_15098.png)
The main difference between L.A. Screenings 2026 and last year’s event can easily be ascertained by looking at VideoAge's lists of pilots from each year. There are 19 for the 2026- 2027 broadcast TV season, while there were just five in last year's guide.
The number and days of screenings for this year also increased, while the number of indies exhibiting at the hotel (this year at the SLS, yet another new venue) remained stable at 55.
As for the number of TV content buyers, it was reported that up to 700 of them were at the studios. Of those, 180 were at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills for the indie portion (reviewed in the Water Cooler on Monday, May 18). Times are very different from years ago when buyers numbered 1,500 and each TV outlet from around the world used send 10 to 14 acquisition executives. These days, each TV outlet send four content buyers at most.
But what has not changed over the years are the elaborate new content presentations. Indeed, the L.A. Screenings are very carefully "orchestrated"— in the sense that the various studios behind the L.A. Screenings function like a script that is constantly being revised, with the speakers on stage rehearsing for hours on end as if they were about to make their theatrical debut. There is a specific script that everyone has, and it must be adhered to scene by scene. It is, quite literally, like a screenplay.
If, in the view of studios' content sales executives, the new series being presented fell short of expectations, hours would be spent figuring out how to "package" the products — making them appear better than they actually were. In addition, marketing experts would brief the sales teams on the specific phrasing to use for their pitches.
At times, clients who might have left a screening room disliking a series would change their minds after spending some time with a member of a series’ cast — especially if that actor or actress was famous. In America, celebrities are very willing to participate at the L.A. Screenings because they understand that the sale of the series they star in is at stake — and, by extension, their own longevity within the industry.
This year, for the 100th anniversary of Universal studios, NBCUni showered buyers with posters of the studio’s greatest TV talents. At the Paramount theater, the studios put up a display of costumes from their top shows. Before the Disney party on its lot, the studio screened The Mandalorian and Grogu, the big screen version of the fourth season of the Star Wars TV saga. Inside a packed Aero Theatre in Santa Monica, Lionsgate screened new content before bussing the buyers to a party at the Santa Monica pier (as Santa Monica is also Lionsgate's home base).
Photo: Dom Serafini Chief Editor of Videoage and Kevin MacLellan, president, Global Content Distribution & International, Paramount
