What is a Film Market and how do they work?
After the prelude, you have a 50,000 foot view of AFM. Let’s zoom in a bit, and check out a bit more about the total landscape of Film Markets in general, as well as the sales cycle for them.
What’s the difference between a Film Market and a Film Festival?
When speaking, I get asked this question more than any other, with one possible exception that will be covered in the next chapter.
Put simply, a film festival is a celebration of the artistry of film. Film markets are centered around the commerce of film. Film festivals are about the pageantry of film, and film markets are about the business of it. Some festivals have a lot of crossover, like Sundance and Toronto. Some film festivals have markets attached. AFM is attached to the AFI Fest, Berlinale is attached to the European Film Market, and the Cannes Film Festival has the biggest film market in the world attached, Merche du Film.
The biggest difference between a film festival and a film market is the focus of the two. When most people thing of Cannes, they think of the festival, not the market. However anyone involved in distribution thinks the opposite. While the festival is full of red carpets and pageantry, the market side is much more about the business behind the scenes. More money flies around at Merche du Film than almost anywhere else in the word, at least in regards to the film industry.
Of course, I’m not trying to underplay the importance of film festivals. They serve a vital role in the promotion of the film. If used properly, they can greatly increase the visibility and marketability of the film, particularly if you’re self distributing. The bigger festivals will even help
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Section 1: Pre-AFM
you get your film sold, or at least increase the sale price.
However, speaking solely in regards to international sales, the only festivals that really matter are top-tier festivals. These are festivals like Sundance, Tribeca, Toronto, and Cannes. Other festivals can help to raise your social media presence and marketing proliferation, but they won’t increase your international sales price in a meaningful way.
There’s already a book on film festivals. Chris Gores wrote it better than I could. You can find some helpful links to that in the resource packet at TheGuerrillaRep.com.
What are the other Film Markets?
While AFM is the biggest narrative feature film focused market in the US, there are many more media markets across the country and across the globe. Here are 14 Film and TV Markets you should know about, but there are many more. Markets generally take place for anywhere between a few days and a week around the same time every year. Here’s a guide table for reference. In the book, tbhis is a table, given my website builder won’t let be use a table, I’ll seperate them into bullets. The first will be a guide for the rest. Bold denotes major market.
Market Name
Location
When
Primarily for
American Film Market (AFM)
Santa Monica, CA
November
Narrative Features, especially genre pics
CineMart
Rotterdam, Netherlands
January
Co-Production
European Film Market (EFM)
Berlin, Germany
February
Narrative Features, esp genre pics, but more of a focus on dramas and festivals than the other major markets.
Hong Kong International Film and TV Market (FILMMART)
Hong Kong PRC
March
Narrative features, especially genre pictures, special focus on Asian content.
Hot Docs
Toronto, Canada
April/May
Documentary
Independent Film Week (Formerly IFP)
New York, New York, USA
September
Mixed, generally more drama than others
Marche du Film (Associated with Cannes IFF)
Nice, France
May
Narrative Features, especially Genre
MIPCOM
Nice, France
October
Television, Documentary
MIPTV
Nice, France
April
Television
National Media Market (NMM)
Charleston, South Carolina
November
NATPE (National Association of Television Program Executives)
Miami, FL, USA (Now Bahamas)
January
Television
TIFFCOM (Content Market at The Tokyo IFF)
Tokyo, Japan
October
Genre
Toronto International Film Fest
Toronto, Canada
September
Narrative, Esp. Thriller/Horror and Genre
How many Film Markets does a Sales Agent go to in a year?
Any good sales agent will go to at least the three major markets. Those would be AFM, EFM, and Marche du Film. If they’re not attending at least those three, it’s probably not a good idea to sign with them. Although, it’s better if they go to other markets as well since it often takes as many as 5 face to face touch points to get a sale.
As such, even if you can get your film placed at AFM, it may take a while to get your money back. Sometimes as much as a full market cycle.
Producer’s reps are a bit different. Producer’s reps take a bit less of a cut to sell domestically, and a much smaller cut to hand off to a sales agent. Since they maintain relationships primarily with Sales agents, they can get away with only attending one or two of those markets.
How many Film Markets should Filmmakers attend in a year?
Well, that’s a tricky question. There’s some very high-level networking to be had at such a convention, but beyond that there’s not always a great way to justify it as an ongoing expense.
I’d say a producer should attend several markets throughout the course of their career, just so they know what’s entailed in one. That said, they only consistently attend the closest one to them. If you’re looking to be a powerful executive producer or studio head, then you will need to spend time traveling to all of them, but if you just want to make movies, you’re probably alright only regularly attending one.
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If you want more resources to help you at a film market, you should grab my FREE film business Resource Package. It’s got a (different) E-book, several templates to make your time at film markets more productive, as well as more time and money-saving resources!
