AFM Boom or Bust?
The bottom line: buyers are being ‘cautious’ due to macro-economic headwinds.
I’m coming up for air after wrapping production on two features plus traveling to a couple festival premieres for another feature (Hamptons and Raindance to be exact). So while I missed AFM in person I received several accounts from FS Pro members, EP clients, and even the sales agent repping one of my projects for pre-sales.
The gist of everything I’m hearing is that buyers are being ‘cautious’ due to macro-economic headwinds. For instance, my feature that is making the pre-sales rounds right now… the buyers basically told the sales rep that they aren’t making any moves until the new year when they can see how their current slate of releases perform over the holidays. Sounds like a hiring freeze by a different name to me! And yeah, it’s frustrating since these buying ‘freezes’ can push production dates, and thus talent may no longer be available… and on and on. It’s a terrible and tricky house of cards to navigate. But we tap dance :)
What about you? I’d love to hear how you fared at AFM - maybe leave a comment below and we can discuss?
On a positive note, I’m spending more time, energy, and resources leaning into packaging directors and talent for all the projects I’m involved in both TV and Film. You can’t go wrong with this approach because ultimately, it all comes back to who is involved. Make no mistake, the WHO is more important than ever. And the ROI on your efforts in this area can really pay off big. In other words, it’s worth putting your nose to the grindstone on this and stick with it. Packaging doesn’t happen quickly but if you stay consistent over time, and let your project speak for itself, you will get results.
Also on a positive note, the appetite for completed films continues to rise. I’m in the process of closing on three client distribution deals right now, with a few others in the works. Many opportunities out there right now for completed projects especially if you have any sort of festival pedigree or even TV level talent. All genres seem to be welcome. Sometimes MG’s are being offered but most of the time they are not. But distributors are being very aggressive right now with the films they want… as in, they are relentless with emails and calls. Good problem for us all to have for once huh?
Let me know down below if you have any questions on packaging or distribution in the current environment…
Alrighty I’m going to put a bow on this one for today and hope to engage in discussion with you all versus me just talking at you on all this haha.
You can also email me directly at stacey@filmspecific.com.
Thanks everyone - I hope you have a wonderful day ahead and speak more soon!
To your success,
Stacey
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AFM was great for us, both for licensing our existing catalog, expecially to streamers and also for acquisitions. Wine and Cheese party was terrific in our new office.
Hey, not sure if this is getting posted twice. I had some issues when I tried to leave this comment earlier. But it's funny how different people can have different reactions to the same market. My partner and I attended AFM this year, and we are blown away by how well attended the market was and how energized people were in general (as was MIPCOM just a few weeks earlier). It was a great Market, people were very happy and buoyant and there was a lot of buying going on that we saw and heard about. The one thing that we did notice from many of our distributor and broadcast Partners is that they are looking to produce fewer projects, but bigger and better projects moving forward. Excited to see what anybody else has to say. Thanks.