American Film Market attendees give mid-market verdict: “It feels more elevated”

As the American Film Market (AFM) approaches its midpoint, a sense of relief is flowing through the corridors of the Fairmont Century Plaza, with the market finally finding a befitting home at its fourth location in four years.

“The hotel works and feels much more elevated,” said Stephen Kelliher, managing director of the UK’s Bankside Films.

“The Fairmont is a great venue,” added Andrew Orr, UK-based Sky Originals’ head of film. “It’s very easy to navigate between meetings and screenings. Very happy with this new version of AFM [and] good variety of packages in the market.”

Some attendees have complained about having to book cabs to visit Black Bear, A24, FilmNation and 193 at, variously, the Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills, Avalon Beverly Hills, and residences – while others from out of town can’t get enough of LA’s driverless taxis for off-site meetings and entertainment. 

“Giving people a good experience where business gets done after a fractured four or five years was an important step,” said Independent Film & Television Alliance (IFTA) president and CEO Jean Prewitt, now in her final year.

She added that both IFTA and Fairmont management would like to make the location an ongoing arrangement. So, finally, attendees can focus their energies on the complex art of deals.

The shifting cadence of markets has reduced the flow of on-site sales, although attendees said deals are percolating, and conversations will continue long after the official market ends. The US remains a tough territory to sell into, owing to the disappearance of pay-one deals.

Lionsgate International’s The Resurrection Of The Christ two-parter from Mel Gibson, FilmNation’s Bad Bridgets starring Daisy Edgar-Jones and King Snake with Margaret Qualley, Dev Patel and A24’s The Peasant and AGC’s Phantom Son starring Renée Zellweger have elicited strong responses, as did Black Bear’s Ibelin presentation attended by director Morten Tyldum.

Decent attendance 

“There were a few last-minute drop-outs due to concerns around potential immigration delays from buyers traveling from afar, but overall, representation from the international market has been solid,” said David Garrett, CEO of the UK’s Mister Smith Entertainment.

Absences have been reported from the Middle East, Asia and Spain, with the equation of LA’s expensiveness plus long-distance travel in a complicated political climate, for what is a relatively short market, not adding up for some. 

Anna Krupnova, director and co-founder of the UK’s Reason8 Films, feels buyers who are here are also saving on costs. “It’s probably around the same number of companies [as last year],” she said, “but less representatives, which means that less of them can attend multiple meetings, and they’re definitely coming here for a shorter period of time.”

Krupnova would also like to see the first few days of the market reserved for sellers and buyers, with producers who are office-to-office pitching not allowed onto the sales floors in this early period, as was previously the case.

“They are interrupting the sales meetings. It’s something that needs to be addressed,” she noted.

Exactly how next year’s TIFF: The Market will impact AFM attendance going forward remains to be seen. Toronto organisers were spotted on site, huddling in meetings before their inaugural event runs September 10-16, 2026.

Sellers still feel there is a lack of concrete detail on what the 2026 TIFF offering will be and why sales agents need a market so close to the summer holidays. And with a largely positive response – so far – to this year’s AFM, IFTA has marked its turf.

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