SE P T E M B E R/ OC T O B E R 2 0 1 2 V I D E O • A G E 16 BY SARA ALESSI As usual, a few days after MIPCOM, film-TV buyers and sellers alike will head to Santa Monica, California, for the American Film Market (AFM) just in time for Halloween, looking to buy and sell treats in the form of movies. The upcoming AFM will be held October 31 through November 7 at its usual Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel location. Last year, participants circulated a petition threatening to pull out of the market if the location was changed, as organizers considered switching the venue to downtown Los Angeles because they feared escalating costs at the hotel. But eventually a deal was reached that will see AFM return to Santa Monica through 2017. So, it should come as no surprise that everyone VideoAge caught up with was thrilled that the location isn’t changing (though some hoped the calendar date would). “That’s a no-brainer,” quipped Opus Distribution’s president, Ken DuBow from Los Angeles when asked if he was glad the venue hadn’t changed. He was happy “a deal was reached, which was good for everybody because one cannot imagine Santa Monica saying goodbye to the yearly influx of spending buyers and sellers.” From Toronto, Breakthrough Entertainment’s VP of Movies, Marina Cordoni agreed, stating, Santa Monica “is pleasant and convenient.” Multicom Entertainment’s Irv Holender doesn’t “want to see it move for a while,” adding, “We travel enough as it is.” Likewise, Vanessa Shapiro, EVP of Sales at MarVista Entertainment expressed her hopes that the market would not move in the future. “We would have adapted if they had moved the market to a different venue, but we’ve been very successful in Santa Monica because there’s a familiarity there,” added Larry Goebel, president of Imagination Worldwide. Holender, Shapiro and Goebel are all based in Los Angeles. The enthusiasm for Santa Monica seems to be reflected in the projected attendance for this year’s event. Two months ahead of the market, Jonathan Wolf, EVP of IFTA, the association that organizes AFM, told VideoAge, “It’s really early to forecast, but we expect attendance to be similar to last year, maybe slightly higher.” In 2011, around 750 acquisition companies and a little over 1,500 buyers, attended the market. Organizers expect over 400 production/distribution companies to set up shop this year. Asked about maintaining a good buyer to seller ratio, Wolf responded, “Ratio doesn’t matter. What’s important for a trade fair in any industry is that everyone is present — that all of the sellers know that they will reach all of the buyers by participating in the market, and all of the buyers know that they’ll see all of the product by participating.” AFM sees “strong participation from countries all over the world and mirrors the economic vitality of every country in the world,” Wolf emphasized. “We had a pretty good AFM last year and I’m hoping [this year] will be at least as good as last year,” noted MarVista’s Shapiro. Breakthrough’s Cordoni said she has “always found the AFM to be a beneficial market for [their] sales and acquisition objectives.” She was confident “it will be better this year for us, as we continue to build our film acquisitions catalog and launch not one but three new films for all rights worldwide.” Yet, as positive as Shapiro and Cordoni appeared, Opus’s DuBow was unsure. “The financial issues of Europe have made business very difficult in so many markets, not just one or two countries. Their rebound is key, so we will see.” Multicom’s Holender also had some reservations. “It’s very hard to judge with what’s going on with the economy and the industry. In the last few years, AFM sort of slowed down, not only in the selection of product, but as the DVD market declined and the digital market picked up, there seems to be a lag in the introduction of new product,” he said. Contributing to this uncertainty is the fact that, as Holender said, “We used to be able to pre-sell, but now it’s a lot harder because buyers want to see the finished product first.” But most everyone was in agreement that MIPCOM, which is held toward the beginning of October, doesn’t pose much competition for AFM, because different buyers often attend each market. “MIPCOM has a very minor impact on the AFM because the AFM is about long form, whether it’s features destined for theater, DVD or all forms of TV. The majority of the business done at AFM is done on films that have not started shooting or are in the early stages of production,” said IFTA’s Wolf. Of the approximately 450 films screened at AFM this year, over 70 will be world premieres. “A lot of buyers — like all-rights and DVD buyers — who attend AFM do not attend MIPCOM. They see the titles for the first time at AFM,” said Shapiro of MarVista. In, fact she finds the timing of AFM after MIPCOM to be beneficial. “Because the markets are so close, it gives the buyers who attend both a chance to make decisions and to close deals started at MIPCOM at AFM,” she explained. Breakthrough’s Cordoni concurred. “I can sense the crossover between film buyers and television buyers at markets, but I still find there to be distinct lines between the all-rights buyers that attend ‘film markets’ and the ones that cross platforms. Hence, there is still a need to be at both [AFM and MIPCOM].” The fact that the buyers are often different at each market, and that deals sometimes continue from one to another, allows companies to maintain much of the same slate for MIPCOM and AFM. This is necessary since, due to their proximity, it “doesn’t give [companies] much time to turn around and make a new slate,” as MarVista’s Shapiro put it. Most companies add just a few new titles in the weeks between MIPCOM and AFM. We at VideoAge wondered whether dwindling end-of-year acquisition budgets had a negative impact on business at AFM. Imagination Worldwide’s Goebel said, “It’s true that a lot of buyers get their annual budgets from January to December, but our experience has been that the vast majority of the buyers we deal with use their budgets wisely. And AFM is a major stop on the tour. I’ve never noticed buyers say they can’t buy a film because it’s November, and they need to wait until January or February to make the purchase.” But for some, dwindling end-of-year budgets were a bit of a sore spot. The market formerly took place in February, and Opus’s DuBow contends that February is still the better month for AFM. “I have never thought the movement of AFM from February to November was good business. It is simply a matter of how budgets are done. In November, it is the end of the year. More likely, at that point, a budget would be cut and certainly never added to for additional purchases.” He’s noticed that “The net result is Berlin’s growth and importance as a world festival and market stage.” Likewise, Multicom’s Holender “would like to see AFM in February, before MIPCOM. But then the arguments from some of the major companies come in that they have Berlin and other outlets during that time.” He also thought it would be a good idea to “consolidate NATPE and AFM. It would be great for American and Latin companies, and also other international companies, because the amount of money that could be saved would be tremendous.” Unlike DuBow and Holender, Breakthrough’s Cordoni believes “November is a good time” for AFM, and Shapiro of MarVista “wouldn’t know where” to move AFM, because the rest of the year is already jampacked with markets. Happy to be Back, But the Age-Old Calendar Question Looms A F M P r e v i e w IFTA’s Jean M. Prewitt, Rob Reiner, IFTA’s Jonathan Wolf A view from upstairs (Continued on Page 18)
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