V I D E O • A G E JU N E 2 0 12 12 music; The New Normal (Twentieth Century Fox for NBC), a comedy about a gay couple and their surrogate; Last Resort (Sony Pictures for ABC), about a U.S. submarine with nuclear capability that fights the bad guys within the U.S. government (the pilot reportedly cost $14 million); and The Mob Doctor (Sony for FOX), about a surgeon who’s blackmailed by the Mafia. Some buyers also liked Vegas (CBS Studios International for CBS), a Western set in 1960s Las Vegas. Other popular CBSSI shows include: Emily Owens, M.D. (CW), a hospital drama withMamie Gummer, daughter of Meryl Streep; Elementary (CBS), a modern take on Sherlock Holmes; andBeauty and the Beast (CW), a police version of the fairy tale. Buzzed about shows from Disney Media Distribution include Red Widow (ABC), about the widow of a criminal who inherits a crime syndicate; Zero Hour (ABC), a conspiracy thriller; and Mistresses (ABC), about four women and their love affairs. This year, Sony Pictures offered buyers warm-up blankets during its screening, possibly in response to VideoAge Daily’s story at NATPE 2012 (“How to Dress for the L.A. Screenings”) in which buyers were quoted jokingly complaining about the very cold screening rooms. In the 45 years that the L.A. Screenings have been held, a third event focusing on Latin American buyers has developed around the Screenings and become a lucrative business for the independents. Eighty companies exhibited at this year’s L.A. Screenings, setting up shop in the suites of the Century Plaza Hotel in the Century City area of Los Angeles, the largest turnout in recent years (last year saw 74 companies screen). The indie portion started May 15 (while the studios began screening on the 18) and featured three evening parties hosted by Venevision, which, traditionally, opened themarket;Caracol, which premiered its Pablo Escobar, The Evil Boss series; and Telefilms, with a sit-down dinner after the screening of its new movie catalog. After a slow start, the traffic in the corridors picked up on day two and many distributors reported good business, which kept up until May 18, when all indie exhibitors made way for the studios. OnMay 18Mexico’s TVAzteca hosted a bash to honor Marcel Vinay, Sr.’s 45 years in the TV industry. All of the toplevel executives of Latin America’s TV networks, including competitors such as Televisa, attended the party. Earlier, on May 16, Viacom’s Nickelodeon Latin America organized a press conference for its 11-11 En Mi Cuadra Nada Cuadra, a co-production with Miami-based Somos. Viacom also announced an exclusive five-year volume distribution deal with Televisa. Since the indies begin screening earlier than the studios, many Latin buyers stay in L.A. for over 10 days, compared to five for those from other countries. Canadians arrived on May 14 for the five-day series shopping spree, while the rest of the world arrived Sunday, May 20, for a Monday start. Now for the news circulating around the corridors of the Century Plaza Hotel and the studios’ screening rooms: one piece of news follows Argentina’s recently imposed restrictions on the purchase of U.S. dollars. According to some broadcasters familiar with the issue, after a complete freeze on U.S. dollars transferred out of the country, the government will develop a priority list to facilitate program importers and other international TV companies. In any case, each transaction will have to be approved by the AFIP, the country’s national tax agency. In Mexico, TV Azteca’s networks were dropped by the country’s cable-TV systems serving a combined 4.4 million viewers over some retransmission fees. Megacable, Mexico’s largest MSO with 1.9 million subs, dropped the channel first, followed by Cablemas and TVI, with a total of 1.4 million subs (both controlled by Televisa), and Telecable, which together with Cablecom serves 1.1 million homes. Mexico’s antitrust commission is now looking into the matter. L . A . S c r e e n i n g s ( C o n t i n u e d ) (Continued from Page 10) Televisa’s sales team gathering at the L.A. Screenings precon TV Azteca’s Marcel Vinay Sr. and Comarex Marcel Vinay Jr. while picking up the plaque commemorating Vinay’s 45 years in the international TV industry from Frecuencia Latina Peru’s Cecilia Gomez (on behalf of Frecuencia prez Baruch Ivcher) Viacom’s Nickelodeon Latin America organized a press conference for its 11-11 En Mi Cuadra Nada Cuadra, a co-production with Miami-based Somos Telemundo’s Esperanza Garay (c.) with Caracol’s Camilo Acuña, Marcela Montoya
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