E3 2007: DEALS… OR NO DEALS?

E3 2006 is gone … which means you're now going to sit down and start preparing for E3 2007, right? We didn't think so. But that's what you should be doing, according to a few who come to the giant industry each year to wheel and deal, to peddle to publishers that next Hollywood mega-blockbuster or to whisper in the ear of a movie exec the germ of a game developer's idea which may have what it takes to make it to the big screen.

Yes, when it comes to video game licenses, the nooks and crannies of Los Angeles' Staples Center become a breeding ground during E3 for many of the deals that will nourish the games industry for the next year or two. If you will be looking to take advantage of the three-day extravaganza next May to do your own deals, if you want to make the best use of your time, the experts offer these half-dozen do's and don'ts:

TIP #1: Don't set your expectations too high. Not a lot of deals are closed at E3.

E3 is a great place to make contacts, but a lousy place to make deals, according to Ed Dille. He's the president and co-founder of Fog Studios which, for 27 years, has helped turned intellectual properties like "Rambo," " Men In Black ,” and "Star Trek" into video games.

"The deals that are made at E3 were started six to nine months earlier," he explains. "You're there to build awareness, to begin the process."

Unlike many of the film marketplaces where a whole lot of deals get done, says Richard Leibowitz, E3 "is primarily a good opportunity to take the temperature of the industry and to meet people with whom you'll do deals later in the year. It's a networking and marketing place, not a dealing place."

Leibowitz is president/games of Santa Monica, CA-based Union Entertainment which simultaneously develops films, games, and TV.

TIP #2: Spend your time doing reconnaissance work. And network, network, network!

If you've never been to E3, you are not prepared for its size -- 540,000 square feet with over 400 exhibitors emitting near-deafening video game scores (bring earplugs!). Leave plenty of time to walk the floor and see what's on display.

"If you don't know people in the industry, be aggressive about meeting the various developers and publishers," says Sean O'Keefe, president/films at Union Entertainment. "Grab all the business cards you can and, when everyone's had a chance to settle in back at the office, contact those people, determine who is the person highest up in the chain of command with whom you can communicate, and make it clear what you want to discuss."

Rosanna Sun recalls that there were times when she accomplished more in the E3 "coffee break" areas than in scheduled meetings. Sun is president of Los Angeles-based Velvet Elvis Studios , which was involved in the transition of the movie "The Matrix" to the game "Enter The Matrix."

"I remember sitting down to take a breather and starting to chat with the three other guys at the table," she says. "We traded business cards, and all did our one-minute elevator speeches about what we did for a living. When I got back to my office and followed up, I realized that one of the guys was a funding source for games in the U.K. (which is an important thing for me to know), another headed up a development studio that I was actually interested in contacting, and the third was high up in a company that supports game creation. To this day, I have working relationships with all three of them."

TIP #3: Set your sights on the developers.

The key to getting green-lit by a publisher is the developer attachments you make, suggests Fog Studios' Dille. Make some initial contacts with developers who have good profiles.

"By partnering with a developer who's passionate about your property, who believes your IP will make a great game -- regardless of whether it's, say, a good movie or not -- you're increasing your chances of placement considerably, especially if it's a developer with whom publishers already want to work," he adds.

In the film world, says Union 's Leibowitz, you sell a project to a studio on the talent. "Likewise, in the video game world, the best thing you can do is to partner with the best development talent you can, and then walk into the publisher and sell the project based on the developer and the developer's technology."

Publishers are only excited about licensing $100-million-plus movies with $40-million-plus advertising already in place, he adds. "If you want them to take a chance on anything smaller, they might do it based on the content, but what's really going to make them say 'yes' is the strength of the developer," Leibowitz notes.

TIP #4: Don't approach the publisher until you're ready.

Don't waste the publisher's time. You don't want to go to a publisher with half a package, advises Fog Studio's Dille.

"Before you shop an IP, get your ducks in order. Bring more to the table than an idea. Bring the developer, a design, and financing if you can. Try to make it a co-publishing deal instead of a licensing deal so you can really increase your chances of placement," he says. "Don't put yourself in a position where you need to get back to the publisher on something. There are publishers that will give you more than one shot, but it's much more powerful to go in with a complete package with everything the publisher needs to take back to a green-light meeting."

In other words, he says, "don't make wine before it's time. If you haven't gotten everything ironed out, it's not the right time to approach publishers. But it's a perfect time to network, to meet developers, to learn about their capabilities, to meet people like me who can help answer some of those questions to prepare you to talk to publishers sometime after the show."

TIP #5: Leave time to walk the aisles.

This tip isn't universally supported.

"Is it worthwhile just to walk the floor and see what the industry has to offer these days?" asks Dille. "I mean, what's on the floor is what's going to be at Electronic Boutique in six months. How exactly does that help you?"

But Velvet Elvis Studio's Sun says she divides her day 50-50 -- half in meetings and half strolling the aisles.

"I used to scheduled 15 meetings a day -- a new one every half hour -- and I thought I was going to die," she recalls. "This year I'm trying for six a day. That would give me time in between to look around, have conversations with people I run into, to do all the things that are important for my business and that E3 provides."

And Union 's O'Keefe has some words of wisdom for movie industry people who have never attended E3: "If you think you can do it all in one day, you can't. The convention floor is overwhelming, you get tired just dashing from one appointment to the next, and it's easy to become inefficient after a couple of hours. Figure on at least two days there. You'll thank me for it."

TIP #6: Jam your suitcase with business cards and presentation material.

If you're getting ready to pack, the most important thing you'll need is a huge quantity of business cards and lots of leave-behinds.

"For projects that are in development, I pack QuickTimes, discs that I can hand out, maybe even those little easy-to-plug-in Flash drives," says Sun. "But, truthfully, nobody at the show will look at anything there. The best that's going to happen is that your one-sheets and business cards will remind them about you when they get back to their office."

Assuming these four experts all follow their own advice, what are their personal expectations for the big show?

Union's O'Keefe's goals are to identify new properties for which he can secure the film rights, meet new executives and strengthen relationships with movers and shakers who aren't LA-based and whom he can't normally see throughout the year.

Meanwhile, Union 's Leibowitz plans to meet face-to-face with games industry people he usually speaks to by telephone only. "I'll be concentrating on the developer companies, not the publishers, because developers from around the world are coming to E3, and I want to meet with the talent. I want to show them the projects we're working on for the next two or three years. And I want to attach them as talent to our projects and then go out with them and sell those properties."

Fog's Dille sees E3 as a lucrative three days. "I'll have three types of meetings -- continuing negotiations that started months ago, showing people what's new in our stable of properties and what developers are available to them, and listening to what other peoples' needs are. The kind of thing I love to hear is someone saying, 'Hey, we just picked up this license and we need somebody to develop it by Q4. Do you have anybody?' Of course we do."

And Velvet Elvis' Sun hopes to touch base with people with whom she can start important business relationships post-E3.

"The one thing I've learned is that you can't expect people to be too productive at the show," she explains. "You have a meeting scheduled but when the guy sits down, you notice he's got this glazed-over look and you know he'll retain nothing. My strategy is to say something like, 'You've had a long day already and the last thing you want to hear is my little idea. So, instead, here's my card, here's some information, and let's talk about how you're feeling right now. Then you can call me sometime next week when you've recovered.' And you know what? They do call me. And I've started some of the best business relationships that way."