On this misty morning I crashed the AFM (American Film Market) hoping to find out for myself what it is all about, and more importantly to score some hors d'ouvres or a cheese platter, possibly get in on a buffet situation.
Every November the badge-wearing European/Asian/East Coast crowd infiltrates my city. They walk around en-masse on their way to meetings, screenings and events with one or more mobile devices in hand. I walked into the Loews on Ocean Avenue taking it all in. Scruffy, cosmopolitan men in trench coats, scruffy 20-something guys with messenger bags and women with structured purses and in the case of the woman in this photo, tight jeans and fuzzy high-heel Uggs. I approached a woman on a couch to interview and sat down next to her. She wanted to remain anonymous, but was very forthcoming. She is a Japanese-American transplanted New Yorker, who has been coming to this event for 20 years. She used to pre-buy product for Japan. "Of course, as you know, pre-buy does not exist anymore." I nodded, as if that was obvious. Now she is wearing her producer hat, looking for source material, doing some consulting, etc. I asked her if she was attending screenings, she said no, mostly meetings. I asked her if the food was good, she said after 20 years they treat you pretty well.
I walked around and shot a few pictures, thrilled that no one had thrown me out yet. In the center of the lobby four tv screens showed trailers for a company that has a suite on the 7th floor. I found lots of good food stations - one with high-end wraps and salads (sun-dried tomato mayo!) but you have to pay for all of it. There were other stations, including a little coffee bar set up with muffins and lattes, also not free. People noshed in groups at bar tables and mingled in the lobby chatting. I decided to easedrop on some conversations. I figured if I was tapping away furiously on an iPhone I would fit right in and no one would know I was typing in their dialogue.
One man was talking about production in China and explaining his business model. "Not every script works as a co-production with China. No one in China is interested in seeing a movie with just white people. They want to see China, and they want to see Chinese people." I strolled over to the Catalina ballroom - no food, just a lot of computer terminals and goody bags for people registering. I poked around at the pool and then I headed out. No sushi, no crudite, not even a cheese cube came my way. I'm going home to have some soup.
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