18 Unusual, and yet familiar; strange but still conventional; somewhat changed, nevertheless still exciting. These words can be used to summarize the 60th annual L.A. Screenings. They were unusual due to the writers’ strike, which was clear to all present due to the visible picket lines at both the Upfronts in New York City and at the Hollywood studios during the L.A. Screenings. And yet, it was déja vu all over again from 2008 when the WGA union’s strike extended throughout the L.A. Screenings. This time around, union members took the weekend off from picketing and hired some extras to hold protest signs. These 2023 screenings also saw the return of Fox Studios (following a three-year absence), which held a presentation and a party on its lot. Independent distributors also came back to exhibit at the Fairmont Century Plaza hotel, this time with 71 companies (compared to 59 last year). Carles Blanch Bachs, head of Program Acquisition for Spain’s TV3, offered this summary: “I really enjoyed them, especially the presentation by Amazon Studios/MGM. I think it was a historic moment and to be at the presentation was memorable. Plus, they were low-key. While the other studios say how important it is to always be number one in everything, they had a much simpler approach. Maybe because they come from a different culture. Otherwise, these L.A. Screenings were much more creative and of higher quality.” Recalled Dermot Horan, director of Acquisition & Co-productions at Ireland’s RTE, “After a tentative return in 2022 with COVID tests required before evening events and masks being handed out before you entered theaters, [the 2023] Screenings were back in full force, with all the studios, including Disney and Fox, hosting a full complement of buyers from every continent. And every studio not only presented their shows. Each and every one had a drinks party or an evening event.” David Kines, president and co-founder of Canada’s Hollywood Suite, simply added: “The 2023 L.A. Screenings did not get the memo that peak TV is over. There were more great new series than ever!” Pedro Lascurain, Content Acquisition director for Mexico’s TV Azteca, concurred, “My impression of the Screenings was very good. Many of the major studios had a number of new series and we were happy to hear that most of that product will be available for free TV, meaning us. Streaming platforms have been hurting in our Latin America markets, and this has been an opportunity for us to once again get good, new content from the studios.” To Jimmy Arteaga Grustein, president of Programming, Promotion & Production at Puerto Rico’s WAPA-TV, “The most important thing to highlight is that the major studios made a great effort to present products for all platforms and not products exclusively for OTTs. The time has changed. There were enough offers for all platforms. Something else that impressed me was seeing movie actors, Oscar winners, in procedural series, such as Kathy Bates, which breaks an old myth about never seeing movie actors in television series not produced for OTTs. In summary, this has been a good screening event after the pandemic, especially as compared to last year, which was the first after COVID.” Still, Maurizio Colombo, head of Programming and Acquisition Planning for Italy’s Mediaset, sounded a warning: “It has become clear that in the latest years the Hollywood giants have shifted their investments from networks and cable to streaming platforms. If in 2019 the five majors had showed 27 pilots for [broadcast] networks, this year the same majors would have shown fewer than 10 in total. The way it’s going, it’ll be very difficult for broadcasters from all over the world to find new U.S. series suitable for their own channels. We will be gradually forced to buy shows from other countries and to wear out the library titles, whose ratings are more affected by this intensive practice.” By opening day for the independent content distributors (May 17), 431 attendees had already registered for the L.A. Screenings Independent with indie organizer Isabella Marquez. Of those, 210 were content buyers. In addition, Marquez welcomed 31 members of the press. The number of total content buyers was estimated at 800, which represented half the amount that used to attend prior to the pandemic. Nonetheless, all traditional networks and territories were represented. Unfortunately, Cannes decided to challenge Hollywood with its Film Festival running parallel to the L.A. Screenings, so some participants had to divide their time between the two events. These 2023 L.A. Screenings marked a new beginning for the event since, in addition to the return of Fox and many of the independents, there was the return to “business as usual” for the licensing of content to third parties, which in recent years was curbed as most of the new series were often reserved for the studios’ own streaming services. (Sony Pictures’ Keith Le Goy was quick to point out that SPT never stopped licensing to third parties.) This “return” was also loud and clear with parties, as well as glitzy presentations. However, no stars of the new shows worked the tables with buyers during the studio screenings’ lunch breaks due to their commitment not to cross the striking WGA’s picket lines. Many still made appearances at the studios’ evening receptions, though. The L.A. Screenings ended on Saturday, May 20, for the indies with a presentation/cocktail party hosted by Argentina’s Telefilms at the Century Plaza. Saturday marked the beginning of the major studios’ screenings, with NBCUniversal, which also hosted a Fast X reception. The studio activities continued on Sunday, and included a party thrown by Fox on its stuUnder the Sign of Streaming, But Still Believing in the Linear Stars June/July 2023 L.A. Screenings Review (Continued on Page 20) Record TV’s Delmar Andrade and Edson Pfutzenreiter Mendes in their Century Plaza suite ATV’s Mustafa Keyvan, Merve Dogan, Emre Gorentas Paramount Global Content Distribution screened over four days, just like Disney, Sony and NBCUniversal RTE’s Dermot Horan at the Century Plaza hotel
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