and in September was ShineReveille International, the company resulting from the acquisition of Elisabeth Murdoch’s London-based Shine of Ben Silverman’s L.A.-based Reveille last February. At the L.A. Screenings in May, ShineReveille met with clients at both the Intercontinental and at their offices on the NBC Universal lot to present five who want to drop in and see them. This is the first time we’ve ever done that. But it was necessary given that we didn’t have the opportunity to do so at the L.A. Screenings,” commented Fox’s Marion Edwards (see related coments on pg. 58). Ireland-based RTE’s Dermot Horan said that since the September Screenings’ sequel took place over a couple of weeks, most buyers flew in twice, rather than staying in London for the duration. Nonetheless, only a handful of buyers participated. For example, Holland’s Frank Mulder, who until recently acquired programs for NPO, reported that only two people attended from his former company. From Italy, Sonia Danieli, who coordinates buyers from Mediaset, reported that some acquisition execs flew to Rome for Disney’s September screenings, a few flew to London for Fox, while NBC Universal went to Mediaset’s Milan offices. What the Screenings’ sequel means for the industry is still hard to tell. If it worked well for those companies that opted to extend them at MIPCOM, it is possible that, in the future, it could become an added feature in Cannes. Even though there is a movement to have the Screenings moved to London in the fall, this eventuality is somewhat remote. More realistic, though, is the possibility that the upfronts will be restored to their past days of glory, and thus the May L.A. Screenings could continue uncut and uninterrupted indefinitely. V I D E O • A G E OC T O B E R 2 0 0 8 (Continued from 54) L.A. Screenings Extended 56 At the Latin America TV party. L. to r.: VideoAge’s Monica Gorghetto, RAI’s Bruce Rabinowitz, MGM’s Sarita Salas and Jorge Balleste, and NATPE’s Rick Feldman At Telefe’s party. L. to r.: Argentina’s Consul General in L.A., Ambassador Jorge Lapsenson, Telefe’s Claudio Villarruel, Bernarda Llorente, Michelle Wasserman, Alejandro Parra, Julian Rodriguez, Jesica Stescobich and Meca Salado Pizarro At the third annual L.A. Screenings Luncheon held at Century City’s Intercontinental Hotel. L. to r.: WB’s Rosario Ponzio, MGM’s Gary Marenzi, attorney Anita First, Rigel’s John Laing, Ascent Media’s Jim Hannafin, FremantleMedia’s Hendrik Van Daalen, consultant Peter Hughes, CEO Meetings’ Neal Lloyd, consultant Tony Friscia, consultant Jim Marrinan, M6’s Berengere Terouanne, VideoAge’s Dom Serafini, M6’s Bernard Majani Heroes’ star Masi Oka with NBC Universal’s Allan Navarrette at NBC Universal’s Century Plaza luncheon At a press conference in L.A. in May, Globo’s Raphael Correa Netto and Telemundo Internacional’s Marcos Santana announced the remake of Globo TV’s El Clone, a coproduction with Telemundo VideoAge’s traditional L.A. Screenings’ breakfast meeting new pilots for its new CW Sunday night slate, but didn’t have footage to show. As far as the locations in London were concerned, Disney and Fox used their own in-house screening rooms, while ShineReveille rented Soho Screening Rooms (formerly Mr. Young’s Preview Theatre), and NBC-Universal used the Soho Hotel’s two cinemas (each at $5,000 per hour at minimum). In addition, at MIPCOM, some studios, like Fox, will be taking a screening room for three days. “We’ll screen the pilot episodes for people
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