Teen fantasies have dominated the American Film Market for several years, but this year the baby boomers took over. The biggest sellers at the Oct. 31 to Nov. 7 market in Santa Monica were serious dramas targeting the so-called "best agers" 50 years or older.
A few more buyers but fewer exhibitors made the trip to the American Film Market this year, according to official attendance figures released by organizers the Independent Film And Television Alliance (IFTA).
Some 779 acquisition companies attended AFM in 2013, 3 percent more than last year, and the tally of 1,624 buyers was also a slight uptick on 2012.
Exhibitor attendance, however was down. While about the same number of exhibiting companies set up show at the AFM — 357 exhibitors, from 33 countries — attendance among exhibitor-affiliated participants, including their executives, producers, talent and guests, was 2,807, a 9 percent drop from last year. This could be due to overall cost-cutting in the industry, with many companies trimming overhead by sending fewer execs.
That drop was more than compensated for by a 21 percent increase in other attendees, including lawyers, bankers, festival programmers, filmmakers, producers and financiers.
Overall, the market, which wraps up its eight-day run on Wednesday, Nov. 13, drew 7,876 participants, up 2 percent from 2012.
