AFM 2008 Reflection
Posted by dominie in News on November 13th, 2008
We’ve reached the conclusion of this year’s American Film Market held at the Loews Santa Monica Hotel in Los Angeles, CA where each year over $800 million production and distribution deals are sealed. It sounds glamorous at first, very enticing…come sell your film at AFM.
Being a first time attendee thus is the mindset I had going into the marketplace. I squeezed into the Loews elevator with the other 16 or so bodies until I reached my destination, the eighth floor. I would start my way from the top and work my way from the right side of the hotel to the left and then down from there. I began to venture into the marked rooms where distributors had eagerly set up camp and developed their game plans. My “Hello’s” were returned, however, awkward. When I spoke, they seemed distracted, their eyes retracting towards the door each time footsteps were heard. After several more occurrences it donned on me. These distributors are interested in only one objective: to sell. And here I am, not a buyer.
There was a tension that echoed across the floor. Particularly pertaining to that of genre films, the market has become increasingly saturated with vampires, zombies, blood, guts, and gore—and mostly only done for shock value. The explosion of independent films could not have been more prominent and the competition among distributors to sell their films was transparent. Technology leveled the playing field between industry conglomerates and the independent filmmakers and these independent films are competing in the same arena, fighting for the same theaters the Hollywood big budget films fill. Needless to say, a unanimous friendship on the playing ground could not exist between the two groups. And now, finally to the purpose of this reflection…
Enter the Troma Entertainment room. Little did I know, here I would my biggest lesson at this year’s AFM. (more…)
