Indies Agree on Change, But Disagree on Path

When studio bean counters review their costs for selling to Latin America, they ask their sales divisions if it’s worthwhile, because so much is spent to get so little. But what’s little for the studios, represents the lifeblood for the indies, who, for the past 25 years (out of the Screenings’ 43 years), have camped out at various hotels around Los Angeles in order to get some of that very same Latin business so much belittled by the studios’ bean counters.


This year’s VideoAge L.A. Screenings breakfast

This attitude is also reflected in the U.S. Spanish-language (Hispanic) TV net-works, where only 3.2 percent of total national television and print advertising is directed at the Hispanic market. This is despite the fact that Hispanics represent 15 percent of the total U.S. population.

The Latin American TV buyers, for their part, tend to appreciate and reward the indies by visiting their suites at the Century Plaza and at the nearby Intercontinental (formerly Park Hyatt) hotels. However, Latins cannot ignore the studios –– if only for their lavish welcomes. Therefore the time left for indies remains sparse, considering the short L.A. visits. Also, for the indies, the Screenings are becoming more important due to difficulties with air travel –– which reduce personal visits to TV channels ––  and thus represent the second of two annual events (after NATPE in January) for meeting with Latin American TV program buyers. The calendar date of the Screenings makes it the start of the market season, and therefore important for the international networks’ search for new shows for their own new TV schedules. 

With over 1,200 program buyers from 60 countries, the L.A. Screenings have become the third largest TV market after MIPCOM (in October) and MIP-TV (in April), both of which are held in Cannes. But its organic (i.e. not centrally organized) nature tends to frustrate indies, hence the low number of returning active participants, even though the total number of exhibitors tends to remain the same. As in 2006, this year there are 89 exhibitors from 19 countries, with 22 companies exhibiting for the first time and three returning after a few years’ absence. Among the new distributors, five are from France, two from Japan, and one from Australia.

“This year in particular has been a challenge to meet with broadcasters and most of the indies are saying the same thing: it’s slow,” said Katherine Kaufman of Porchlight Entertaimment. But even if frustration keeps indies on hiatus, they tend to return after a few years because there’s nothing for them to do in their offices back at home during Screenings time. After all, whom are they going to call or meet with when everyone is in L.A. for the Screenings?

But if independents want to better leverage the opportunities offered to buyers, they need to join forces and establish a general screening of their own. This idea generated a lively discussion during the heavily attended annual VideoAge L.A. Screenings breakfast and the response was positive.

Years ago, the L.A. Screenings took place over an entire month, giving buyers more time to view more product. When the studios condensed the market to the current 10 days, the indies failed to adapt to the changing market. The key to attracting the attention of time-starved buyers is to take a page from the studios and produce an hour-long highlight reel featuring programming from 10 to 20 independents. “That would bring a flow of buyers,” predicted VideoAge editor Dom Serafini, “because being able to view 20 to 30 new shows makes it worth the buyers’ while.”

The plan calls for the exhibiting companies to be centralized in one conference room so that after the screenings they could meet buyers face-to-face during a subsequent cocktail party. The general screening would be promoted in print and online with a target of attracting at least 150 buyers in 2008.

The cost of producing the reel would be amortized over all the showcased companies, resulted in an investment of just $1,000 to $2,000 per participant. For the plan to succeed, a core of strong companies need to lead, but Serafini stressed that smaller independents would have an equal opportunity to participate alongside the larger, more established content providers.

However, not all the participants would agree on the strategy with some calling for supplementing the general screenings with a DVD of the promo reel provided as an insert to publications sent to buyers or that it could be run on the various hotel’s own closed-circuit channels.  While some attendees agreed on the need to have face-to-face encounters, others were just happy with the fact that their promos would be circulating about the buyers in L.A. without the need of a meeting.

The breakfast featured two guest speakers. The first, Cida Goncalves, did a presentation about the Europe-based WorldContentMarket, developed and organized by Planet Sunbeam Limited. “It takes place a month after NATPE,” Goncalves said, “so the business you start in America in January, you can finish in Europe a month later with access to worldwide buyers and sellers who you can meet face-to-face.”

Media Analyst Jon Currie then discussed the growing importance of ratings analysis. “The key is uncovering the finer points of research and ratings. Everyone knows a nine rating is better than an eight.  But you can do things to make that eight more valuable than the nine in the eyes of advertisers. To do that, you have to look under the hood of how they put ratings together, such as what the make-up of the sample was, and how the numbers were gathered. We pull apart what created those numbers by using other metrics.”

The metric generating the most buzz during Upfronts was engagement. “How closely are people watching a particular show?  Those who are the most involved with the characters and show tend to watch the commercials much more closely than people who watch shows with less involvement.”

Currie also stressed the importance of creating buzz. “You can hire any college student to search the Internet. It’s the next big thing…at least for today.”

Valerie Milano contributed to this story