To Market, to Market…

"The AFM is a producer's playground, a global marketplace. It is a meeting place for the world's filmmakers, distributors and producers. There's no other place in the world where you can gather as many decision-makers and as much opportunity under one roof. Not Cannes; not anywhere." -Jonathan Wolf.

Tectonic Plates: Markets and Festivals

Until the early '90s, the film festival was entirely about being a cultural event for the community, or, from the industry standpoint, for garnering attention from the media. Festivals were not business-to-business events, and the three major markets at the time - the AFM, MIFED and Cannes - were where, Wolf conveys, "about 90 percent of the business was done."

Once producers realized that their project could get a bit of notoriety in advance of a market if it caught on at a festival, buyers raced to avoid being second to the table. "Because the product was there, they needed to be there," admits Wolf. And the perpetual chase for product (and festivals hoping to capitalize) was spawned.

However, times they-are-a-changing... back, suggests Wolf. "We're seeing buyers starting to pull back from that frenetic activity for a couple of reasons. Most notably, the world of importers is slowly consolidating. When you have that consolidation, you start to look at efficiencies... and you look at the travel budget of your buying staff. Now we're seeing the growth of mid-semester markets that more buyers are attending in lieu of going to the festivals; we're seeing the growth of Berlin [EFM], the growth of Hong Kong [FILMART], MIPCOM, and increased traffic at Toronto [International Film Festival]. Although Toronto is not a market, its significance as a major meeting place cannot be understated."

Going Global

In assessing the rise in representative nations at AFM each year, Wolf credits the idiot-box with putting foreign production on the smart-track. "The most important thing to happen in our industry was the deregulation of television in most countries in the '70s and '80s, and then the use of technology - cable and satellite - to bring an expanding array of choices to the consumer." The resulting flow makes sequential sense: The channel explosion propagated local production in almost every country of the world, from which many countries developed their filmed entertainment industry and from where experienced set directors, lighting directors, actors and writers are now matriculating from television to long-form feature film.

As most other countries of the world consider film a cultural activity, these filmmakers are finding the resources to fund their films locally, many through government programs. As Wolf acknowledges, "When these countries then test the export waters, they find they don't need to do a lot of business, only a little bit, to make a very tidy profit."

How does this affect the producer attending AFM? Well, Wolf explains, consideration should be paid to: whether the film has to be made in the filmmaker's native language, whether it needs to be shot in English, and where it can be shot. Wolf offers, "You can essentially use the economics of shooting in the country to bring the film in within a reasonable budget and take advantage of all the cultural and social resources. At the same time, you can bring an English-speaking actor in to take one or two of the roles, or shoot the film in two languages. I think we'll see a lot of exploration in these kinds of things; we're at the tip of heading in that direction. We'll see increased local production that will take market share away from the traditional, English-language imports."

Platforms and Proliferation

Asked to consider the hot topic of non-traditional distribution, Wolf hones in on the increase of buyers looking at short-form product - for cell phones for example - and notes both the limitations of the medium and the marketplace's uncertainty of the business model. "The same reason most television networks got out of the TV movie business is the same reason you won't have a lot of cell-phone providers getting into the movie business: When you do a film, you have to do a lot of marketing for that one-off prototype; but when you have a series, whether it's a TV series or a series of shorts for your cell phone, once you ramp up the marketing, then you have repeat buyers for each episode."

Noting that neither cell phones nor Internet download delivery systems have yet matured to trusted business models, Wolf speaks with the authority of his executive position on the Independent Film and Television Alliance: "The key for us is making sure the producer has maximized the value of the ancillary revenue downstream and making sure they've got written contracts that cover every possible scenario."

To Market, to Market... All Year 'Round: The AFM Catalogue of Films

This year, the AFM has made a major change to its website that gives the AFM relevance over the course of the complete calendar year.

With "The AFM Catalogue of Films," all sellers will be able to enter all the information about all of their films onto the AFM website. With this feature, films in pre-production, in-production, post-production, finished films and old films in libraries will be available in a searchable database that does not require a password.

"Sellers want to get their product in front of the buyers, so there's no need for a password to protect this information. And buyers from around the world - if, for example, they're looking for a horror film made in the last five years for under $2 million - will be able to type that in and find them."

Additionally, the AFM has partnered with Google Video, so when the buyer clicks on any film, not only will he see the cast, budget, where it was shot, the genre, whether they're still looking for money, and any other detail, but the trailer begins to play, offering an immediate view of the quality of the product. As a free service for buyers and sellers, this is sure to become a valuable tool. "We already have 10 years of AFM information in the site," Wolf affirms. "It's about the product. What's most important for us as a trade group of sellers as well as running the trade show is to make sure each of the buyers and the sellers can find the right match for the right product."