How Markets Climbed the Steps in Cannes

Starting from the 1980s, the international TV show and film markets have experienced spectacular growth, perceived as symptomatic of a globalization of media in-the-making. This article examines TV and film trade from the perspective of these markets, by comparing them to the fairs, markets and international shows that have developed in many other industries. These international events were previously perceived from three main perspectives: either as “temporary clusters”, or as places to set up market regulations, or as a series of nodes in a polycentric “world-system”. Based on a survey on French TV and film sales agents who partake in international markets, the author confirms those three perspectives while arguing for a more chronological approach, one that underlies a circuit of increasingly frequented, internationalized, streamlined and professionalized markets. This circuit appears less as a series of structurally identical yet geographically and temporally distinct places, than as a stabilized chronology, with a cyclical rhythm. It has unavoidable sequences as well as optional ones that enable professionals to elaborate their own trade routes, depending on their means and local priorities.