Delegates complaining about a market venue isn't exactly novel. Even the French Riviera will draw complaints from regulars.
However, the American Film Market in particular has found itself in the cross hairs in recent years. Organizers IFTA (Independent Film & Television Alliance) opted for a radical rethink for the 2024 edition, relocating the event from its historic LA home, with its easy access to Hollywood, to the Palms Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The event wraps tomorrow but the early returns aren't promising.
More than a dozen attendees Deadline spoke to were brimming with complaints: long lines at the bank of elevators shuttling buyers up and down the hotel tower where sellers have suites; limited dining options; noise and smoke at the Palms, which is a hike from the lively Las Vegas Strip; expense etc.
"I've had to wait 20 minutes multiple times just to get into the elevator. We're missing meetings left and right. The food at the Palms is awful and we can't reserve spaces for breakfast meetings here or at nearby casinos. The food is double the price of LA and the general mood is very low," one seasoned buyer commented.
A leading U.S. seller said, "Most people seem to dislike the hotel and lobby. The elevators are a disaster and the only breakfast option is McDonalds. There is hardly any outside space for the buyers to congregate and talk. It's a bad scene."
Some were harsh about their experience so far, with one calling the setting "soulless" and a veteran buyer describing the venue "a calamity" and a "major mistake."
One leading international executive told us: "The vibe is bad, no one seems happy, and a bunch of people have said they won't be returning here next year."
One international executive praised the proximity of the screening rooms: "It's great and convenient to have screenings, presentations and meetings so close together again. The screening rooms are modern and comfy. That's a big plus."
But they added: "It's surreal having to walk through a loud casino to get to meetings. The elevators can't cope with the numbers and being off the strip doesn't help in terms of options. Overall, being here you're faced with too much soulless consumerism and waste. It's not pleasant." One CEO concurred, calling the venue "soul-crushing".
One international buyer described the rooms at the Palms as "fine" and noted they were happy to be able to visit the city's lauded Sphere venue.
A U.S. market veteran said there was "rough and smooth" about the experience: "The lobby is a disaster: busy, loud, windowless, long lines at the elevators and it's impossible to get tables for lunch. But the offices are nice, wide corridors and great views. It's always nice to see a lot of people you know in the same space."
Defending the choice & looking to the future
IFTA board chair Clay Epstein and its president and CEO Jean Prewitt defended the choice to Deadline, saying the Palms emerged from an extensive search across a handful of cities, ticking off boxes on accessibility, price and screening rooms. It had the November dates, and it it was willing to transform hundreds of bedrooms into offices, which has apparently become a big ask.
Asked if AFM is locked into Vegas, Epstein said he couldn't discuss confidential contract points but indicated that a change could be possible.
"The goal ... is certainly to do what's best for the community and the industry," he told Deadline. "And if that means staying in Vegas, we're going to do everything we can to make that work. And if that means ... an alternative has to happen ... we would look at whatever that alternative is. And I think that's kind of what's important."
"The negativity is interesting", he added. "For every person that stopped me to say something negative about the smoke or the elevators, two people would stop me to tell me something positive."
"I also have my own economic targets and budgets I need to fall within. I need to have a market and be at a market that makes sense for my company, too [Film Mode Entertainment]. So, I'm looking at it from both positions."
Putting on the event is an enormous undertaking. "It's not a car show. It's a finite amount of people and we all have different needs, and we have no support or subsidies from a government or a city or anything like that, like Berlin and Canada. And so that presents challenges and obstacles. That said, in under 12 months, [AFM] saw something did not work in Santa Monica, and we pivoted in a very short amount of time."
He continued: "Then, in a few weeks, we have to take a look, and ask ourselves, 'Did it work? Did it not work? Did it work for some of us, but not others? How many people did it not work for?' It's too soon to tell ... But you want to make sure that you get as much feedback as you can."
Attendees have repeatedly questioned the Palms as a venue. Clay responded: "You really need a hotel. Everyone's together. You have different size offices. You need a hotel willing to take the beds out so you can set up an office. Then you need it to be a nice space. It has to be around an area that has food choices. And it needs to be near cinemas where you can take over screens for a week. It needs to be near an international airport. It needs to be at a price everyone can swallow, everyone's budgets are different, and things are not cheap anywhere. It needs to be these dates. There's really no other time to have AFM."
"We looked at a lot of cities, and Vegas came back with some options, but it was really the Palms that could make it work, because of the cinemas, because of the hotels, large, but not too large. The rooms are nice. You can take the beds out. So it checked a lot of boxes, it made sense."
Attendees, and there are thousands at AFM, had varying reviews of the food options at the Palms, which had one nice bar, one upscale Italian restaurant, one steak house, a Chinese, a dim sum and a food court with A Panda Express and McDonald's. The lively Strip is an Uber ride or a harrowing 40-minute walk. Why not on the Strip if it has to be in Vegas, many wondered.
Epstein said the hotels there were enormous, with huge convention center floors. "It wasn't what we needed, wasn't really what our show is. Or they would not take the beds out. Or just the environment that wasn't really suited to our industry. And then, there were no screens. So, everyone would have to walk through an enormous casino to go outside, get on a shuttle, go to a movie theater and then come back. And that just did not seem like we'd want to put our attendees through that."
Los Angeles back on the table or more Vegas?
The biggest question many attendees had - was LA really not an option?
"We are lucky to be in this industry and should stop complaining, but was there really not one suitable hotel in LA?" wondered one seller.
No, Epstein and Prewitt said, not this year.
LA "is not a conference town. Certainly, the Delfina did not work last year," Prewitt said. "We went out to a lot of different hotels, and they either didn't have the dates, or they would not take their beds out. It was ... too expensive. There were no screens nearby. She noted that a number of potentially suitable hotels are or will be undergoing renovations ahead of the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles although that seems far off and did not want to commit.
"What you could find was a hotel that was interested, but it was in an isolated pocket, and, for a lot of pretty obvious reasons, wde said 'no'. We really can't go to Pasadena, right? And no one wants to hear about Long Beach. So yeah, there were places. But when you actually looked at what they could offer overall, it didn't make much sense."
Trying to sweeten the pill, Prewitt noted that the 45-minute flight to LA is shorter than trying to get across town in the City of Angels.
She believes it's a learning curve, routine, familiarity, saying she found the negativity less strident as the week progressed. If AFM stays in Vegas, IFTA will be readier, maybe tours, maybe shuttles, more logistical help and advice.
"If you're here to do business, you don't want to spend an appreciable amount of time trying to figure out where to go to buy a Diet Coke. It shouldn't take you half an hour. So, in that sense, there's always going to be a learning curve, anywhere. I think we have to get a little bit past that part."
"The real test at the end of the day is, were people able to do the business they needed to do?"
Did they? Some say the location hasn't aided business. Many delegates were also subdued due to the U.S. presidential election Tuesday and had been wary of attending in the first place. The distraction hasn't helped focus minds. A number of projects have been put together but there were few big-canvas titles announced and so far deal-making has been muted, at least in the press.
Others found it brisk. AGC Studios founder and CEO Stuart Ford, for instance, speaking at a Q&A during one AFM Session, said his company has "done great business."
"Do I think Vegas is the right environment for AFM long term? Absolutely not," he continued to cheers and clapping from the audience, a ballroom-filling crowd.
"I think LA is a more natural home for the market," agreed Sebastien Reybaud, founder and CEO of Anton, at the same event, also greeted with cheers.