32 For this past NATPE, some 15 Canadian companies headed south to Miami Beach, with seven of those participating as exhibitors. Even though the number is not as high as it used to be, NATPE is still the number three TV trade show for Canadians, after MIP-TV and MIPCOM. And, for NATPE, Canada provides the second largest contingent after LATAM. The proximity to the U.S. that makes Canada the gatekeeper of the American TV market for non-U.S. companies (especially for children’s animation) and the large number of quality productions coming out of the country make Canada an important element in the NATPE mix. In recognition of this status, NATPE sponsored a “Spotlight on Canada” initiative with a coproduction session in which Telefilm Canada, Canada Media Fund, CanadianMedia Production Association and the Alliance of Canadian Cinema Television and Radio Artists all participated. VideoAge caught up with some of the Canadian companies that attended NATPE this year to learn about the market from their perspective. Victoria Clowater, Acquisitions executive for Octapixx Worldwide, found that this year’s edition of NATPE, the company’s 20th consecutive trip to the trade show, was just as successful as 2013, and was, in fact, “somewhat busier.” Clowater has found that “attendance by Canadian companies, both buyers and sellers, has always been very strong at NATPE…While we have sensed a slight decrease in traffic involving American broadcasters over the past few years, likely because of the recession, overall we have found NATPE to be a superior, successful market that is very important for Octapixx.” The market was equally successful for Peace Point Rights. Les Tomlin, president and CEO, reported that the company “had [its] first deal completed within the first 15 minutes of the show floor opening.” He added that floor traffic was very heavy, with “lots of high-quality walk-ups, in addition to our already full meeting schedules. We increased our stand size this year and it was much needed.” Though the Miami location offers a nice break from the Canadian cold, Octapixx’s Clowater added that it, “has certainly increased awareness for this market amongst Latin American buyers, and we had good meetings and increased interest from broadcasters in Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia and Mexico. While our lifestyle programming did well, our best genre at NATPE was our documentaries, particularly our historical and military ones.” Lia Dolente, director of International Sales and Communications at Tricon Films & Television, noticed a “larger presence of international buyers, which made this year our busiest NATPE yet.” She added, “There has always been a large Canadian presence at NATPE, so we don’t think that has changed, but we do find NATPE is becoming much more of an international market.” “Many of the pan-Latin American broadcasters were interested in our full library of programming,” Dolente said. “But we found the smaller more niche channels were interested in our one-offs and specific programs that work for their target. Hour-long scripted series always work best and have a large audience appeal. We also noticed increased sales for our lifestyle programming.” Peace Point’s Tomlin added, “We had buyers this year from many European territories as well as all of our friends from LATAM, of course. We had the April 2014 NATPE Review Increased Canadian Presence Boosts Miami Beach Mart 9 Story’s Vince Commisso, Natalie Osborne, Federico Vargas Breakthrough’s Nat Abrahamwith celebrity chef David Rocco UFC World Champion Georges St-Pierre (center) paid a visit to Peace Point’s stand. Here, he’s pictured with Rose Marie Vega, Les Tomlin, Julie Chang, Eric Muller Tricon’s Lia Dolente (Continued on Page 34)
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