American Film Market

directorlca

directorlca

Hey a friend of mine told me I should check out the American Film Market down in Santa Monica, but I wasn't sure if anyone knew much about it? I saw that people could buy badges to attend (but they're a few hundred dollars at least) Does anyone know much about the AFM? Is it free if you just want to go and bug people?

hehe, thought about going. . . . .
 
American Film Market, running November 3-10 in Santa Monica, assembles acquisition and development executives, agents, attorneys, directors, financiers, film commissioners, producers and writers for sessions screenings, deal-making and networking.


"The business of independent motion picture production and distribution - a truly collaborative process - reaches its peak every year at the American Film Market. Over 7,000 leaders in motion picture production and distribution - acquisition and development executives, agents, attorneys, directors, financiers, film commissioners, producers and writers - converge in Santa Monica for eight days of screenings, deal-making and hospitality.

The AFM plays a vital role in global production and finance. Each year, hundreds of films are financed, packaged, licensed, and greenlit, sealing over half-a-billion dollars in business for both completed films and those in pre-production. And now the AFM’s new alliance with AFI FEST will dramatically expand the commercial and cultural possibilities at both events.

Capitalize on the opportunities the AFM offers - join us and discover the destination that has launched thousands of films. "


CLICK HERE for Renny HArlin video about his history with AFM



my movie HORRORS OF WAR is at AFM this week! See the poster & trailer at HOLLYWOOD WIZARD's booth.
 
cyan is the member to ask about AFM, he's involved somehow.

All I know is that all the distributors and sales agents from London I needed to talk to this week are at AFM.
 
I spent a few hours there yesterday and am heading out ther again today. Unless you have a finished, ready to go, movie it's not a great place to meet people. Everyone there has spent a LOT of money to promote the movies that have already completed or get advances for projects they have already developed.

But it's a great place to learn about what kinds of movies distributors are selling.
 
The AFM is a trade show which brings together Buyers and Sellers of film rights. The sellers (companies like Miramax, New Line, Dream, Troma, etc) take office space at the Loews Hotel in Santa Monica and work to sell films they've either produced or acquired. The buyers of those films are typically overseas film distributors. The buyers come and meet with the sellers and make deals to distribute films back home.

So let's say Clive's film goes to a festival and everyone loves it. A company like New Line might make an offer to purchase the rights. New Line would then take that film to the AFM and try to make back the money they paid Clive by selling the rights piecemeal to territories around the world. A German distributor might pay $100,000 for the rights to release the film on Pay-Per-View during a small window of time. A Turkish distributor might pay $80,000 for the rights to release the film theatrically. A Japanese distributor might pay $90,000 for the rights to release the film on Japanese cable TV. After several days, New Line hopes to have made back its investment plus profit. (Numbers here are completely imaginary, btw).

The market is good if you want to know which companies are buying which films. So if you have a coming-of-age story about two brothers in war-torn Sarajevo, you wouldn't want to try to sell it to Troma. Okay, that one was obvious but you get the picture.

If you are trying to get funds for a movie or find your next job, the AFM is not the best place since most of the people here are focused on sales and marketing.

Sorry this information is late (today was the first day I had a chance to look at postings). But if anyone has questions about the AFM, I am happy to answer them.

cyan
 
Feature length docs def. But AFM is a very genre led market, much like Milan and to a degree Cannes. We have had our best sales at AFM and the market seems to favour genre led features.

AFM is like Cannes but without the glamour, a place to go and work, to sell completed movies and a good place to pikc up sales agents (although never expect to get a sales agent until after AFM as most are too busy selling to aquire).

As I always say if you have a completed movie grab a few hundred copies of your film on DVD, put a business card in it and give out to anyone in a suit (as well as to everyone at the booths etc). This is the best way to get the film picked up or sold.

And remember some great directors were 'found' at AFM, people like Rene Harlin (okay with him great is subjective but you see the point).

If your looking at pitching, rasing finance etc forget it. AFM is sales for completed films.
 
When I say genre I mainly mean DVD shelf stuff like Horror, action, martial arts, urban that kind thing. Don't get me wrong thillers, comedy, docs and drama are all there but genre dominates the market much like Cannes.

That said there is far too much product out there at the moment and companies are paying badly because of this, because of fears of piracy and fears of where DVD is heading
 
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