{"id":4523,"date":"2012-10-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-10-04T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvusa\/2012\/10\/04\/event-preview-american-film-market\/"},"modified":"2012-10-04T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2012-10-04T00:00:00","slug":"event-preview-american-film-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvusa\/event-preview-american-film-market\/","title":{"rendered":"Event Preview: American Film Market"},"content":{"rendered":"

SANTA MONICA: Jonathan Wolf, the managing director of the American Film Market (AFM), talks to World Screen about what attendees can expect from this year’s event, which runs from October 31 to November 7. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Last year was the first time that the AFM, organized by the Independent Film & Television Alliance (IFTA), held its conference series. And the reception was outstanding, according to Jonathan Wolf, the managing director of the AFM. “It sold out,” he exclaims, with more than 700 attendees at each event. Given the positive response from the inaugural series, this year’s event will again feature a five-day conference lineup.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

“Each year will evolve, depending on what the issues are that are important to the independent film industry,” Wolf says. “We talk to the people at the show, we work in the industry year round, so we have a good sense of what people want to talk about, listen to and learn about.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Wolf explains that the five conferences all touch on the topics “that are of most interest to those who are not buying or selling films. Those who are buying and selling films are, for the most part, too busy in meetings or screenings to attend the conferences. The conference sessions are targeting a portion of our attendees, those who are in production—producers, writers, film commissioners, post-production facilities, bankers, lawyers—and those who facilitate the process of bringing films forward.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

This year’s conference series kicks off on November 2 with a finance conference. Here, leading CEOs, filmmakers, financiers and studio execs will be exploring the state of independent film financing, looking at emerging trends and discussing where the money is. The first session of the day will be on current issues, followed by a presentation on the politics of film financing. The finance conference wraps with a session that focuses on the global market, with information about international incentives and subsidies and how to monetize them.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The following day sees the pitch conference take place. Attendees will get the chance to learn the essential rules and tools of pitching from the experts. Volunteers from the audience will then pitch to a panel of Hollywood decision makers, who will provide their honest feedback.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The marketing conference is set for November 4. The session will include luminaries from innovative media marketing campaigns discussing the power of consumers as effective marketing tools. The first part of the conference will look at social media, followed by a spotlight on film festivals.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

On November 5, the AFM will shine a light on video-on-demand and the growing revenue stream it provides for filmmakers and content producers. The session will include producers, distributors and platforms coming together to talk about who’s making money and how they’re doing it. How to navigate the VOD landscape and VOD release strategies are among the discussion topics.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The conference series wraps on November 6 with a micro-budget session. Discussion will focus on new and unconventional financing, marketing and distribution resources that have been proving successful for micro-budge films. Successful micro-budget filmmakers will be sharing their insights, experiences and advice.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The conferences run from 9:15 a.m. to 12:45 p.m.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Last year, the AFM concluded its run with the number of buying companies up 8 percent to 718; buying executives up 7 percent to 1,523; and overall attendance climbing 4 percent to 7,988. This year is right on pace.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The AFM is truly an international market, Wolf points out, mentioning that 90 percent of the buyers come from outside the U.S. Participants are expected from more than 70 different countries. “For most in the industry, the AFM is their annual trip to Hollywood. Travel is expensive, so when you go to a film market you’d like to accomplish more than just attending the market. The unique advantage of the AFM is that those who come here, whether they’re buying or selling, are coming to Hollywood, where the studios are, the talent agencies are, the banks are. It’s the largest concentration of film-industry professionals in the world. Most of our participants do a lot in Hollywood while they’re at the AFM.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

More than 700 total screenings took place at the 2011 AFM. It will be around the same amount this year as well, with close to 100 world premieres and the rest being market premieres.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

An important aspect to note about the AFM, according to Wolf, is that the majority of the business at the market is done on presales, with films that are in development, the early stages of pre-production or perhaps just started shooting. “This is where buyers get a hold of a film well before their competition,” Wolf points out. “The reason why most of the buyers are here isn’t so much to go to the screenings as it is to have meetings for films that are upcoming. Sure we screen 400 or 500 films, but that maybe only makes up about 40 percent of the business that’s being done.” Wolf adds that “more than half of the exhibitors don’t even screen,” but instead take meetings that can lead to presales for their projects.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In just eight days, more than $800 million in deals are expected to be closed on both completed films and those that haven’t even started shooting yet.
\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SANTA MONICA: Jonathan Wolf, the managing director of the American Film Market (AFM), talks to World Screen about what attendees can expect from this year’s event, which runs from October 31 to November 7. Last year was the first time that the AFM, organized by the Independent Film & Television Alliance (IFTA), held its conference …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","","category-top-stories"],"yoast_head":"\nEvent Preview: American Film Market<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Event Preview: American Film Market . 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