A typical exhibition suite floor at the Hyatt Century Plaza Cisneros Media Distribution’s traditional opening indie party 30 For independent international TV distributors, these L.A. Screenings will be different from those of the recent past for one reason: more companies will be participating, though the number of exhibitors at the traditional Century Plaza hotel in Century City will stay the same. Considering the new entrants and those that dropped out, the number of exhibiting suites should remain at about 80 for the indies. However, there will be an increasing number of company executives “parking” at hotel bars waiting for buyers to appear, or inviting buyers to their local offices for special screenings. And, since more than 1,500 international buyers are scattered among 40 hotels around Los Angeles, it will not be unusual to bump into distributors in the lobbies of hotels, such as The W in Westwood in search of Italian and Spanish buyers, at The London in West Hollywood for the British, at the Montage for the Germans and the InterContinental for the Latins. VideoAge estimated that in total over 120 indie distributors from 20 countries will be in L.A. actively participating at the Screenings, some arriving after short stints at the Cannes Film Festival and with those from outside the Los Angeles area just renting sleeping rooms for a few days, but not full-fledged screenings suites. This is because the L.A. Screenings has evolved into three main segments. The starting date is marked by a welcoming party sponsored by Cisneros Media Distribution, when Latin buyers screen with exhibiting indies. This is the shortest portion of the Screenings, characterized by a few parties and group screenings. The main segment takes place after the indies close up shop and the studios take over, monopolizing buyers’ attention with screenings on their lots from dawn till dusk with dinners and/or parties. The concluding phase is when negotiations begin at the studios or at the hotels, with only a few indie distributors lingering at the hotel bars. All of this covers a period of 11 days, concluding before Memorial Day in the U.S. Attending the L.A. Screenings with new series is not just the prerogative of the studios, since many indies also pride themselves on offering new shows. Esperanza Garay of Telemundo Internacional noted, “[The Screenings offer us] a great opportunity to pre-screen our future productions from the Telemundo Upfront, which takes place at the same time in New York City.” Plus, at the L.A. Screenings, Telemundo is launching two new telenovelas: Reina de Corazones andEl Señor de los Cielos II, a sequel. The Screenings are also a valuable follow-up to conversations begun at MIP-TV. Gene George of Starz Worldwide Distribution said, “The L.A. Screenings provide a great opportunity to see our key broadcast partners again after the recently concluded MIP-TV…Although many broadcasters tend to be distracted by their focus on the studios, it does give us a great venue to finalize any pending discussions.” Starz will use its time in Los Angeles to continue to promote its new drama series Power, which launched at MIPTV, as well as other series and TV movies. According to Isabella Marquez of Events, the Miami, Florida-based company that coordinates the exhibition suites at the Century Plaza, this year there are a number of new exhibitors, including Turkey’s ITV Inter Medya, Canada’s 9 Story Entertainment and Tricon Films & Television, South Korea’s KOCCA and Panama’s KM Services. Lia Dolente of Tricon Films & Television commented, “With the expansion of Tricon’s distribution business to representing U.S. studio content, we are adding the L.A. Screenings to the schedule of markets we attend. We’ve had an L.A. office for a number of years and we look forward to having an official presence at the Screenings.” She also noted that the company’s schedules filled up quickly ahead of the market, so they are anticipating a busy week. However, hopes of a better marketplace compared to last year should not be raised too high, since the studios are expecting a full slate of new series and Fox has already warned its Latin buyers “to stay for the full day with no end time.” Peter Iacono of Lionsgate was enthusiastic about the company’s nine shows (and counting) and its new screening location — The Paley Center for Media, which will double Lionsgate’s screening capacity. “We ran out of space for our screenings, and now we’ve added capacity as well as screening days,” Iacono said. (Lionsgate will also have a suite at the Century Plaza). Indeed, time that the buyers can reserve for the indies will be scarce, though traditionally the Latin distributors at the L.A. Screenings tend to fare better than others. “Televisa has been attending the L.A. Screenings for a very long time, many, many years,” said Televisa Internacional’s Hugo Treviño. “We will have a team of about 30 in L.A., and it is important to stress that Televisa attends as both a buyer and a seller, so, of that total of 30, about 15 to 20 will be from Televisa Internacional and the rest will be buying for Televisa. This is the most important market for sales in Latin America.” Among the newcomers, Can Okan of ITV Inter Medya reported, “This is the first time we have attended the L.A. Screenings.We decided tomake the move to attend after several years attending NATPE, and seeing growing business for our dramas in Latin America. We have already made scripted format deals for Forgive Me andListen To Your Heart in Mexico, and such is our confidence that there is a good market for our dramas in South America that not only have we hired three native Spanish speakers, but we have also dubbed four of our series — Black Rose, In Between, 20 Minutes and Red Scarf — into Spanish ahead of the L.A. Screenings, and we will be dubbing a number of our forthcoming titles as soon as they are ready. I see the L.A. Screenings as core for our Latin American sales. We are exhibiting and the market [is being] attended by a team of three.” This is also the first L.A. Screenings for 9 Story Entertainment. Speaking about attending for the first time, Natalie Osborne said, “It’s an important market to grow our distribution presence, and now we are handling Latin America on our own with Federico Vargas. It’s an opportunity to meet with the digital market as well, so it is a multipurpose market for us.” Osborne added that this year the company is “expanding the number of markets we attend because our catalog has grown.” In less than a year, 9 Story has added four markets to its agenda. Plus, Delmar Andrade of Record TV Network added, “Our expectations for the U.S. Hispanic market are very high because the American market has rediscovered Record’s shows.” Fortunately, the unpredictable nature of the L.A. Screenings is well known and international exhibitors tend togoalongwith theorganicnature of the market that has existed for 51 years without a central organization. Ultimately, its friendly atmosphere, camaraderie and large number of parties will make everyone content. Even those who will not report big sales will at least return home knowing that the market was inexpensive to participate in, that its potential is undoubtedly great and that being in the midst of an important event in the international TV calendar year — no matter howmarginal the individual participation may be — is always welcome. SA The Changing Nature Of The Organic Market For Indie Distributors May 2014 L.A. Screenings Preview
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTI4OTA5