Market Prep Program

If you’re plan­ning to attend the Amer­i­can Film Mar­ket (AFM), then you MUST be pre­pared to  lever­age the oppor­tu­ni­ties the mar­ket can offer you.

Many film­mak­ers don’t real­ize what a valu­able tool AFM is. It’s a great place to pitch your project, help you find dis­tri­b­u­tion, a sales agent, and financ­ing.  How­ever, to get the job done you’re going to need a strat­egy, a plan of action.

First, a brief word about what AFM is.  AFM is an annual event which attracts over 8,000 indus­try atten­dees to Santa Mon­ica, CA. Par­tic­i­pants from over 70 coun­tries con­verge to buy and sell dis­tri­b­u­tion rights for com­pleted films or to gain financ­ing for projects in var­i­ous stages of pro­duc­tion. Unlike a film fes­ti­val, the AFM oper­ates more like a tradeshow by cre­at­ing a mar­ket­place where pro­duc­tion and dis­tri­b­u­tion deals are closed. Dur­ing its eight days, more than $800 mil­lion in deals will be sealed. Atten­dees gen­er­ally include: acqui­si­tion and devel­op­ment exec­u­tives, agents, attor­neys, direc­tors, dis­trib­u­tors, fes­ti­val direc­tors, financiers, film com­mis­sion­ers, pro­duc­ers, writ­ers, press and all those who pro­vide ser­vices to the motion pic­ture indus­try.

Now, this is where I come in.  Like I said, you need a plan.  AFM is a BIG event and you can eas­ily get lost in the crowd and get absolutely noth­ing accom­plished.  I have seen many film­mak­ers waste their time by not doing impor­tant things such as sched­ul­ing their days, doing research, set­ting up meet­ings, and get­ting the attendee guide.  

This 3-month coach­ing pro­gram is designed to pre­pare you for the Mar­ket.  If you’ve been won­der­ing … what are some of the things that can be accom­plished  attend­ing the mar­ket for the first time?  How do I approach the dis­trib­u­tors and sales agents?  Can I just walk into an office?  What mate­ri­als do I need?  How do I book meet­ings?  Can I just approach buy­ers? … then this pro­gram is FOR YOU!

I’m sure you’re won­der­ing, why you should attend. Well, noth­with­stand­ing the fact that it’s one of the biggest indus­try gath­er­ings for film pro­duc­ers, sales agents, dis­trib­u­tors, buy­ers, and financiers, you can actu­ally have the chance to pitch your project in an indus­try mar­ket­place envi­ron­ment.  

AFM is com­prised of buy­ers and sell­ers. The buy­ers are peo­ple who rep­re­sent dis­trib­u­tors (the­atri­cal dis­trib­u­tors, cable net­works, video/DVD dis­trib­u­tors, etc.) from the US and other coun­tries. Approx­i­mately 4,000 buy­ers from 100 coun­tries attend AFM annu­ally.  That’s a lot of buy­ers in a posi­tion to acquire your film or finance your script.  

The sell­ers are pro­duc­tion com­pa­nies and film­mak­ers try­ing to sell their fin­ished prod­uct or pre-sell their future prod­uct. The AFM rep­re­sents a place where all of these buy­ers and sell­ers come together with the hopes and intent of com­merce tak­ing place.

If your answer is YES to any of these questions …
  • Do you want to advance your projects?
  • Do you want to tap fund­ing from co-production and inter­na­tional finance partners?
  • Do you want to sell your film glob­ally or license a dis­trib­u­tor to do it for you?
  • Do you want to mul­ti­ply your con­tacts by devel­op­ing new relationships?
  • Do you want to forge part­ner­ships and co-productions?
Then .. you MUST opti­mize your return on invest­ment by com­ing PREPARED to the Market.

Some of the things you’ll learn in the AFM Prep Pro­gram are:

  • How to plan your agenda.
  • The three most impor­tant items to give to buyers.
  • Who to target–the com­pa­nies best suited for your project.
  • Which key exec­u­tives to target.
  • How to pitch your script to financiers.
  • How to pitch your film to dis­trib­u­tors and sales agents.
  • How to make appointments.
  • What mate­ri­als your should prepare.
  • ..and much more.

What you’ll get in the three month AFM Prep Pro­gram which is a mix of audio lessons and pri­vate one-on-one webcam/phone coach­ing ses­sions to help you develop your AFM strat­egy.  The pro­gram includes my per­sonal eval­u­a­tion of each filmmaker’s trailer and pitch package.

Here’s what you’ll get:

  • Three 60–90 minute audio lessons (three ses­sions will be deliv­ered prior to the mar­ket, one after the market).
  • Two 30 min. pri­vate webcam/phone coach­ing ses­sions.  (one prior to the mar­ket and one after the market).
  • Tanya’s per­sonal eval­u­a­tion of, and rec­om­men­da­tions for, your film trailer and pitch pack­age (does not includ­ing watch­ing your film or read­ing your script)
  • Work­sheets accom­pany each audio lesson.
  • Email sup­port dur­ing the 3 month program.

Note:  The pro­gram does not include reg­is­tra­tion for the Amer­i­can Film Mar­ket.  If you want to attend, pur­chase an AFM badge sep­a­rately through AFM (http://www.afma.com) which we are not affil­i­ated with.  Keep in mind that although its highly sug­gested that you come to the mar­ket as a badge-holder for the best oppor­tu­ni­ties to do busi­ness, there are some lim­ited access oppor­tu­ni­ties to net­work and social­ize with­out a badge.  Either way, you need to know what to expect, how to plan and how to do busi­ness there.

The cost: $750 for the entire 3-month program

 

Share