The American Film Market is currently underway (it’ll end on Wednesday, November 13) in Santa Monica, California, and VideoAge has a report fresh from the market floor.
As usual, there were varied opinions as to whether the date of the market is too close to MIPCOM (which concluded just four weeks before AFM started). Some saw the close proximity as a plus, with the AFM providing an opportunity to follow up on negotiations started at MIPCOM. Some said that buyers attending AFM — mostly hailing from companies’ film divisions rather than their TV divisions — were different enough from those who attend MIPCOM to make it worth a special trip to Santa Monica in November.
This year’s market proved that the DVD business is on its way out, replaced almost entirely by streaming. Coincidentally, on opening day of the market, Blockbuster Video announced that it would close its remaining home video stores in the U.S. and be replaced by a Blockbuster @Home streaming service.
Here are some numbers from this year’s event:
8,000- The number of participants that American Film Market oranizers said have attended the event in 2013.
357 – The number of exhibitors that attended AFM 2013 (same as last year), hailing from 33 countries.
779- The number of buying companies that have attended AFM 2013, a three percent increase and an uptick in overall buyers (1,624).
30-plus – The number of sessions included in the AFM Conference Series and Producers Forum. These sessions have featured over 100 industry thought leaders sharing their expertise.
405 – The number of films screened at AFM 2013, including 321 market premieres and 75 world premieres from 51 countries.
16- The number of exhibitors who came from Hong Kong (justifying the fourth annual Hong Kong Day, held the second day of the market).
3 – The number of new hotels that are being opened in Santa Monica by 2016. This fact will likely alleviate any major price gouging by the Loews Hotel, site of the AFM.
** Note: In 2014, MIPCOM will end October 16, thus shorting the gap with the start of AFM, with just three weeks between them.
