Prior to news landing this weekend that the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and AMPTP have reached a tentative agreement to end the 146-day writer’s strike, US sellers were busy future-proofing the AFM should both Hollywood strikes still be in full force by the time the market kicked off on October 31.
The resolution of the WGA strike will bring a collective sigh of relief across the industry. However, should the SAG-AFTRA work stoppage continue into or beyond the market, there will still be far fewer pre-sales packages because talent agents by and large have not been sending scripts (written before the writers strike began) to clients unless there is a SAG-AFTRA interim agreement in place.
Sellers have managed to get interim agreements on some of their projects and production has been going ahead, although on a much reduced scale. In TIFF there was only one major package of note: WME Independent’s action title The Beast with Samuel L. Jackson in talks to play the US president.
Productions without SAG-AFTRA members have also been shooting outside the US. However, in many cases sellers have pivoted and are prepared to focus on continuing sales on completed films.
“We had a number of things that came to a halt which I am confident will be back on track,” says Millennium Media president Jeffrey Greenstein. “We have a number of interim agreements awaiting approval. My buyers need content and I will do my best to provide it. We know these strikes will only go on for so long.”
Millennium shot four features this year and Greenstein will continue to sell available territories on action thrillerDirty Angels directed by Martin Campbell; Hellboy: The Crooked Man; sci-fi thrillerSubservience; and action title Guns Up.
Todd Olsson, president of international sales at Highland Film Group, reported a good response to completed titles at TIFF like westerns Outlaw Posse and Place Of Bones and holiday movie The Christmas Classic.
If the SAG-AFTRA strike is ongoing, Olsson says AFM “will turn into a screening market where people come to see films they bought a year ago”.
Highland is preparing to shoot sci-fi thriller The Astronaut starring Kate Mara in October in Ireland after the project landed an interim agreement. “We have a couple of projects that have been granted an interim agreement so we’ll be able to start those,” he says. “We’re fairly well teed-up with pre-sales.”
On pre-buys distributors generally are looking one year and one quarter ahead. Pre-bought projects that haven’t go into production since June means buyers will have slots in their schedules this time next year.
There has been word that some buyers will not attend AFM this year, or send smaller teams. Olsson says most of the distributors he has spoken to said they will come regardless of whether or not both strikes are resolved because they have already booked rooms.
“We’re hoping everything will be resolved by the time we get there and we can get back to new packages that can go into production in Q1 2024.”
Capstone head Christian Mercuri enjoyed a strong response to TIFF Midnight Madness selection Boy Kills World earlier this month and will be continuing sales on remaining territories.
Mercuri has several completed titles and at AFM will be showing first footage from horror thriller Don’t Move. The project secured a SAG-AFTRA interim agreement enabling it to wrap production after it paused at the start of the actors’ strike.
“We have a few films set to shoot next year,” Mercuri adds. “We hope there will be resolution to the strikes shortly and everything can move ahead.”
Ryan Bury, SVP acquisitions and sales at Motion Picture Exchange, will continue sales on a number of completed projects, among them the Timothy Spall drama Bolan’s Shoes and western Among The Willows.
“We have a lot of completed content and that’s where much of AFM will focus,” Bury says. “It’s going to be more of a waiting period than a packaging period.”
Brian O’Shea, CEO of The Exchange, has been negotiating library sales and pushing for production starts on a diversified slate but admits the fact that talent agents will not send scripts to actors without an interim agreement “absolutely puts a clamp on the pre-sales strategy”.
He adds, “There have been some packages going around before the strikes and once the strikes end maybe they can come together.”
Will talent stay on projects once the strikes end and the studios and streamers come calling with big paydays? It depends on the commitment, O’Shea says, adding that it helps if a coveted actor is also producing, which raises the personal stakes.
O’Shea expects established buyers to attend the market and says new players might stay away as there will not be much by way of new feature projects around.
The view from Europe
From the European side, there has been a decline in buyer attendance in recent editions, and that trend is likely to continue. Mubi, for instance, last attended in 2019, and will not be returning this year.
“I have heard a few buyers who will not be attending, mainly due to costs, which arguably has not been helped by strikes,” says Ella Field, executive vice president of international sales at Signature Entertainment.
Several key UK sales agents paused for thought about attending this year’s AFM, with the climate of uncertainty surrounding the strikes, travel costs hurtling up and concerns about the AFM’s new non-beachside location of Le Meridien Delfina preying on sellers’ minds.
“We are still undecided about the AFM. We won’t be taking an office in any case. We will decide closer to the date if we do go, and then it will be without a set office space,” one UK sales agent told Screen.
“The offices are very expensive. It is unclear to us at the moment what the uptake on the new location will be. A lot of buyers – especially European ones – were attracted to the beachside location in November. They will be less keen to be stuck in a hotel many blocks away from the beach.”
However, with the deadline for confirming office space now passed, many have committed, buoyed by the prospect that indie films outside of the US studio and streamer restrictions that are ready to shoot soon will be very appealing to buyers.
