, Lionsgate’s svp of Programming and Sales, said he’s confident that Lionsgate’s shows will fare well at NATPE since “we’ve already completed production of new seasons of series such as Mad Men and Weeds . We evaluated where we are in this writers’ strike environment and found that it’s business as usual for us.” Because of the strike (see story on page 44), more buyers are expected to attend “ NATPE has always been a strong market for Latin American clients as many of them don’t visit Europe that often. Also, the first quarter is when most Latin American channels lock their plans and start spending their annual budgets, so it’s important that Granada be present at the market and start the year strong.
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