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Weekly UpdatesPerhaps in response to FOX's late-May Upfronts this year, NBC introduced the "Infronts," an early-May primetime commercial bidding process in New York City. In fact, NBC started selling commercial time as early as last January; an initiative it called the "Supenfronts." And while the other U.S. nets followed FOX's lead with their own Upfronts, television-advertising clients like Unilever were devising "reverse Upfronts," where brand managers were charged with researching new TV promotion ideas. In other words, the U.S. TV industry couldn't have found a more convoluted way to sell the networks' commercial inventory this year.
The late-May Upfronts meant that in Los Angeles, U.S. studios had to screen pilots selected by the nets through the Memorial Day holiday weekend (May 23-25), a period normally devoted exclusively to barbecues and the readying of summer homes.
The reduced number of buyers (1,100 versus 1,400 last year) was mainly a result of the current recession. However, some last-minute dropouts had entirely different reasons for canceling. A few Japanese companies, for example, withheld their attendance due to the recent flu scare. Nevertheless, according to studios' executives, 1,100 buyers is quite "the norm." In the past, acquisition executives that were flush with cash would come to the L.A. Screenings from all over the world just to be in Hollywood, bask in the studios' hospitality, rub elbows with the stars and have fun at the parties. With international networks cutting budgets, such extravagance has been eliminated and only the minimum number of programming personnel were shipped to the L.A. Screenings.
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Regarding pilots, this time around, the studios didn't have to contend with a disastrous screenwriters' strike, which crippled production last year. Therefore, there was a noticeable increase in the number of pilots commissioned by the nets (75 versus 54 in 2008).
Even so, in the face of bleak advertising prospects, cost considerations affected some new series' artistic and advertising values. It was reported that in some cases, networks asked production companies to reduce their license fee by up to 20 percent, which resulted in a reduced talent salary. Below-the-line savings were considered as well, such as shifting to multicamera shooting instead of single-camera production.
According to The L.A. Times, ultimately, upfront sales will be down 15 percent from last year, reaching $7.4 billion for broadcasters' prime time TV commercials. Whatever commercial time inventory remains will be sold later in the season in what's known as the "scatter" market. In the past, "scatter" was a hot commodity: being scarce, it demanded more money. But if the economy doesn't improve, the inventory left unsold could become a problem. On the other hand, if the economy improves and a net finds itself with a hit show, the scatter market could bring real premiums. Last year the combined Upfronts for the broadcast nets, cable nets, syndicated shows (mostly barter) and Spanish-language TV generated about $20 billion.
This time around, however, ad agencies weren't satisfied with just guaranteed "numbers" (ratings). Rather, "targeted reach" became the name of the game at the Upfronts. In any case, broadcasters can't complain: after all, it has been said that, collectively, they harvest 70 percent of TV ad revenues with just 40 percent of primetime viewership.
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Overall, the U.S. networks picked up a total of 50 new series for their 20092010 primetime season, with a mix of 15 comedies, 29 dramas and six reality shows. With 10 pilots greenlit, Warner Bros. graduated as the studio with the largest output.
NBC increased the number of comedies in primetime, primarily with The Jay Lena Show, because, as NBC's own promotion touted, "If you're happy, we're happy." With The Jay Lena Show, NBC will reportedly be saving about $50 million a year for the hour program, but it could end up costing the net $100 million a year in lost ad revenues.
It was back to the future for ABC: out of the 11 new shows it picked up, eight are produced outside its Disney Studios. Before vertical integration, all U.S. TV networks eliminated their risks by farming out production, picking only the best and returning the duds.
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According to RTE Ireland's Dermot Horan, who was seen at the Century Plaza checking out Canada's El Entertainment's The Bridge (for CBS), this year there are three major trends: "CW is back to WB days targeting teens," others are favoring medical shows, and many are offering high-concept shows, such as Disney's Flash Forward and NBC's Day One. As most buyers, Horan would not divulge his picks for fear that the studios would increase their license fees.
