10 V I D E O A G E November 2022 The term “elevator pitch” takes on a whole new meaning when it involves the Loews Hotel in Santa Monica, home of the American Film Market (AFM). This phrase was heard frequently at this year’s AFM — at least during the first couple of days of the film/TV market — due to the long wait times for elevators, which gave attendees an extra opportunity to pitch a deal. However, the long waits did not seem to keep participants from enjoying the fact that the market was finally back in person (after two years of virtual-only events). The entertainment industry has always been somewhat touchy-feely, and no matter what the business has managed to accomplish remotely in recent years, there is nothing like the faceto-face experience that an in-person market can offer. The more serious concern for attendees from the TV sector in particular seemed to be the short two-week gap between MIPCOM and the AFM, though a survey of a good cross-section of international participants who attended both markets revealed that a considerable percentage had unpacked after Cannes and then re-packed to prepare for the Santa Monica, California-based AFM. Another matter that was addressed by some AFM attendees was the strength of the U.S. dollar and its effect on content prices for nonU.S. buyers. There were also cries from some about the increased expenses involved in getting to and staying in southern California. This particular gripe was something of a surprise when coming from regular global market attendees who should know by now that hotels are rather pricey these days, and that an apartment or house is always the best value for their money. That aside, there were a mix of positive reactions from those exhibitors VideoAge spoke to at the market. Electric Entertainment’s Raul Piñawasmorethanupbeat.“We’vebeenactively selling new seasons of our four series (Leverage: Redemption, The Deal, The Ark and Almost Paradise) and coming back to in-person has shown a difference. Our traffic has increased. We came from MIPCOM two weeks ago — one of our busiest, most successful markets — and now our follow-ups are coming in. We haven’t seen a slow market or days (at AFM). It’s been very consistent, with broadcasters, streamers and distributors.” “It feels good” to be back at a ‘live’ AFM, said Chevonne O’Shaughnessy, co-founder and president of Los Angeles-based filmproduction and distribution company, American Cinema International (ACI). But “it’s slow”, she noted. “There’s only 750 badges — and that’s with 500 buyers.” She continued, “I’ve had great meetings and I’ve gotten a lot of stuff done between MIPCOM and here. But it’s not like it used to be. You’d have meetings every half-hour, now it’s every hour-and-a-half, and everything is streaming. ACI is on over 150 platforms. Linear has gone. There’s no [market in] France anymore. There’s no Spain. [But] we’re [still] trying to do linear, [and] we have new opportunities coming up in several territories, like Eastern Europe [which in the past] wouldn’t do drama, [and] now they’re starting to buy drama. Money from other countries is starting to come in, but your return on investment takes a lot longer than it used to. It used to be six to 10 months, now it’s more like 18 months to recover your money.” O’Shaughnessy also thinks that with three trade events —MIPCOM, the AFM, and MIP Cancun — taking place so close together, at least one of themhas to go. “Emerging markets are the place to be and RX organized one in South Africa, and it was good”, she said. Multicom Entertainment Group’s chairman Irv Holender saw this AFM as “a much more focusedmarket. The people who are coming know exactly what they want to see. And it makes it easier for us to concentrate on the direction, or the platform. We see a growth [with audiences], but we’re also seeing a consolidation with the buyers, where there’ll be more and more mergers and more and more major acquisitions coming up in order to minimize not only the competitive market but to upscale and increase the advertising revenue. Right now the advertising revenues are at very low CPMs and everybody is trying to increase it. There is a boost temporarily because of the [U.S. midterm] elections, but that’s going to fall apart next week. We need to find a way to not only increase the CPMs on the platforms but help the television clients get a higher rate as it’s all embedded. Coming in it’s more of the digital side of the business, not as many television buyers, not as many television networks, as you can see when you walk around — you don’t feel like it’s television.” Holender continued: “We’ve brought our major catalogs, plus our new content and our platforms’ major films and television series, as well as major off-network television series.” The Italian Film Commission had a good presence inside the Loews, and Nevina Satta, CEO of the Sardinia Film Commission, was “pleased to be back again (in person).We had two years of virtual market (and) COVID proved we could do business in different ways, but in terms of oneon-one meetings it’s going a bit slow for us.” Nonetheless, their presentation onWednesday, November 2, the second day of the six-day AFM market, went very well. “Many people are not traveling, and L.A. has become a bit more — way more — expensive, but this is a business of people with people looking each other in the eye and not on a screen with Zoom”, she said. “We’ve developed the animation sector very strongly over the last few years through the creation of a lab, which is really the hub of production in training, so we’re meeting with a lot of animation companies and distributors who intend to develop new content. The market was a little bit more alive before COVID. Sardinia is an indigenous culture, it’s a mini continent, and it’s in the center of the Mediterranean. We work a lot on sustainability and on environmental topics”, Satta concluded. Finally, Chris Benn, Feature Film coordinator at Toronto-based Breakthrough Entertainment, said that he’s finding that “a lot of people who are traditionally film [buyers] are now open to other [rights].” Breakthrough’s Michael McGuigan suggested that in today’s world “people have to be flexible. Content is content. Look at how many film actors are now in television. It’s a new world.” (By Mike Reynolds) Good Business at the American Film Market, Despite USD’s Strength AFM 2022 Report The Multicom Entertainment Group team at their AFM suite (l. to r.): Josi Chow, Bryan Crocker, Irv Holender, Niloo Badie, Jesse Baritz, Darrin Holender.
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