AFM Update

Just returned from the American Film Market (AFM) in Santa Monica, where we met with 16 distributors about "The Hanged Man" in two days.

The market was VERY productive for us. Many of our meetings were brief "meet and greet" sessions, where we exchanged business cards and gave a high level overview of the film. But six of our meetings were substantial 20-30 minute detailed discussions with distributors. These meetings will position us well when the final cut of the film is complete and we are ready to begin discussions with these distributors.

While we are still in post production on "The Hanged Man," it proved very beneficial for us to get some face time with the distributors that we will be contacting in a couple of months for potential sale of the film.

While at the AFM, we also had an opportunity to attend a couple of seminars - one on "Who backs independent film and why" and another on "writing for the marketplace." These seminars were led by great panels that included Tyger Williams, Ted Elliott, and Doug Atchison.

We also had opportunity to screen several films that were being showcased at the market.

About the AFM

The AFM is the largest film market in the world, linking distributors and buyers from around the globe, and is where roughly 1/3 of all non-studio films are bought and sold each year. Reports from this year's festival cite a higher number of attendees, but lower number of buyers this year.

From Variety.com

AFM Had Fewer Buyers

No wonder AFM 2006 seemed on the slow side: There was growth in the number of sellers but a marginal drop in buyers.

AFM organizers said Monday that the number of attendees rose to 8,208 this year, up 2% from last year's 8,014, and that it remains on course to achieve the record
8,400 previously forecast. Data spans all categories including exhibitors, buyers, industry badges, press and guests.

Supply-side growth saw a record 435 companies from 36 countries with a 2% higher participant total of 3,888. Number of films screening rose 10% from 534 to 592.

But the number of buyers slipped from 1,585 to 1,573, and the number of distribs they represent was down from 685 to 677 -- both decreases of 1%.

Biggest growth areas on the demand side came from East European and Latin American regions.