What the Hell is a Film Market?
During this past week the EFM, otherwise known as the European Film Market, was underway, and one of the biggest headlines was Netlfix’s $55 million purchase of the Christian Bale thriller The Pale Blue Eye (Deadline). Now most average people don’t know what a Film Market even is, so I figure this would be a good opportunity to shine some light on these all important events.
Whereas film festivals are a celebration of the artistry of filmmaking and come with the big premieres and press gatherings, film markets are focused on the business side of filmmaking. Film markets are industry trade events, essentially massive conventions, where business is conducted by all parties of the filmmaking community. Production companies and filmmakers can find and meet distributors for their film, sales agents can sell films internationally to different territories, etc. Essentially any deal making you could imagine around filmmaking happens at these markets. Yet for some reason the public has no idea what they are. This is most likely due to the fact that there is only one major film market in the United States, and that is the AFM, which takes place in Santa Monica, CA in November. Additionally the AFM does not correspond with a major film festival. Producers, film buyers, sales agents, exhibitors from all over the globe flock to Santa Monica for the AFM though to negotiate film deals in all stages of production. Some projects may just be in the script stage and be pitched to buyers for early investment. Other films may be complete and getting screened for potential purchase. The markets primarily consist of set meetings on a rapid fire basis. One sales agent told me in the week of AFM, it is not unusual for him to take 100 different meetings. These markets are where deals get made. That being said though, many distributors and sales agents will reserve the last few days of markets to take walk-in meetings. The beauty of the markets is that anyone can attend really. If you have any experience with filmmaking as an occupation (i.e. made a short film) you can become a credentialed attendee and walk around the convention center networking and viewing screenings. It’s a valuable resource that all up and coming filmmakers should be tapping into.
Below are the major 3 film markets (corresponding film festival) and their typical month of occurrence.
European Film Market (Berlin Film Festival) - March
Cannes Film Market (Cannes Film Festival) - July
American Film Market (no corresponding festival) - November
Additionally, the Toronto Film Festival occurring in September is emerging as a mini-major market for film commerce.