The L.A. Screenings is an international television (TV) market that developed independently. Over the years it was adapted to the needs of the TV industry without the benefit of central organization. Nowadays it attracts some 1,500 top-level TV program buyers from 70 countries who travel to
Dom (Domenico) Serafini
. Before that, they were called “The May Screenings” and, earlier, simply “the screenings”.
History
The Screenings are a byproduct of a unique blue Christmas development in the U.S. TV industry. In 1962,
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
Beverly Hills Hotel. Representatives of both CBC and CTV
stayed in L.A. for up to 10 days.
ABC's Management present at the screenings 1968
In February 1964, Jack Singer, at
Latin American
distributors 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 the managers of the 10 or so TV stations that ABC owned in Latin America to the MCA studios in Los Angeles 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.
The ABC delegation to the 1970 screenings
British broadcasters
ITV
participated at the screenings for the first time in 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 for this was due to the December 1978
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. 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.
MCA
studios at the 1972 screenings
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.
Present screenings
As of 2013, the L.A. Screenings is an annual television industry event that takes place yearly from May 16 to May 22. Over the course of the Screenings, American television broadcasters show ("screen") the
pilot episodes of the shows that will premiere next season in front of international television distributors, 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 Century Plaza Hotel in Century City, a neighborhood of Los Angeles
. The L.A. Screenings are the most important event for the global television industry.
