User:Videoage/sandbox
| Location | Los Angeles, California |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Website | http://www.lascreenings.org/WELCOME.html |
The LA Screenings is an annual television industry event that takes place yearly in mid May. Over the course of the Screenings, American television broadcasters show ("screen") the pilot episodes of the shows which will premiere next season in front of international television distributers, with the aim of selling the international broadcast and/or distribution rights for these shows. The event takes place over the course of several days in the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in Century City, a neighborhood of Los Angeles. The LA Screenings are the most important event for the global television industry.
History
The Screenings are a byproduct of a unique development in the U.S. TV industry. In 1962, ABC — then the weakest network — came up with the idea of premiering all of its programs in a single week following the Labor Day holiday (the first Monday in September). CBS and NBC followed suit and by the mid ’60s, the new TV season's screenings were a major national event, marking the end of summer. The fall debut of new season programs helped to create the Upfronts in New York City by requiring advertiser commitments by the spring. Therefore the pilots had to be produced in L.A. by February. In 1963, Canadian broadcasters began traveling to Los Angeles yearly every February to view and possibly purchase the Canadian broadcast rights for new American Shows. Canadians decided to screen the U.S. TV networks’ new programs after privately owned CTV was established in 1961. Previously, public network CBC had been the only broadcaster, and distributors went to them and not the other way around. CTV went to L.A. with its top executives and representatives of affiliate stations. The total party numbered ten people, who all stayed at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Representatives of both CBC and CTV stayed in L.A. for up to 10 days. According to David McLaughlin, Canadians screened new pilots from all of the studios and some independent producers. “They went wherever there was a new show to be screened. That’s why they stayed for so many days,” he said. In Febuary 1964, Jack Singer, at ABC International and Michael J. Solomon of MCA (Now NBCUniversal) invited Latin American distributers to the still informal "screenings". Singer was responsible for programming the many TV stations that ABC owned overseas and reported to Don Coyle, president of ABC International. Solomon asked Singer if he could invite to the MCA studios in Los Angeles the managers of the 10 or so TV stations that ABC owned in Latin America to screen and buy on the spot the new shows that MCA was producing mainly for ABC, but also for other U.S. TV networks. Solomon recalled, “About 20 TV executives from Latin America went to Los Angeles just to screen MCA product. They paid their own way and stayed in L.A. for just three days. Only a year or so later, the other studios began inviting the Latins to screen their new product as well.” British broadcasters BBC and ITV began participated at the screenings for the first time 1967. Soon, Australians followed, and Japan participated for the first time in 1972. In 1978 it was moved to the month of May. The reason the networks moved the Upfronts from February to May was due to December 1978 AFTRA and SAG union strikes that delayed the new season. However, prior to 1978 the Screenings moved around the months of February, March (1968, 1970, 1971), March-April (1972, 1973) and April (1974). The screening dates were set when the pilots were ready to screen. The event would only begin to be called the L.A. Screenings in 1983, when the trade publication VideoAge International began calling it that, and the name is now accepted worldwide. At one point, it lasted four weeks, with the Canadians and Europeans the first groups to go (as early as May 28 in 1991), followed by the Latins (May 31), the Pan-Pacific territories (June 3) and South Africa ending on June 27. Vinay recalled: “[For us] it lasted two weeks as only one studio presented its shows each day and only from Monday to Friday (no Saturday or Sunday was involved).”