18 In Budapest this past June, the Americans seemed to have disappeared from the usual tourist spots. Similarly, the Germans were gone, as were the French, while the city was full of Italians who could be seen at flea markets, bars, restaurants, jogging and going shopping along Vaci Street. They were everywhere, with the exception of the NATPE Budapest market, as if the international TV business does not concern Italy. In contrast to the empty utcas (streets), Americans, Canadians, Brits, French and Germans could be found at the Sofitel, headquarters of NATPE Budapest, along with representatives of 23 other countries. For theNATPETVmarket at theSofitel—situated on the Pest side of the city, next to one of the bridges over the Danube that connects to Buda — more than 50 rooms (for 46 exhibiting companies) were converted to offices. Plus, the large conference rooms in the basement accommodated more, for a total of 152 exhibitors catering to some 400 buyers. Between those companies that didnot returnand37 new ones, the number of exhibitors did not change from the previous year. On the first market day, the comments heard on the three market floors — the hotel mezzanine and the conference rooms in the hotel basement — were mostly related to slow foot traffic. That was attributed to the fact that, that morning, two studios, CBS Studios International (CBSSI) and Fox, as well as the indie Lionsgate, screened their new season TV fare outside the hotel, drawing an estimated 200 buyers, about half of the contingent. While CBSSI screened in a nearby theater, Lionsgate rented a screening room at the Four Seasons, and Fox used the Café Gerbeaud, as did WB and NBCUniversal the previous day. The exceptions were Disney, which attended with a table, and Sony Pictures, which did not attend the market, but according to NATPE, set up shop at the nearby Intercontinental Hotel. In order not to siphon away buyers from the market,most of thewell-attended screenings took place the day before the market, which this year began Tuesday afternoon rather than Monday. However, the Fox screenings, which extended past 1p.m. on Tuesday, caused some grumbling, tempered by the realization that the studios’ presence attracted more buyers to the market. All the exhibitors VideoAge visited in the afternoon on opening day indicated that they would have a full schedule the next day, but it would wind down on Thursday. However, some exhibitors, such as Caracol, Televisa and RAI, were busy on opening day too, with some noshow meetings replaced by walk-ins. But how did the market go for exhibitors as a whole? According to The Fremantle Corporation’s Diane Tripp, there were “Lots of opportunities for our scripted family series. This is an underserved genre in a world of reality and lifestyle. Buyers still require wholesome family series…even if they’re rerun in the market.” For Peace Point’s Andrew Schreiber, “The market went extremely well. As we were introducing an entirely new line of product to these buyers, there was considerable interest and we were able to initiate serious negotiations on a number of packages of films with both panregional and national buyers.” Helge Köhnen of Global Screen reported that “The market itself went well, the meetings were valuable and I met many of my important regular clients as well as new promising contacts. However, all clients in general are very careful with spending money, in view of an uncertain financial outlook, so they check very thoroughly which programs they really need.” For Caracol’s Roberto Corrente themarket “went much better than expected. Tuesday was a little slow, but it was stable and the meetings were very productive.” As far as finding new buyers, The Fremantle Corp.’s Tripp noticed “Dedicated VoD channels launching all over Eastern and Central Europe.” She added that, “Sadly, buyers have limited budgets and some did not even attend.” Similarly, Peace Point’s Schreiber found that “the biggest change is the increase in the number of buyers who focus primarily on VoD rights.” Global Screen’s Köhnen “noted a shrinking attendance fromRussia/CIS—I think they prefer to go to Kiev Media Week instead,” he commented. For Tripp, the best response from buyers came from “Poland, Romania, Croatia and Russia.” For Schreiber, “[the] strongest [response came] from the Balkan territories.” For Corrente, “Hungary, Poland, Serbia, Croatia, Russia and Albania, among others,” and for Köhnen, “Hungary, Czech and Slovak Republics and Poland.” He added that, compared to last year, “It seemed that the market was weaker in terms of participants in general. [But] for Global Screen, it was better because the majors’ screenings and the market were now separate events — I could meet with everybody I wanted to see.” Among the buyer contingent, one lingering mystery is why so few Polish TV acquisition executives attend NATPE Budapest, while a great deal of support was shown by local Hungarian buyers, who numbered more than 25. Among the first-time buyers was Tamar Zardiashvili of Georgia’s TV9, who said she was looking for all kinds of programs because her network was new and in need of lots of content. Shewas very busy at the market, noting that she “had meetings every 30 minutes all four days…and some business dinners afterwards. I also had business lunches, so I used all of my time. All in all the market was productive.” However, she commented that the market set-up on various floors made it difficult for her towalk around the floor and stop by stands that struck her interest, because, for example, “at the lobby they had meeting tables, but since I had no meetings there, I never stopped by to see which companies had stands.” Only six Italian companies were present at NATPE Budapest, and all under the umbrella of ICE Budapest Italian Trade Commission. Latin Americans also had a small presence, with only seven exhibitors. However, the Canadian presence increased (with a total of nine companies), together with a strong showing from the British (20 companies), French (12 companies) and Germans (nine companies). As usual, the U.S. (with 26 companies) dominated the event (sometimes with representatives from their U.K. offices). The weight of the U.S. was also felt through the aforementioned screenings by the studios (and, at the last minute, by Lionsgate) of their new season productions. The presence of some new countries offered a good indication of new trends in production and sales, although it is difficult to imagine how Indies and Studios in CEE Harmony October 2013 NATPE Budapest Review (Continued on Page 20) ScreenMedia Ventures’ Todd Jackson, Peace Point’s Eric Muller, Andrew Schreiber ITV’s Ahmet Ziyalar and Can Okan Televisa’s Claudia Sahab, Hugo Treviño, Beatriz Rodriguez
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