“The international [sales] team will be attending and are feeling positive, with new footage to share and project announcements, with the waiver in place,” says Field.
Alongside Signature, Bankside Films, Cornerstone Films, Altitude and Protagonist Pictures have all confirmed robust sales team attendance at the AFM’s new location of Le Meridien Delfina.
Anton’s sales team will also be out in full capacity, but located in a beach house outside of Le Meridien Delfina, while London and Paris-based Film Constellation will be with the Unifrance umbrella.
Last year the UK umbrella stand, supported by Film Export UK, did not run, with boutique sales outfits Reason8, SC Films International, Screenbound, Film Seekers and Kaleidoscope clubbing together for a shared office space instead. This communal set-up is returning this year.
From the French side, it similarly looks to be business as usual for sales agents, with most AFM regulars such as SND, Charades, Pathé, Orange Studio, Newen and Other Angle Pictures set to return with full sales teams and no scaling back or changes for the 2023 edition.
The cancellation of the American French Film Festival (TAFFF) owing to the strikes, due to run October 18-22, may work in the AFM’s favour, with TAFFF attendees seeking to showcase titles and garner distribution seeking a different US market.
Location woes
Not for the first year, there are grumblings about the market. The AFM has new digs for 2023 and in a new multi-year deal will be located in Le Meridien Delfina next to the busy I-10 motorway, several blocks inland from the former Loews.
In January it emerged Loews had suspended operations at the site. The hotel group did not renew its lease with landlord Strategic Hotels and new tenant IHG Hotels And Resorts closed the site for renovation and plans to reopen it by the end of the year as Regent Santa Monica Beach.
AFM’s deal with Loews has ended after 30 years on the Santa Monica beachfront. The venue had become an unpopular venue with attendees who cited high costs and a dreary atmosphere as its main drawbacks.
Some worry the new location will be a challenge as buyers still need to make their way back to familiar beachside hotels like Shutters, Casa del Mar and Viceroy for meetings, and head over to the now slightly more distant Third Street Promenade for screenings.
AFM will provide the usual shuttles back and forth but as one industry source says: “There’s a lot of anger from buyers and sellers. The location is going to upset people.”
However, market organisers told Screen they believe the new location will reinvigorate the event and they have locked into Le Meridien Delfina for some years to come, despite ongoing calls from some independent executives to move the entire market to Las Vegas or Miami Beach.
AFM’s lack of a festival component with red carpets and glamour remains a negative in the eyes of some. However, putting all this to one side, the fact remains that its proximity to the heart of the film business offers undeniable appeal.
Market attendees can do the rounds of talent agencies, studios and streamers located in nearby Century City, Beverly Hills and Burbank.
“People like to come to Santa Monica,” O’Shea says. “They have existing relationships, projects, and opportunities. It’s Hollywood. There are many reasons to come to Hollywood if you’re in the entertainment business.”
“It would be highly disappointing if we didn’t have a market in the Los Angeles area,” notes Mercuri. “It’s the entertainment hub.”
For now, the focus is on how to best prepare for the market during a strike. And if the SAG-AFTRA strike also ends and a new deal is ratified shortly before the AFM kicks off, there will be the usual last-minute scramble to pull packages together.
That prospect does not worry anyone. “This is a scrambling business,” laughs Mercuri.
IFTA statement
In a statement to Screen, Jean Prewitt, president and CEO of AFM operator Independent Film & Television Alliance (IFTA), said: “We expect this year’s AFM to be a vibrant, robust market even in light of industry uncertainty.
“AFM Registrations across every segment are tracking on par if not up from this time last year and everyone you would expect is set to attend. Over 200 exhibitors from around the world are committed. Buyers from more than 50 countries are confirmed – with companies registering several people from their teams.”
Prewitt continued, “There is significant representation coming out of South Korea, Japan and China, both buyers and sellers, rebounding from 2022 when the Covid travel ban was still in place. We are also seeing high numbers of sales companies coming in from Europe, including France, Germany, Italy and Poland. The industry is now focused on AFM, and registrations are steadily coming in.”
In recent months Prewitt and IFTA have conducted tours of Le Méridien Delfina with exhibitors and Prewitt reported that the delegations responded enthusiastically.
She added, “The difference in distance to the screening theatres and favorite local restaurants are mere tenths of a mile and we are expanding shuttle service to minimise even those small timing differences.
“AFM will not return to the Loews; the hotel’s rebranding and renovations combined with the new price points preclude it from being a viable venue for the needs of our market constituents,” Prewitt said.
“This has been a chaotic year for the industry and the marketplace will obviously feel the ripple effects, but the independents always have stepped up to deliver to the world’s audiences and the global industry knows this is the place to do business this November. The key players will be here, the venue will serve the industry’s purposes, and the beach still is just walking distance away. It’s an exciting time.”
Additional reporting by Mona Tabbara and Rebecca Leffler.
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