Santa Monica, Calif: ‘Deals are happening. Deals are happening,’ was the mantra at the American Film Market, held from Feb. 29 to March 8 at the Loews Hotel in Santa Monica, enjoying a record year in attendance.

Now in its sixteenth year, the afm has grown from 34 companies and 600 buyers in the first year to 256 companies and 1,700 buyers in 1996. People from 62 countries – including Spain, Mexico, Hong Kong, Thailand, Croatia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Sri Lanka and South Africa – attended the annual event.

Staged by the American Film Marketing Association, the market brings together sellers of English-language films with buyers from around the world. In 1995, members of the afma realized more than $1.3 billion in business revenues.

Several members of the afma and a multitude of afm attendees were from Canada.

Jonas Rosenfield, afma president, a guest at a special Canadian Caucus meeting held with foreign industry leaders, says, ‘Canada is a country of both independence – and independents. The afma is interested in developing stronger co-operative relationships with film producers in Canada, then Europe, and then the rest of the world.’

Mireille Watson, director industrial relations and member services of the cftpa, was the organizer of the Canadian Caucus.

‘The meeting was held because it has become obvious Canadian producers now deal with 32 coproduction treaties – and the process has become overly complex,’ says Watson. ‘The objective of the meeting was to trade information, to understand the issues involved, and identify areas of common concern. This will allow Canadians to increase business abroad and productivity.’

Other participants in the Canadian Caucus included Allan Poole, deputy consul general, Canadian Consulate; Robert Richard, consul, Canadian Consulate; Kevin Tierney, president, distribution La Fete; and John Morayniss, vp, business affairs, Alliance Productions.

Several major Canadian distribution companies employed sales booths at the afm.

Lloyd A. Simandl, president of North American Releasing, was one of the first Canadians to join the afma and become a regular exhibitor at the afm. ‘Over the years,’ he says, ‘the afm has become more professional and business oriented. It is important for Canadians to be exposed to markets like the afm. They will then learn to make films for the market – not for themselves.

‘There is now a new trend towards bigger pictures with larger casts and budgets, yet there are less licensing fees,’ continues Simandl. ‘This has resulted as output by big studios has doubled in the last two years. The erotic thriller is dead, though good sexy pictures still sell; action-adventures will always do fairly well; sci-fi is popular, but who knows for how long; and beware, drama may make you lose your shirt.’

North American has 14 titles, most self-produced. They include Empire of Ash ii, Silhouette, Time Runner, xtro ii, Chained Heat ii and Crackerjack. It is now selling Downdraft, Crackerjack ii, Dangerous Prey and Do or Die.

Alliance International was selling Welcome to the Doll’s House, a Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Award winner, Turning April, Frisk, Curtis’s Charm and House.

Charlotte Mickie, senior vp of international film sales, reports sales were quite good this year, particularly to countries such as Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Australia and Thailand.

She says their success is due to their representation of specialized quality films by directors like Atom Egoyan; and because of their forays into American independent films. ‘There are also now more good Canadian sales agents handling feature films,’ she adds.

Malofilm International now has a catalogue with over 50 films. It reports that Margaret’s Museum, winner of six Genie awards, ‘earned $600,000 in the first five weeks of its release.’

Malofilm is also selling four other films: Frankenstein and Me, a Canadian film starring Burt Reynolds and Louise Fletcher, Blood and Donuts, Once in a Blue Moon and Dos Crimenes.

Yves Dion, president of Malofilm International, says the company has had success in the genre of family adventure and ‘is only interested in films made for the cinephile niche, specifically, art type films that are commercially viable. This niche is now popular, as reflected in the number of Sundance films (14) being sold at this year’s afm.’

The Astral Entertainment Group has over 20 films. It was selling older films such as Terror Train, Death Ship and City on Fire and new films such as Black List, Erreur sur la personne, Starlight, Windigo, Le Secret de Jerome and Wayne Gretzky’s All-Star Hockey.

Jean Bureau, Astral vp, announced that Astral has acquired the world rights for three films by Allegro of Montreal and will soon announce a new slate of primetime live-action television projects. There were ‘many major deals being signed at the afm,’ says Bureau. Since last September, Astral has realized a 50% increase in revenues.

Norstar Entertainment has a library of over 70 titles. In the past it was successful at erotic thrillers, but now it sells family adventure films. New films are No Contest ii with Shannon Tweed, Saltwater Moose with Timothy Dalton and Word of Honor.

During the market, Linda Grinbaum, vp of international sales at Norstar, said ‘the company was having a good afm and selling to countries like Germany and Korea.’

Everest Entertainment has grown extensively in the last two years. Controlling interest of this company has been acquired by Greenlight Pictures. It is now selling Cyberjack, Laserhawk, Hard Core Logo, Freebird and Ocean Boy. It is also developing a Cyberjack cd-rom game and releasing three Orion theatrical films across Canada.

TSC Film Distribution Corporation is a Canadian company attending the afm for the first time.

It has over 280 hours of programming including feature films, tv series and documentaries. It was selling five features that have been recently completed, two more that are in preproduction, and eight in development over the next 18 months.

Among its titles is the critically acclaimed film Double Happiness by Mina Shum, Urban Safari and Inner Voice. Other projects include American Affair, Dead Serious, The Suspect and Drive. tsc is very excited about No Angel, a biker film being produced with Pieter Kroonenburg.

Shavick Studios, in conjunction with Saban Entertainment and Famous Players, is now producing eight to 10 films a year in b.c. Lance Robbins, president of television-motion pictures at Saban, says, ‘Some buyers think that Canadian films are too soft. Yet this has not affected sales and (Robbins’) plans to increase production in the future.’

Robert Morrice, gm of entertainment software at the Royal Bank of Canada, says he ‘is encouraged that many Canadians are now attending the afm.’ Morrice was there with fellow banker John Genzel and lawyer David Wolfish of Harris Sheaffer ‘to define relationships with over 20 counter-parties that are major buyers of Canadian product.’

Mark Prasuhn, film commissioner of the Saskatchewan Film and Video Corporation, initiated some of the boldest steps taken by Canadians at this year’s afm. He assembled a contingent of 11 filmmakers to aggressively promote the virtues of production in Saskatchewan.

Several of these filmmakers recently returned from lobbying Parliament in Ottawa for a new tax incentive film program.

Brenda Collins of the British Columbia Motion Picture Association also led a strong contingent of producers. Many were seeking work as service providers to American producers at this year’s Location expo.