Blogging from the American Film Market in California, Scythia Films producer Daniel Bekerman (The Husband) writes about navigating the market for the first-time.

Probably as a result of my full plate, I’ve become a bit obsessed with consolidation and efficiency in all things.

I like that my office is half a block from my house, and I like that my favourite restaurant is two blocks from there. I kind of wish I lived with a barber. This was my first AFM, and that efficiency-obsessed part of me was impressed.

A short, vitamin D infusing walk from my hotel to the Loews, a hop from there to Casa Del Mar, and that’s my day. AFM also seems to have a stronger focus than other markets. Perhaps the lack of a festival component makes it stripped down to the core mission: We are here to buy and sell.

That said, the picture I had in my head of AFM was not what I found this week in L.A. The picture in my head was a swirl of Sharknados and Vampire Nurse 3Ds. I don’t do a lot of movies of that ilk, not that there’s anything wrong with that. (Really, some of my best friends do exploitation genre flicks.) What I found instead is that it’s actually just a beehive swarming with the same bees I see at all the other markets. However, more than the others, this hive does produce honey for the masses.

I formed a strategy that seemed to work at AFM: Establish the eyebrow-raiser early on, then keep the eyebrows raised. The eyebrow-raiser is the project that wakes people up because it has some commercial quality that can’t be ignored; attached talent, brand, financing, etc. Once the eyebrow-raising project has been introduced, the door is more open for the other projects, and hopefully people will be more receptive to the importance of creative attributes and story as valid assets.

I had been concerned that my slate wouldn’t be as applicable to this market as it has been to others. Not the case. Of course buyers and sellers at AFM are focused on projects with identifiable audiences, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised that they are open to taking a variety of paths to reach those audiences.

Most bizarre moment: I was sitting in a meeting and noticed, standing behind the person I was talking to, the Log Lady from Twin Peaks.

Read more AFM blogs here.