Videoage International December 2018

MIP Cancun’s Ted Baracos December 2018 MIP Cancun Review O n Monday, November 12, an e-mail no- tification from MIP Cancun organizers alerted the press that information about registration would be coming later. The only problem with that was that preliminary activi- ties for the Mexican TV market were set to start the next day. The perceived impression was that during the same exact dates that MIP Cancun was to be held, November 14-16, the organizing company was also running MAPIC, a much larger international retail property market held in Cannes, which absorbed some of Reed MIDEM’s resources. However, MIP Cancun organizers pointed out that there are two different groups from the same company dealing with each event, and that they don’t interfere with each other. Nevertheless, even if MIP Cancun is small in the grand scheme of things, the market was successful, and it is expanding, and organizers are trying every trick under the Mexican sun to squeeze more revenue out of it. The latest trick, according to some distributors, was that, in order to make all their scheduled meetings on Friday, the market’s last day, many exhibitors were forced to miss their afternoon return flights and stay another night at extra (but discounted) cost. In the same vein, the accommodations for the press (paid for by the publications) were more remote (and therefore more profitable for the organizers), located miles away from MIP’s Moon Palace Convention Center, which is adjacent to the main lobby of the Moon Palace Resort, a complex not too far from Cancun’s international airport. A record number of 186 exhibition companies and 206 tables were all featured in a very useful 148-page guide for 186 buyers that included photos and e-mails of both buyers and sellers. However, theguidedidnot include theexhibitors’ meeting table numbers because, explained Ted Baracos, director of MIP Cancun, the guide was printed before table numbers were allocated. For next year, Baracos accepted the suggestion to include table allocation information, even if in the form of last-minute photocopied flyers. Before the market, sellers were presented with the buyers list and told they could make a wish list of people they would have liked to meet. It is reported that 50 percent of the pre-arranged 25-minute meetings ended up on the wish lists. Market organizers explained that themeetings were set up through a proprietary computer software called Certain, which matched sellers’ wish lists with buyers’ interest, but left many sellers unhappy. After complaints, revised meeting schedules were sent to exhibitors. “Everyone complains about the meetings set- up,” said RAI Com’s Bruce Rabinowitz and 7A Media’s Cesar Diaz, both of whom have been in Miami. Plus, added Rabinowitz, on December 1, with the change of the Mexican government, key personnel at government TV stations will change, and the new folks will show up at NATPE Miami. A final comment came from first-timer John Cuddihy, who was representing Multicom and said how pleasantly surprised he was at the market’s efficiency and effectiveness. “The timing is perfect since it allows for follow-ups at NATPE Miami,” he concluded. On the buyers’ side, South America was represented by nine countries and constituted the largest contingent, including 23 buyers from Brazil, 20 from Argentina, and 14 from Chile. Central America was represented by eight countries that included nine buyers from Ecuador, six from Panama, and four from El Salvador. North America was represented by all three countries, with the bulk of buyers coming from the U.S. (33) and Mexico (30). But there were also buyers from China and Spain. On the sellers side, of the 30 countries represented, the bulk was made up by the U.S. with 42 exhibitors, followed by the U.K. with 21 companies, then France (18), and Canada and Spain (13 each). South Korea and Turkey each came with eight companies, but the surprise presence came from companies that hailed from South Africa, Thailand, China, Japan, Finland and Ireland. Among the LATAM companies, Mexico took the lion’s share with eight companies. In total, only 22 exhibitors came from LATAM. The roaring, however, came from the marketing power and popularity of Turkish companies that sponsored screenings, the opening party, and registration bags. Their florid business in LATAM spurred a revival of the dubbinghouses busy atMIPCancun to secure contracts for subtitling and/or local- language dubs of Turkish series. U.S. dubbers are so sure of future sales that companies, such as Miami-based Universal Cinegía, dub the first episodes on spec, and get paid only after the sale is made and they can dub the rest. DS attending the market since its beginning. In addition, Diaz said that the market “has a great app, but only a few buyers use it, forcing sellers to resort to sending traditional e-mails, which few answer.” Added Doris Vogelmann, VP of Programming for Vme: “Normally, buyers don’t answer e-mails from people they don’t know, that’s why MIP Cancun is a good market to get buyers acquainted with new sellers.” About the persisting rumor that MIP Cancun could eventually move to Miami, Rabinowitz pointed out that it is unlikely because the buyers wouldn’t be subsidized in Miami since the market’s key financial supporters are TV Azteca and Pro Mexico, the country’s government trade organization. The rumor about the relocation to Miami was prompted by speculation about the market’s growth. Indeed, Baracos acknowledged that as far as distribution is concerned, MIP Cancun has now reached its plateau, adding that, “future growth will come from Development and Co- producers,” which were exhibiting in the large hall of the Moon Palace Convention Center (used by distributors last year). Other comments heard on the convention floor were about the fewer LATAM buyers present at MIPCOM due to its proximity to MIP Cancun, and the perception that the Mexican market is not affecting NATPE Miami because deals originating in Cancun have to be finalized Mexican Mart Confirmed as Florid LATAM Outpost for Turkish Series John Cuddihy, representing both Multicom and Trigate, with Sandy Lighterman, of the Miami-Dade County’s Office of Film and Entertainment Souvenir photo of participants 16