For the first time in 33 years, veteran buyers and sellers will be wandering a trade floor far from Santa Monica during the American Film Market. Nearly every year since 1991, the U.S. film industry’s leading content market has set up shop at the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel. The old digs weren’t exactly luxurious, but no one ever said the nitty-gritty world of indie film sales was the glamour-facing side of the movie business. The Loews met the industry’s needs, and for a frantic week every November, it was the place a generation of international dealmakers, distributors and Hollywood pretenders called home.
But the property changed ownership last year, forcing AMF organizers to hold the 2023 market…