With a new and highly praised venue, LA Screenings Independents opened the doors to its 2026 edition today at the SLS Hotel in the renowned Los Angeles neighborhood.
By Luis Cabrera, from Los Angeles, USA
LA Screenings Independents held the first of two days of its 2026 edition today at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills, showcasing a new venue that has been well received by attendees.
The SLS Hotel’s facilities have been the most praised aspect of this year’s event. Both its bright suites—some of which feature a beautiful garden—and its prime location have enhanced the event’s atmosphere, leaving attendees satisfied.
In total, more than 50 companies were present at LASI 2026, spread across the suites and the table area, located on the first floor and accompanied by a comfortable networking space that, like The Nook, the hotel’s restaurant, also hosted various meetings.
The Rise of Micro-Dramas
The industry continues to strongly invest in the vertical micro-drama genre, which takes center stage at LA Screenings 2026 thanks to the commitment of numerous companies from around the world.
From Turkey, Inter Medya—always at the forefront—is presenting a catalog of 20 vertical microseries at LA Screenings 2026, covering a wide range of genres: “I’m confident that after this market we’ll announce several sales,” said Beatriz Cea Okan, vice president and head of Sales and Acquisitions at Inter Medya.
Screenbright, for its part, is innovating by using artificial intelligence to produce its title Mia Rockstar: “It’s very well produced, and that’s what we’re banking on—that it will be the first of many,” predicted Andrés Santos, CEO and founder of Screenbright Media. “The first season ends on a pretty interesting cliffhanger, and the idea is to keep producing more seasons—to make it an ongoing series for many seasons—so the story builds more anticipation. We already have several clients who’ve asked us for episodes.”
Even a giant like Globo, which currently focuses on selling its top-rated content as well as the scripts of the major hits in its library, is also betting on the new genre with titles such as Todo Por Una Segunda Oportunidad and Una Niñera Milionaria.
Drama Reigns Supreme
Of course, the emergence of vertical series complements—rather than replaces—traditional offerings of series and feature films.
Among Turkish content, in addition to the aforementioned Inter Medya with titles such as Halef and Eshref Ruya, other well-known distributors at LASI 2026 include ATV Distribution, Calinos Entertainment, Kanal D International, and Mediahub.
Calinos is presenting one of the freshest dramas on Turkish TV, Ugly (La fea, in its Spanish title): “It’s a series that has aired eight episodes in Turkey on Sundays, leading the ratings in all demographics,” said Cristina Duffy, Sales Executive for Latin America at Calinos Entertainment.
Kanal D International, for its part, is celebrating the sale of Sins & Roses, one of the season’s biggest hits—with a second season already confirmed—which has just been acquired by Mega in Chile.
Meanwhile, Elif Turna, Sales and Business Development Manager at Mediahub, revealed that “We will likely announce new deals for Bitter Justice within a month.”
In South America, Seriella is experiencing a boom in its drama division, with four productions in the pipeline for 2026, all of which have already been acquired by Disney+: “This agreement is very gratifying for us, because it recognizes the quality of our products—past, present, and future,” noted Natan Oletto, Commercial Projects and Acquisitions Coordinator at the company.
Another Latin American company showcasing the best of its catalog in Los Angeles is Comarex, featuring content from Mexico’s Canal Once, dramas from Chile’s Canal 13, and religious programming from Mediaset.
The Success of Formats
Running alongside the drama content are formats, with titles such as Power Couple, The Auction, and ¿Apostarías por mí? from Dori Media finding success in different territories and continents.
“The success of ¿Apostarías por mí? is very important to us. We want to sell it globally, just as we continue to do with Power Couple,” emphasized Nadav Palti, CEO of Dori Media.
The production company JK Media, responsible for the docu-reality series Sin Filtro, also visited the SLS Hotel to present its latest offerings, which include new episodes of Sin Filtro and the production of live events.
LA Screenings Independents 2026 will continue tomorrow with another full day of events at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills.
