Last year, there was the writers’ strike and the resulting dread of screening pilots at the studios. In a few cases, studios canceled their screenings for lack of product, sending a large number of buyers back to the indies. This year, there was no writers’ strike and plenty of studio product to screen. To make things even worse for indies, their screenings began too early, before most of the buyers had arrived. Some of the indies, especially the telenoveleros, rely on appointments, and were therefore assured a good number of visitors. But for those who depended mostly on foot traffic, the results were dismal, with “the most active,” in the words of Bracer, being from Central America. Observers commented that indies at the L.A. Screenings have to start exhibiting when most buyers have arrived, and just before the studios start their own screenings, with a two-day overlap. The overlap is important because some of the buyers might leave the studio screenings early to wander around the hotels. To understand how early the indies left, consider that the Latin American divisions of Sony, Disney and WB did not set up shop at the hotels until May 25. Disney’s very popular Latin party wasn’t held until May 27. This year, when some distributors realized that the bulk of the Latin buyers were arriving toward the end of the week –– a few days after indies shut down their operations at the hotels –– they decided to stay in town, even without an exhibiting suite. Traditionally, the independent distributors at the hotels cater to the Latin buying contingent, for which the Screenings are as important as NATPE. Nonetheless, Bracer reported that, “AETN met with 30 broadcasters over four days, so it wasn’t too slow considering this was our first time at the market, but it definitely got much busier on Thursday [May 21] and Friday [May 22], and a couple of extra days would have yielded a few more meetings.” As usual, Canadians left earlier (before the Memorial Day weekend) to go back for their own Upfronts in Toronto, but since the indies’ market consists mainly of Latin American buyers, the Canadians’ actions didn’t affect them. The list of all pilots, exhibitors and studios’ info can be found at: www.videoageinternational.com/screenin gs.html. JU N E 2 0 0 9 canceled a few weeks prior to the event when a few of the sponsors withdrew their financial support. The Intercontinental Hotel organized a wine tasting party sponsored by GMX, with live Cuban/Brazilian music by Italianborn artist Gabriel Rosati and his Brazilatafro band. But the studios were not the only ones showing financial restraint. Acquisition companies not only sent fewer buyers, but switched to more economical hotels as well. “A lot of buyers [are] staying at the London [formerly the Bel Age] this year,” commented Horan. “As travel budgets are cut back, establishments such as the Beverly Hills Hotel, the Four Seasons and the Peninsula [have been] abandoned in favor of the Sunset Marquis and London West Hollywood.” Among the first-time L.A. Screenings exhibitors were Echo Bridge, CABLEready, TPI and AETN. According to vp International Sales, Christian Murphy, the latter increased sales by 35 percent this year, due to local production cuts by TV networks. AETN’s Mayra Bracer e them to target both commercial and educational/cultural channels. At VideoAge’s traditional L.A. Screenings breakfast meeting, the eight companies in attendance discussed the planned demolition of the Century Plaza and a “born-again” NATPE (if it were to relocate to Santa Monica, California in 2011 after its current run in Las Vegas ends in 2010), among other topics. Overall, the L.A. Screenings ran a total of 12 days: five for the indies (May 1822), and eight for the studios (May 2429). For the indies, the Screenings did not go as well as those in 2008. The reasons are varied — some generated by fate, others self-inflicted. L . A . S c r e e n i n g s ( c o n t ’ d ) (Continued from Page 14) Telefe’s Alejandro Parra, Imedi’s Bidzina Baratshvili, Telefe’s Diana Coifman, Imedi’s Giorgi Lomiadze and friends
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