At the Century Plaza and Intercontinental hotels in Century City, Los Angeles, 73 companies (studios and indies) exhibited along with a few distributors such as Rill, Lionsgate, Canada's Minds Eye and India's Zee TV, who made reservations directly with the hotels (rather than specialized agents) and therefore did not get suites assigned in time to be listed in VideoAge's official "L.A. Screenings Guide." Last year, there were 81 independent companies exhibiting. With 62 exhibitors, the Century Plaza returned as the dominant venue for indies, but its future as such was put into doubt by reports that it will be demolished and replaced with a condominium.
From a recreation standpoint, only Disney staged its traditional "Upfront" party--on its lot on May 24. Among the indies, Venevision and Telefe threw parties--the latter with a great burlesque show--while Flor Latina gave a luncheon and Telefilms accompanied its screenings with refreshments. The traditional telenoveleros party was canceled a few weeks prior to the event when a few of the sponsors withdrew their financial support. The Intercontinental Hotel organized a wine tasting party sponsored by GMX, with live Cuban/Brazilian music by Italian-born artist Gabriel Rosati and his Brazilatafro band.
But the studios were not the only ones showing financial restraint. Acquisition companies not only sent fewer buyers, but switched to more economical hotels as well. "A lot of buyers [are] staying at the London [formerly the Bel Age] this year," commented Horan. "As travel budgets are cut back, establishments such as the Beverly Hills Hotel, the Four Seasons and the Peninsula [have been] abandoned in favor of the Sunset Marquis and London West Hollywood."
Among the first-time L.A. Screenings exhibitors were Echo Bridge, CABLEready, TPI and AETN. According to vp International Sales, Christian Murphy, the latter increased sales by 35 percent this year, due to local production cuts by TV networks. AETN's Mayra Bracer e them to target both commercial and educational/cultural channels.
At VideoAge's traditional L.A. Screenings breakfast meeting, the eight companies in attendance discussed the planned demolition of the Century Plaza and a "born-again" NATPE (if it were to relocate to Santa Monica, California in 2011 after its current run in Las Vegas ends in 2010), among other topics.
Overall, the L.A. Screenings ran a total of 12 days: five for the indies (May 1822), and eight for the studios (May 2429). For the indies, the Screenings did not go as well as those in 2008. The reasons are varied--some generated by fate, others self-inflicted.
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Last year, there was the writers' strike and the resulting dread of screening pilots at the studios. In a few cases, studios canceled their screenings for lack of product, sending a large number of buyers back to the indies.
This year, there was no writers' strike and plenty of studio product to screen. To make things even worse for indies, their screenings began too early, before most of the buyers had arrived. Some of the indies, especially the telenoveleros, rely on appointments, and were therefore assured a good number of visitors. But for those who depended mostly on foot traffic, the results were dismal, with "the most active," in the words of Bracer, being from Central America.
Observers commented that indies at the L.A. Screenings have to start exhibiting when most buyers have arrived, and just before the studios start their own screenings, with a two-day overlap.
The overlap is important because some of the buyers might leave the studio screenings early to wander around the hotels. To understand how early the indies left, consider that the Latin American divisions of Sony, Disney and WB did not set up shop at the hotels until May 25. Disney's very popular Latin party wasn't held until May 27.
This year, when some distributors realized that the bulk of the Latin buyers were arriving toward the end of the week--a few days after indies shut down their operations at the hotels--they decided to stay in town, even without an exhibiting suite. Traditionally, the independent distributors at the hotels cater to the Latin buying contingent, for which the Screenings are as important as NATPE. Nonetheless, Bracer reported that, "AETN met with 30 broadcasters over four days, so it wasn't too slow considering this was our first time at the market, but it definitely got much busier on Thursday [May 21] and Friday [May 22], and a couple of extra days would have yielded a few more meetings."
As usual, Canadians left earlier (before the Memorial Day weekend) to go back for their own Upfronts in Toronto, but since the indies' market consists mainly of Latin American buyers, the Canadians' actions didn't affect them.
The list of all pilots, exhibitors and studios' info can be found at: www.videoageinternational.com/screenin gs.html.
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