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The high-powered American Film Market takes place every November in Santa Monica
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Most people imagine the film industry as primarily a movie making business. And that is true so far as the fact that movies do get made. But the hard reality that often breaks the heart of would-be filmmakers is that it is at the core a movie distributing business. The money is in the showing, after all. Exhibitors have their audience and distributors have their channels and both are looking for product that fits neatly into their models. Reinventing the wheel for each film is not going to happen. Rather, it is the job of the producers of film to demonstrate to the distributors and exhibitors that their product passes their tests of marketability.
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On every floor, trade support services vie for the attention attendees.
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The major studios - Sony, Warner Brothers, Universal - operate like sovereign countries in the film biz and make their deals on their home turf. But most films are made outside the studio system and these films must find outlets. Enter the film markets, where, like any market in the history of commerce, vendors have their “stalls”( set up along floor after floor of hotel suites ) where buyers and sellers meet and haggle over the product and the price to be paid. The
American Film Market, run by the Independent Film & Television Alliance, is the premier film markets in the United States and one of a handful of top markets in the world.
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Sellers set up in suites to show and market their product.
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The
AFM takes place in early November every year in Santa Monica. The market takes over the Loew’s and Merigot hotels as well as the daytime screenings at the local movie theaters. Special shuttle buses ferry attendees around to the venues for screenings and parties. People in suits are either on the phone or talking to other attendees.
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Business happens nonstop here.
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Going to
AFM is like stepping into an alternate universe where the rest of the world pales beside the demands of being here now. The city of Santa Monica has to erect fencing on the street outside the hotels to keep attendees from
rampant jaywalking and traffic-jamming turns in their single-minded drive to get to the
appointment and make the deal.
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Business trumps all as the suits gather around the pool
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Most of the first tier sales happen out of sight, in suites of major independents like Summit Entertainment, arguably the biggest player outside the studio system. Appointments here are set up weeks in advance, and all the dealing is done on their home turf. Screenings of trailers or films happen in advance, with the market being the place to make the final human assessment that cements the deal.
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Every surface at AFM is covered in ads.
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Step down from the Olympian heights, and the fun begins. People buy and sell at all levels of quality and budget. Movies are screened nonstop in theaters all over Santa Monica and also, less expensively, in rooms at the Le Merigot Hotel. Getting people to screenings is a bit of a trick, and tactics vary from promotion packages offered by the market such as trailer loops on the shuttle buses where you have a captive audience to individuals handing out flyers. Every square inch of space in the Loew’s is covered with ads, from banners hung in the atrium, to painted surfaces on elevator doors and staircase risers. To catch the eye of someone who might buy your product is the aim of such promotions.
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This year the market offers a Filmmakers Lounge courtesy of the Trinidad & Tobago Film Office.
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The lobbies of both hotels are abuzz with activity, often at the lowest tier of the market hierarchy. Since the lobbies are public spaces open to anyone, locals who cannot afford a badge can still come and lay out flyers or hang around striking up conversations in the hope of making a valuable contact. To ease the chaos this can sometimes create in the lobby, one of the sponsors of the market, the Trinidad and Tobago Film Company, joined with the market to create a filmmaker lounge. A badge or seminar ticket was necessary to get in to a quiet and comfortable space set up with tables, chairs, couches and computers for access to the internet.
One of the things that makes
AFM unique is its proximity to the studios of Hollywood and all of the supporting businesses that surround and complement the making of movies from soup to nuts. The market offers a five days full of seminars and conferences with heavy-hitters in the movie business.
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Seminars and conferences are packed with producers eager to hear the latest from industry specialists.
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These events are packed and offer critical insights for producers looking to finance, finish, and find distribution for their films. In one seminar discussing incentives given to producers by individual states, a panelist warned of bank-breaking timelines for reimbursement in most states. Apparently, only Connecticut and Louisiana have reasonable payment horizons, whereas some states force producers to carry their debt until after the film has not only been completed and distributed but even after the tax returns have been submitted to the IRS. Interest on debt can wipe out any benefit of incentives. Such advice and words of wisdom make the conferences invaluable for attendees.
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Panels answer questions, giving top-notch expert advice.
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Producers, sales agents and distributors come to sell, of course, but also come to make contacts. At a lunch promoting the Milan International Film Festival, two producers representatives, Thomas Baker and Richard Lewis, were sitting next to each other. On hearing about one of Baker’s projects with a very niche focus,
Kita and Davka in Concert: Old and New World Jewish Music, Lewis got on the phone to a contact who specializes in just the sort of documentary Baker was promoting. The generosity of Lewis is not what people imagine as the rule in the movie business, but the people who succeed are the ones who understand they are part of a community and that relationships are paramount.
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Parties like this one given by JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization) are yet one more place to get business done.
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Businesses looking to establish relationships with film producers and distributors also come to
AFM. Many set up booths to promote their services. By far, the largest number of booths are from locations looking to attract film production to their state, region or country. These organizations set up in the more central public areas of the market rather than in suites tucked away in the corridors, hoping to attract folks as they walk by. The Quebec Film & Television Council (article here) had a desk and lounge set up on the west side of the Loew’s overlooking the ocean. Behind the desk, a large-screen television shows footage from films shot in Quebec. While I was there, a producer came by who was taking with the idea that he could create the look of France while shooting in film-friendly Canada.
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The inviting Quebec Film & Television Council lounge overlooks the ocean.
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As one attendee told me in the lobby of the Merigot, “I’m not here to sell anything. I’m here for relation maintenance. To say, ‘Hi. Hi, how are you?’” And suddenly he spotted a familiar face and took off, trailing a woman who had just walked in until he could scoot past her and come at her from the front with a casual, “Hi! Hi, how are you?”
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The Merigot lobby is a preferred hang out and meeting place for those with and without market badges.
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Dubai promotes its new studio city to producers.
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More information on
AFM here
photographs by Susan di Rende
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