VideoAge International October 2018

20 October 2018 V I D E O A G E Parties at L.A. Screenings 2018 At least 10major parties were held during the 12-day L.A. Screenings event, taking place at studio lots, in hotels, and at convention halls. These were in addition to various small dinners held at restaurants and at executives’ homes (e.g., Paramount and CBSSI executives). NATPE’s Opening Night Party at the InterContinental Hotel kicked off the event for the indies portion with a performance by singer Chyno Miranda. Then, onMay 17, Fox LATAMhosted a celebration for retiring executive ElieWahba on the Fox lot. eOne threw a party on the afternoon of May 19 at theWallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, while Telefilms chose the same night to throw a cocktail party at the InterContinental Hotel. The following day, May 20, Disney opened the studio portion of the Screenings with its tradi- tional Upfronts Party on its lot. OnMay 21, MGM staged a cocktail. Paramount did the same on May 22. On May 23, it was Sony Pictures’ turn to throw a party on its lot. And May 24 saw the 14th Annual L.A. Screenings Veterans Luncheon at the Inter- Continental. The Fox Gala took place that same eve- ning — and, as usual, had the distinction of being the final shindig at L.A. Scree- nings 2018. The L.A. Screenings 2018 networking breakfast, and the indie opening par- ty, a $50 market badge was required. This fee was introduced for the first time this year, causing some confusion (since no fee had ever been requi- red before). The InterContinental Hotel was sold out (for both the exhibition suites and the ground floor tables) this year, making the indie portion of the L.A. Screenings a success like never before seen in recent years, attracting large delegations of Chinese and Moldovan buyers, in addition to the traditional LATAM acquisition executives. There were also special screenings hosted by eOne, Lionsgate, Sonar, Paramount, HBO, and Telefe/Viacom scattered around town. These L.A. Screenings were rich in fun, with a total of 10 parties, starting with those thrown by NATPE, Disney, and MGM. Telefilms combined its general screenings with its traditional cocktail event. Studios that did not have parties on their lots hosted selected groups of buyers at the studio executives’ homes or at restaurants (see sidebar). The event, which lasted 12 days, started on May 14, and as usual, was comprised of three sections: The Canadian screenings, May 14-23, which culminated with a so-called “deal night” on May 22; the LATAM portion, which ended on May 17, the day that the U.S. broadcast TV networks finalized their pilot selections during the “Upfronts” in New York City; and the studio screenings on their lots that took over content buyers’ time fromearlymorning tomid-afternoon each day. As usual, the number of buyers varied from 1,500 to 2,000 depending on the studio, and they came from 60 countries. Reporters observed that large venues, like the Paramount Theatre for CBS (which seats 516) and the Warner Bros. Theater (which also seats 516), were filled to capacity with buyers at each screening. (Continued from Page 16) Kanal D’s Kerim Emrah Turna at the InterContinental Lionsgate’s Elissa Shenkman, Gene George, Dawn Flagg and Peter Iacono screening at the London Hotel Record TV’s Delmar Andrade inside his exhibition hotel suite Global Agency’s Ivan Sanchez and Ekin Gabay outside their exhibition hotel suite Zee Entertainment’s Sarah Coursey and Sunita Uchil in the InterContinental lobby area near VideoAge ’s info desk