Non-Traditional AFM Set to Break Records
Staff -- Tradeshow Week, 8/8/2005
When the American Film Market takes place Nov. 2–9, the longtime hotel-based show will have more exhibit space than ever in its 26-year history. The Santa Monica, Calif., show, at Loews Santa Monica Beach and Le Merigot hotels, recently added a second floor at Le Merigot to total nine hotel floors of exhibit space.
The annual show landed on the Tradeshow Week 200 twice in 2004 as it was moved forward three months that year from February (No. 175) to November (No. 167). The upcoming show is expected to include about 165,000 net square feet of exhibit space (a 10-percent increase over the November AFM), up to 380 exhibitors and more than 7,100 attendees. The 2002 and 2003 shows shared the No. 190 spot on the TSW 200.
Jonathan Wolf, AFM managing director and executive vice president for show producer Independent Film & Television Alliance, said the deal-closing show's format of exhibitor space in hotel rooms instead of showfloor booths has helped it remain strong.
AFM exhibitors prefer the privacy offered by the hotel rooms, Wolf said. "They didn't want to be sitting on a convention floor out in the open, in a fishbowl. They wanted an environment similar to the Cannes Film Festival (in France)."
Organizers credited tweaks to the format for strengthening the show. For instance, to rejuvenate the last few days of the show, Wolf introduced a discounted non-buyer rate.
AFM this year coincides with JDEvents' ShowBiz Expo Nov. 4–5 at the Barker Hangar Santa Monica Air Center which, Wolf said, will help grow his show even more. "ShowBiz Expo exhibitors are potential attendees at AFM," he said. "It's brought exhibitors into town (for AFM) that wouldn't be there otherwise."
