Markets

With less than a month until kick-off, LA VIRTUAL SCREENINGS (LAVS) is attracting attention from the global market. Organized by Prensario International in association with NATPE, the event has already registered close to 700 executives from around the world. Of those, 500 attendees are buyers from more than +60 countries representing linear TV channels, digital platforms and content producers, but also investors, tech companies, agents and advertising agencies/brands.

LAVS organizers have announced the production of almost 20 conference sessions for the VS NEXT portion of the event, which will lead a conversation on the industry most pressing topics and feature a robust selection of the key global executives. Attendees can expect around two sessions each day during the 10-day event. The full conference portion of the event, VS Next, is exclusively sponsored by Roku.

At the conference there will be 40-minute roundtables, covering topics such as streaming, television, production and distribution and kids & teens. There will also be 20-minute panel sessions highlighting trends and data on formats, eSport and digital. VS Next is being produced by Nuevos Medios Entertainment (Colombia) and its executive producer, Juan Pablo Morales.

New Sessions Revealed

Additional programming will be announced in the run up to LAVS. Some highlights being revealed today include:

• “The Future of Streaming: What’s next” - May 11: This stellar session will be co-produced with global research firm OMDIA, which will offer key data & insights and will discuss with leading global OTTs. Moderated by Maria Rua Aguete, senior research director, the panel will be joined by Mirjam Laux, VP International Platform, Roku, Marco Nobili, SVP of Marketing, Streaming Division, ViacomCBS Networks International, Archana Anand, Chief Business Officer, ZEE5 Global (India), and Jeff Cooke, VP of Programming, International Digital Networks, STARZ.

• “Turkish Showcase Reloaded” – May 12: After the huge success at VS Autumn 2020, Turkish powerhouse producers will promote their new Spring releases in a showcase presented by Carolina Acosta-Alzuru, College of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Georgia. This unmissable session for Turkish drama buyers will offer pitches and trailers from Mikaela Pérez, manager, Kanal D International; Fredrik Af Malmborg, managing director, Eccho Rights; Emre Görentaş, Content Sales Deputy Manager, ATV; Özlem Özsümbül, Head of Sales, MADD Entertainment; Can Okan, CEO, Inter Medya; Aysegul Tuzun, managing director, MISTCO; and Jose Luis Gascue, EVP, Calinos Entertainment.

• “K7’s Entertainment Predictions for 2021” – May 12: British consultancy company K7 Media will bring to LAVS participants fresh trends on the entertainment formats market with Ella Turner, client manager, and Trang Nguyen, Asia Pacific researcher.

• “Room for Everyone? The Independent OTTs in Key Territories” – May 15: This roundtable discussion will give voice to the leading local streamers that are battling with major streamers for the attention of their audiences. Fabricio Ferrara, international business director, Prensario International, will moderate a conversation with Fyodor Grechaninov, Strategy and Business Development Director, oll.tv/Media Group Ukraine (Ukraine), Vanessa Rosas, COO, BlimTV/Grupo Televisa (Mexico) and Mansi Shrivastav, SVP, Content Acquisitions, Alliances & Syndication, MX Player (India).

• “The Studio Business: Beyond Latin America” – May 15: The second panel of the day will feature some of the most important producers in Latin America. Fernando Gaston, VP of Content, ViacomCBS International Studios (VIS), Patricia Jasin, VP of Azteca Estudios, and Catalina Porto, Executive Manager of Production, Caracol TV will talk on co-productions and international alliances, as well as the evolution of the regional content meeting the international demand. Nicolás Smirnoff, managing director, Prensario International, will moderate the panel.

More panels and sessions will be announced in the coming weeks. The executives interested in being part of LAVS 2021, market and conference, must register at www.virtualscreenings.com to get their free login and password.

Robust Progress at the Marketplace
Regarding the VS MARKET portion of LAVS, almost 50 distributors, producers and associations have confirmed a booth at the online marketplace. From them, three are umbrella associations include: TV France International, Brazilian Content and Worldwide Audiovisual Women Association (WAWA).

Also confirmed to attend are Banijay Rights and Entertainment One from UK, Ampersand (France), CDC United (Belgium), ORF Enterprises (Austria), ZDF Enterprises (Germany), Star Media (Russia), SIC (Portugal) and Spanish companies RTVE, Atresmedia, Filmax, Onza and Goldbee (Spain). From the Turkish drama sector, Kanal D, Eccho Rights, Calinos, MISTCO, ATV and MADD have confirmed, while from Latin America attendees can expect to see Globo (Brazil), Televisa and TV Azteca from Mexico, RCN, Caracol and Telecolombia from Colombia, and Tondero (Peru), Pol-ka, Laflia and Onceloops (Argentina).

From the US there is an important number of independent distributors confirmed to attend such as GRB Studios, Castalia Communications, Vision Films, Ledafilms, American Cinema International, Snap Media, WWE, RMVISTAR and Latin Hollywood Films. From Asia Pacific, Nippon TV and TBS (Japan) and GoQuest (India) are registered. Three dubbing houses have also registered to attend: Universal Cinergia and The Kitchen from USA and Caja de Ruidos (Argentina). Most of these attendees are returning to the event for their second or third time.