The pros and cons of "the Screenings".

Whether it's BBC Showcase in Brighton, the German Screenings, the Spanish Expo in Miami, the Rendez-Vous in St. Tropez or the RaiTrade Screenings in Taormina, the one thing that all the organizers recognize is that the biggest benefit of orchestrating such events is the quality-time their sales people get to spend with the buyers, and the time buyers get to spend with their screeners.

According to Sesto Cifola, head of sales at Rome, Italy-based RaiTrade, "Our Screenings have a very important role in our marketing efforts. At international markets, such as MIP-TV, MIPCOM and NATPE, little time is reserved for meetings and no time for screening the products. Conversely, during our Screenings, clients have time to look at our programs in a dedicated screening area, to meet the sales agents and to discuss our products in a pleasant and relaxing venue."

Anthony Utley, director of television distribution, BBC Worldwide, listed the advantages resulting from the BBC Showcase held every February in Brighton: "It's a much more intimate affair than any of the other international markets. It is also totally BBC-exclusive."

Silke Spahr, managing director of German United Distributors, values the time her sales team gets to spend with buyers during the German Screenings, "during each of the four days of the Screenings," Spahr pointed out, "buyers can book up to eight hours of individual screenings with the distribution companies." This, she said, compares favorably with MIP or MIPCOM where it is difficult to schedule more than half an hour with any one buyer. In December, the Screenings attracted 100 international buyers, an almost 10 percent increase in attendance from the previous year.

However, the buyers do not necessarily reciprocate appreciation of this intimacy. Rudiger Boess, head of acquisitions at Germany's ProSieben-Satl prefers "main events such as MIPCOM, because you see more people, and get shorter briefings. It also allows you to meet personally with people you may have only spoken to on the telephone--in short, it gives you the whole world in just a few days!"

Hideo Murata, executive manager, acquisitions and business development at Japan's MICO, sees merit in both types of events. Echoing the sentiment expressed by Boess, Murata said, "I can get much more information from many more distributors at events like MIP or MIPCOM, but," he added, " I can get much more minute, specific information at Showcase than I can at a major market."

According to Mathieu Bejot, general secretary of trade body TV France International (TVFI), organizers of the French screenings known as Le Rendez-Vous, "one of the key elements of Le Rendez-Vous is the screenings' facility." He went on to explain, "over 100 monitors are placed in a room which is accessible only to buyers, who may chose the programs they wish to screen from a catalog, and then screen them at their leisure." Such is the importance TVFI places on these screenings that this year, reported Bejot, "the entire library was digitized, and resulted in an increase in screenings from 3,300 to 6,000."

Ignacio Dominguez, director, Cultural Industries at the Spanish Embassy in Coral Gables, Florida, said that while he was delighted to report a 20 percent annual increase in attendance of U.S. broadcasters at the 2004 event, held mid-November, he still feels that "it is important to create a private environment, as an aide for buyers to appreciate the quality of our programming, and also for creating an environment conducive to doing business."

According to Cifola, at RaiTrade Screenings' 2004 edition, 160 companies from 35 different countries took part. And, even though "registration is not complete at the moment, we've already noticed a 20 percent increase of accreditations for the 2005 event to be held just before MIP-TV." Cifola added that, "In this year's edition, companies from Eastern Europe, the Middle and Far East, and Latin America will have a kind of priority."

In terms of the nature of the business conducted at such events, there is an even split. BBC Worldwide's Utley said, "Showcase is absolutely important for our co-production," and added, "throughout the event, meetings are held between our people and senior production people, who will be working on shows for delivery several years hence." TV Expo's Dominguez said, "co-productions are certainly an important aspect of Expo."

The general rule seems to be that attendees pay their own way to the event and are hosted by the organizers while they are there. TV Expo's Dominguez said this rule only applies to those invited to attend, but others are free to do so at their own expense.

For RaiTrade, the invitation-only buyers' stay in Taormina for the Screenings is entirely on RaiTrade charge, with the financial assistance of sponsors such as Regione Sicilia, Comune di Taormina, APT and Taormina Arte.

Although both Bejot and Dominguez were reluctant to put a value on the business generated at, respectively, Le Rendez-Vous and TV Expo, German Screenings' Spahr, RaiTrade's Cifola and BBC Showcase's Utley were more forthcoming. "The German Screenings are our main market place," said Spahr, "I estimate that we generate 40 percent of our annual revenue at this one event."

Similarly, RaiTrade's Cifola said that their Screenings, "activate business for about 40 percent of the annual revenue."

Utley puts the value of Showcase 2004 at a cool 50 million pounds ($94 million), which is not a bad return on four February days in Brighton!