Elizabeth Guider Reports: View from the Indies

LOS ANGELES: Independent distributors at the Century Plaza were showcasing an eclectic potpourri of programming to Latin American buyers at the L.A. Screenings, reports Elizabeth Guider.

My Strange Addiction is not the first show that jumps to mind when one thinks of the LA Screenings but it—along with an eclectic potpourri of other alternative fare, from telenovela Luna Roja to disaster movie Monster Wolf—drew assorted buyers to the sales suites of the Century Plaza during the first few days of the marathon programming market.

That nonfiction series is just one of hundreds on offer by intrepid independent suppliers who set up shop in Century City to pull wearied buyers, mostly from Latin American free and pay channels, who are principally here to assess and buy the latest prime-time comedies and dramas licensed by the Hollywood majors.

But as one buyer put it in the corridor of the 17th floor of the Century Plaza Saturday afternoon, “We have a lot of nooks and crannies to fill in our schedule, and we sometimes find something from independents that is quirky or different that our audiences respond to.”

After a short pause, he added: “And don’t quote me, but these shows come much cheaper than what the Hollywood majors are asking for their new series.”

The aforementioned My Strange Addiction is being licensed by indie supplier Rive Gauche and features (apparently) real-life people who do things like eat light bulbs or sleep with their blow dryers turned on. Stateside the reality show airs on TLC (yes, formerly The Learning Channel) and is, along with the long-running Dog Whisperer, one of the more sought-after titles that the same distributor is hawking here.

Rive Gauche international sales executive Tomas Silva said he was pleased with “the very good feedback” he was getting from Latin clients to his shows. (Like the other 60-odd sellers with suites at the Century Plaza, the company focuses on European and Asian clients at the MIP and MIPCOM markets. The Screenings for indie suppliers is focused mainly on buyers from South of the Border.)

“Things are better economically in most of Latin America so we’re in a good position to take advantage of the renewed buoyancy,” Silva said. No deals were ready to be announced, however.

Admittedly Saturday was something of a wind-down, since CBS Studios was screening its new prime-time fare for hundreds of buyers over on the Paramount lot. (The indies had more customers, less bleary-eyed, Wednesday through Friday before the Hollywood majors kicked into gear with day-long screenings of their new fare.)

Despite the event at Paramount and a few other screening sessions on other studio lots Saturday, a respectable number of buyers began trickling in to do business around 4 p.m. with the independents who were stationed on three or four different floors of the Century City hotel. And by 6 p.m. more than 100 buyers had crowded in to the pavilion out front for the Telefilms Argentina cocktail celebrating that company’s 50th year in the biz.

Over at the BBC Worldwide stand, senior sales manager Gustavo Schneideroff pointed to “healthy interest” from Latin free TV buyers in the Beeb’s nonfiction series Human Planet, which airs Stateside on its documentary partner Discovery Channel. Buyers also are open to anything in the horror genre given that there’s a dearth of that in TV terms right now, he noted, pointing to the British pubcaster’s series Bedlam as something that’s attracting attention.

Few indie sellers were ready to talk about deals completed during the four days of screenings at the hotel, though MarVista was pumped about its just-inked deals for Power Rangers Samurai throughout most of Latin America, including with Brazil’s Bandeirantes.

MarVista/SNAP TV director of distribution for Latin America, Ezequiel Olzanski, described the overall market this time around as “active” but, he cautioned, “You still have to identify what each client wants or needs if you want to be successful as an independent.”

Even though the indie TV contingent has to be even scrappier these days than their indie film counterparts, most gave a thumbs-up to the LA Screenings venue, operation and relatively low attendance cost—and the fact that buyers are focused and less hassled when they do show up for meetings.

“Everyone has been proactive. They’ve scoured the various product listings and they shop specifically and aggressively,” said AETN’s Mayra Bracer, a veteran of the Latin sales trenches, first with the BBC and now with the U.S. cable supplier. “And,” she added, “I actually like the slightly slower pace than MIP or MIPCOM."

As for what’s hot in her catalogue, Bracer pointed to the HISTORY channel series Stan Lee’s Superhumans as well as Shock Wave and Nostradamus.

Similarly, several other sellers of niche programming were fairly upbeat about both the recovery of the overall global TV economy and the rhythm of the Screenings itself.  “The economy is picking up," said Emilio Revelo, WWE’s manager of international media distribution for Latin America. "Brazil was hardly affected anyway and now the free-TV players from the various countries are all back and accounted for. There were fewer walk-ins but we did do our 30-35 scheduled meetings.”

WWE is a major seller to Mexico, with top-rated programming on both Televisa and Azteca, but wrestling mania has yet to make inroads with terrestrial players in Argentina, Colombia and Venezuela.

The one genre that is ubiquitous at the Century Plaza venue is of course telenovelas, which sell just about everywhere except to U.S. English-lingo networks. (NBC Universal-owned Telemundo has, however, just scored bigtime with its inhouse-produced sudser La Reina del Sur, which may give new impetus to the genre, if need there were.)

For its part, indie supplier VIP2000tv pointed to Luna Roja, a youth-targeted novela which features good-looking vampires, and Los Exitosos Perez, a more adult saga of a powerful family and its secrets, as its current best-sellers.

“Everyone’s saying it, all the sellers here: The Latins are back, and they want to buy more,” is how VIP2000 international VP Rosalind Rotundo put it, summing up the generally optimistic assessment of the market by the indie contingent.