L.A. Screenings' trinity impeding on salvation.

Paris Hilton has been rear-ended by drama series at these L.A. Screenings--together with her friends in the reality show and sitcom worlds. Indeed, with 35 new drama series, the genre was the big winner of the new U.S. TV season, which saw only 19 comedies and 26 unscripted new shows picked up by the networks.

Another novelty, besides the advent of a 52-week season, is that networks--ABC in particular--seem to be catering to a male appetite, prompting According to Jim star Jim Belushi to note that "It's testosterone Tuesday" at the ABC's upfront. Shows such as Wife Swap, although mild in content, have racy titles that will make FCC chairman Michael Powell sweat.

In other news, the L.A. Screenings has finally reached middle age. This session marks the event's 40th year, and it is well celebrated with more than 17 parties--from cocktails to full-blown studio extravaganzas. At times, there are two per day at the 11-day market that officially began May 21 for the U.S. studios. The indies started two days earlier and ended a few days earlier, while the studios will pause for the Memorial Day holiday weekend.

The Screenings' more mature age has rekindled its third personality. Since 2001, the event, at one time exclusively a U.S. studios happening (then called the May Screenings), pitted the majors against the independents. This year, the independents are divided between two hotels: the Park Hyatt and the Century Plaza, thus recreating a three-way market split between the studios and the two sets of indies, with the independents losing out the most because they miss out on the critical mass that attracts more buyers.

A similar situation existed before 1995, when companies looking to supply Latin American clients gathered at the Century Plaza, while those focusing on Europe set up shop at the Westwood Marquis (now the W), at the J.W. Marriott (now the Park Hyatt) and even at the Sunset Marquis and Peninsula hotels. The Westwood Marquis has not been a factor since 1999, when some 100 companies out of a total 119 exhibited at the Century Plaza. At that time, there were 500 buyers. Today, while the number of distributors has kept its 100 average, the buyers have increased twofold: They now number over 1,000 executives. This three-pronged market continued its trend in 2000, with 89 out of 120 companies at the hotels, most of them holding court at the Century Plaza. This was also the year that the indies gained confidence and began their screenings a full two days before the studios.

In 2001, the indies switched en mass to the nearby Park Hyatt hotel, which housed 91 exhibitors and, in 2002, 84 companies. Last year the migration back to the Century Plaza began, with 26 exhibitors setting up shop there, while 54 remained at the Park Hyatt. Feeling the blow, Park Hyatt hotel management, who consider their hotel better suited for an event such as the L.A. Screenings, began implementing a series of activities to reverse the flow, such as wine tasting set to live music, low-cost lunch specials, a reduced parking fee, free limousine services, free morning coffee and all kinds of support mechanisms to facilitate distributors' business.

Nevertheless, this year, the Park Hyatt eroded its lead, boasting 40 exhibitors to the Century Plaza's 42. This is in spite of the fact that, even according to a few who exhibited at the Century Plaza, the Park Hyatt is better suited for floor traffic, while the much larger and more impersonal Century Plaza is fine for those who rely solely on pre-set appointments. But for those distributors relying on appointments rather than floor traffic, it doesn't matter where they exhibit. However, it is said, that it would be more advantageous to exhibit at the Park Hyatt to create that critical mass necessary for new buyers to considering visiting.

RELATED ARTICLE: L.A Screenings, NATPE Main Topics at Meeting.

By Valerie Milano

Unity and the importance of strength in numbers were the major themes at VideoAge's 6th annual L.A. Screenings breakfast. This year's Screenings attracted over 1,000 buyers to Los Angeles, many from small and emerging markets, causing some of the studios to indicate that the market has become too big for them to manage all, except the major players. But independents were not in the position to take full advantage of the golden opportunity because the contingent was split almost evenly between two hotels, the Park Hyatt and the nearby Century Plaza.

In an effort to encourage consolidation, Neal Lloyd of CEO Conferences reported that Park Hyatt officials offered the free use of 12 meeting rooms to form a "novella nucleus" to make it easier for buyers.

Looking to the future, NATPE President Rick Feldman gave breakfast attendees an update on NATPE 2005, which will be held January 25--27 at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas. Feldman admitted that if he could choose, he would prefer the conference to return to the format where all the exhibitors were on the floor, "because it would be easier for everyone. There are only two hotels in America that can house us under one roof--the Venetian or the Mandalay." With the Venetian unavailable for 2005, NATPE will hold their next two conferences at the state-of-the-art Mandalay, which has a 100,000 square foot conference floor.

Feldman reported that all the majors have committed to attendance and he expected the floor-to-suite ratio to be similar to that seen in 2004. "Of the 360 exhibitors who participated in 2004, about 310 were on the floor, with 50 upstairs in the suites." But he noted that Paramount had indicated it would return with a floor presence in 2005. NATPE also hopes to improve on this year's promising numbers of 7,500 attendees representing companies from over 60 countries. "This was the best we've done in three years."

Reiterating the importance of NATPE, Feldman observed the irony of advertisers spending billions of dollars during the May upfronts even though 85 percent of the programs debuting in the fall would still be in production come January. "By the time we hold NATPE, you'll have a much better idea of which shows are going to succeed plus you will be able to see which new shows are available, that is why January is the perfect time to commit to buying."