UK sales agents are gearing up for the first American Film Market (AFM) in Las Vegas with a heady mix of curiosity and caution.
After a strange and strained 2023 edition, with the ongoing Hollywood strikes and an ill-equipped location at the Meridian Delfina in Santa Monica dampening spirits, the move to the Vegas Palms Casino Resort provides what many attendees agree is a much-needed boost.
“It’s the shot in the arm it needed after last year,” says Mike Runagall, managing director at Altitude Film Sales.
“I’m a big fan of the idea of switching to Vegas,” says Cornerstone Films co-president Alison Thompson. “We are all going to be together in the same space. I think that’s a game-changer. We’re all part of something, part of a community again.”
The new Palms Casino Resort location provides a more compact, one-stop-shop venue, after sales agents became increasingly spread across splinter sites in Santa Monica.
“Buyers we’re talking to are excited to have an efficient market, they’ll be able to meet everybody in a compact timeframe,” hears Film Constellation founder Fabien Westerhoff. “We’re all going to meet in one building, we won’t be running around town, and the screenings are in the same building.”
On the whole, UK sales agents are optimistic about business on their more commercial projects, and report solid international buyer turnout in keeping with recent trends for the market. Indeed, in the final few days before the market begins, piping hot package announcements have been rolling in thick and fast, in stark contrast to last year.
“It isn’t the market that caters for arthouse-leaning buyers,” notes Runagall. “You can go to MIA [in Rome], which has become an important market for those in the arthouse crossover space. It’s the more commercially-minded buyers that are going to go to AFM. Some of the Australians might not go, and some of the Southeast Asian territories are still recovering from Covid. We started going to Busan for that reason.”
“A number of American companies I’ve spoken to are going for one or two nights,” notes managing director and co-founder of Bankside Films, Stephen Kelliher. “It will be a real flying visit for them, and then everything will move online.”
Last year, Hollywood and local hotel worker strikes cast a shadow over the market. This year, the US election, which takes place on the first official day of the market, is weighing on minds.
“I think most people aren’t making plans on election night,” says David Garrett, CEO of Mister Smith Entertainment. “No one wants to have dinner on the 5th. Everyone will be locked onto screens in bars, watching results come through. I hope it doesn’t cast a depressing shadow over the AFM.”
Vexed in Vegas
Not everyone has been charmed by the prospect of a switch to Sin City. Many sales agents are having to fork out to extend their trip and tack on a visit to LA to see their contacts. “It makes sense for there to be an American Film Market in what is the hub of the filmmaking business, which is Los Angeles,” says Garrett.
“It’s make or break,” says Kelliher of the Vegas switch. “With the best will in the world, if there are problems two years in a row, that won’t be a good thing.”
Initially, there had been hopes that the move to Vegas could bring down costs. Sales agents have found quite the opposite to be true.
Additional fees at the Palms Casino Resort that have caused a stir include $750 for an office coffee machine; unexpected price increases for furniture rental; and a fee for disconnecting television sets from a network managed by an outside telecom company so as to be able to use it to present materials to buyers.
One UK sales agent reported that their previous serviced offices in Santa Monica cost $8,000 for the week, while their Palms Casino suite costs $30,000 for the week, for a smaller space.
(Jane Prewitt, president and CEO of AFM organiser Independent Film & Television Alliance (IFTA), previously told Screen: “There’s no question that on the margins there are costs associated with being in Las Vegas that might well have been charged if we had just moved from Santa Monica to another big hotel in Los Angeles or another city.”)
“We were all under the impression it would be cheaper, and it hasn’t been. There’s definitely been frustration,” says Kelliher.
Toronto take-up
A key talking point is what the launch of the formal Toronto 2026 market will mean for the AFM, and whether UK sellers will make the financially and environmentally costly trip to North America twice in such a short space of time.
“Is there enough time to put together projects for Toronto and AFM in quick succession? I’m not sure there is,” says Runagall. “I wonder if Toronto might move a bit. When you’re coming off the back of summer holidays, when lots of people have been away, a market at the beginning of September, and then doing it all a couple of months later, I don’t know how realistic that is.”
“If there was a world in which Toronto was pushed back slightly later in the year, then there would be a strong argument for Toronto being a proper package market as well, which would have knock-on effect for AFM,” says Westerhoff.
“At the moment, they’re very different offerings,” says Katie Ellen, head of production at HanWay Films. “Toronto is a big festival, it offers lots of finished films, many of which are available for sales. AFM is a standalone film market, where it’s a real opportunity to finance and package films. People have gone to them both for different reasons.”
“There are buyers that don’t travel anymore,” adds Mark Gooder, Cornerstone co-president. “It’s hard to know how it’s going to play out. We have a litmus test with Vegas – did people have a good time? Did they buy? Is it a place that other buyers might want to go to next year? At the same time, we all know Toronto is funded. They’re going to make a play, and they’ve got the money. Let the games begin.”
Polished slates
UK sellers are hot-footing it to the AFM off the back of a much-welcomed boost to the indigenous industry, with the Independent Film Tax Credit confirmed as a go-ahead earlier in October by the Labour government, and the BFI starting to administer certificates on October 30.
“We’re in conversation on several films where international producers are focused on looking at the UK now to set up and package them,” says Ellen.
“We’re definitely focusing more on the UK now,” adds Garrett, whose AFM slate includes UK-Ireland co-production Everybody Digs Bill Evans.
As ever, horror and thriller have slotted easily into sales agents’ AFM slates.
“Horrors are working because they work at the right price level, and they aren’t always cast-contingent,” observes Ellen, with HanWay introducing buyers to revenge horror Eye For An Eye, the feature debut from music video director Colin Tilley.
Further genre packages on offer at the market include Altitude’s supernatural horror Dangerous Games To Play, Film Constellation’s Australia-set horror Fear Is The Rider and Bankside’s prison thriller Wasteman.
“Theatrical potential is extremely important for us,” says Thompson, who is launching ballroom dance comedy The Light Fantastic, directed by Chris Cottam and starring Jeremy Irvine, Rupert Everett and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett.
“It helps drive the pay-1 windows [first exclusive release window following a film’s theatrical and home entertainment release] that are so important for distributors. That’s what we’re focused on more than ever – what might fit the pay-1 window for our distributors.”
What will work theatrically, or be given the chance to work theatrically, is mission impossible to define. Thompson notes that Cornerstone recently did a US theatrical deal with A24 for Harry Lighton’s UK queer romance Pillion.
“A24 had not seen a single frame of the movie. It was purely the response to the extraordinary nature of the material. It’s fun, it’s outrageous, and feels very grounded in character… It’s encouraging to see that happen in a market that is highly conservative.”
“The eye of the needle is very small,” adds Garrett. “Nobody knows what a big theatrical movie is. It’s the equivalent of the Japanese umami. It’s the secret ingredient.”
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