As usual, the L.A. Screenings kicked off for the indies with an opening party hosted by Cisneros Media Distribution on May 13, a day after the market actually started for the indies. The traditional Century Plaza Hotel housed 76 distribution companies, including the LATAM divisions of the major U.S. studios (Fox’s LATAM sales division used the nearby InterContinental Hotel instead, where VideoAge kept our information desk).
There were also four South Korean companies that appeared for one day on the 18th floor of the Century Plaza, organized a luncheon screening (apparently without telling anyone, except for a poster by the escalator leading to the dining room) and quickly disappeared.
However, some of the indies reported that on Tuesday, May 12 very few buyers were in attendance; a fact anticipated by VideoAge on our L.A. Screenings website one month earlier, which indicated Tuesday as the set up day.
The market’s indie portion ended with another bash, this time hosted by Caracol on May 14, the day before Fox started the studio portion of the market with its LATAM screenings for 172 Latin buyers. Some studios, including Disney, screen for the Latin pan-regionals separately from the general LATAM screenings.
By Saturday, May 16, only 10 indie exhibitors’ suites at the Century Plaza were still open, while the studios’ suites began to fill up with people. The relatively large number of indies still holding meetings was attributed to the fact that HBO had canceled its screenings.
The official studio screenings were kicked off with the traditional Disney party (called the Upfronts) on the studio lot on Sunday, May 17 preceded a few hours by Lionsgate with its party at the House of Blues in West Hollywood. FIC held a party in the penthouse of the London Hotel, also in West Hollywood the previous day.In terms of new product, cable saved the day for the studios since broadcasters ordered fewer new series than last year: 48 this year versus 58 last year. Cable and digital orders added 28 shows to the studios’ international distribution pipes. (Scroll down for links to trailers from the new series).
*A full review will be published in the June/July Issue of VideoAge.
CBS Studios International’s Crazy Ex Girlfriend:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ctFmXGm_yE
Disney Media Distribution’s Grandfathered:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1V7u8Jdo63A
NBCUniversal Television Distribution’s The Carmichael Show:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vs0yHgNcVEU
Sony Pictures Television’s The Player:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BbaeJvSi1Q
Twentieth Century Fox TV Distribution’s The Grinder:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mybEO-Hb0Y
Warner Bros.International Television’s Supergirl:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mybEO-Hb0Y
