EFM, Berlinale
EFM felt busier than ever this year. The FilmChain team travelled between the 16th — 20th of February. MGB was buzzing any time of the day with meetings, serendipitous or scheduled.
Marriott staff deserve a special shoutout for how they coped with the biggest influx of people impatiently asking for their drinks (ourselves included).
EFM took over a new space, Dokumentationszentrum Flucht, at Stresemannstraße 90, a beautiful building only a few minutes away from MGB.
Nicely set up with a spacious bar and several auditoriums, Horizon sessions unfolded with record numbers of attendees. This year, a new format “Meet The Experts” allowed groups of up to 6 attendees to spend an hour with an industry expert and discuss in-depth topics around co-productions, sales, marketing, and of course, recoupment schedules. Co-founders Maria and Irina ran two sessions with producers eager to learn what a modern collection service entails and about the relationships governed by a CAMA (collection account management agreement, see previous post).
Walking around town, you were able to spot cheeky FilmChain posters and trailers.
Manu Guddait has a special commitment to shining a light on the importance of mental health and various 30-minute meditation sessions allowed participants to unplug from the frenetic market.
EFM Startups was exciting and insightful, bringing the latest innovators onto the stage in front of a full house. Co-founder Maria Tanjala had the pleasure to host and moderate the 11 stellar startups, with a fantastic keynote from Sten Saluveer opening the event.
As usual, the parties didn’t fail to entertain, in settings much friendlier, warmer and more inclusive than at other festivals.
EFM Official Party brought live artists in a typical Berlin grungy scene, and the Inside Pictures rocked the night at Ballhaus Berlin.
— — — — — — — — — — —
SERIES MANIA, Lille
FilmChain’s Maria Tanjala had the pleasure this year to be a guest speaker at Series Mania in beautiful Lille, as part of Lille Dialogues.
This year, one of the most important TV markets in Europe grew from 3,000 (in 2022) to 4,000 attendees. Lille Grand Palais was a fantastic location, with various levels allowing for meetings, auditoriums, and exhibition space with reps from ITV, Beta, Mediawan, Creative Europe, Apple TV+ and many more.
Sky and HBO shared insights into global trends, enhanced co-productions, fragmentation of distribution and, inevitably, the impact of a looming WGA’s (The Writers Guild of America) strike.
Tim Wesrcott of OMDIA presented key stats:
- Advertising-funded online services (on-demand and streaming) TV and online revenues are soon to catch up with subscription revenues.
- US consumers are cancelling pay TV in favour of online, with under 60% still subscribing to pay TV compared to over 80% in 2019.
- The US is the most-developed FAST market, accounting for just under 90% of ad revenue with channels such as Plex, Pluto TV and Samsung TV dominating the market.
Co-founder Maria Tanjala took the stage at Lille Dialogues alongside SACD, SACEM, Flixxo & Badel Media, to discuss topics such as successful blockchain applications and the value of data. On the panel and in private talks, a lot has been said about the European Copyright Directive, and the copyright holders’ demands for better access to audience and revenue data. FilmChain is again at the forefront of innovation, ready to launch their latest Reporting Software, commissioned by German Producers Association, that enables German production companies to report data to creators on productions dating back to 2008. Representatives of other European countries have confirmed that similar legislation will soon be adopted in more European states.
We loved our time in Lille, an inclusive, friendly and savvy market, and we were impressed with the quality of content and attendees. No doubt one of the biggest rising TV markets globally.
