LA Screenings 2013: Get super or dysfunctional

Latin America, as it usual happens, was one of the regions with more buyers attending, as it also had an independent market with selling suites the days before the major screenings, at the Hyatt Recency hotel in Century City. The region brought about 300 buyers. From the rest of the world, especially Europe, the traditional broadcasters reduced a bit their attendance, but they were complemented by the rise of new media players. Hollywood Studios’ executives told Prensario  they expect to generate better and broader deals from last year, all in all.

The Hollywood Studios screened at the market much more scripted product than in 2012. Nowadays, not only the free TV, but also the pay TV and the digital platforms, are producing original fictional content, to make the difference with their customers. Due to that, most of the studios had record figures of TV series showed, and there were more dramas than comedies, comparing to last year.

The genre trends got very clear, along the screenings: there were a lot of super natural or SciFi plots on dramas, and dysfunctional families on comedies, more than what it is usual for a top trendy option. Also, there was a good amount of police/procedural stories, but in most of the cases with a twist: a blind cop, in a wheel chair, etc. There were quite less medical dramas than in the past.

As the U.S. market is better from global crisis, the studios produced more risky product, not so conventional. This has provided advantages and disadvantages, as some studios have offered ‘freak’ screenings, some buyers said. They asked for more series about common people with usual problems. Also, the serialized TV series are back --when the inside stories last two-three episodes-- against the TV series where the stories start and end per every chapter. 

Another important tip is that very popular Theatrical stars --actors, directors and producers-- are moving to TV series: Robin Williams, John Malkovich, Christian Slater, Steven Spielberg, J.J. Abrams, etc. This is very good for TV business.

One of the top screened series, according to the buyers consulted by Prensario, was Under the Dome, from CBS, with a high-impact plot and visual effects. But Disney was the studio that most hit the market, with the new brands added to its catalogue: Marvel, Lucas Film --with Star Wars promising a huge theatrical release every year from 2015-- and the live-action division of Dreamworks. Also, both ABC Family and ABC Studios are very prolific in valued production series. 

The Blacklist and Michael J. Fox Show in Sony, Crisis and The Americans in Fox, Ironside and About a Boy in NBCUniversal, Hostages (the new 24 alike series) in Warner, Resurrection and Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD in Disney, Saint George in Lionsgate, are other preferred series by the buyers. About services, Fox has innovated with FoxFast app, an exclusive web service for its broadcaster customers, to get online information and marketing materials about the licensed products.

New media boom at LA Screenings? It was not so active as in other content events at Natpe Miami or Mipcom, where the online titans --Microsoft, Amazon, Google/YouTube, etc.-- had entered the market, among many other new services. But during the screenings days, the managing of the VOD and digital windows, was a hot topic.

Where is going the market? According to many experts, the audience tend to fit their own programming schedule, choosing one per one the programs from TV, Internet, VOD, etc. Take in mind the Aero hit in New York these last months… Barry Diller’s company is selling small antennas just to catch the free TV networks, per USD 5 each household. People can pay USD 5 for the free TV, just USD 8 for Netflix and might eventually replace the pay TV service, which is charged about USD 190 per month in the U.S. market. To think about it… the pay TV titans are producing top original content, to keep their audiences.

Nicolás Smirnoff and Fabricio Ferrara