Before blaming the movie, take a hard look at everything surrounding it. One of the most frustrating calls I get from filmmakers usually starts with some version of the same question: "Why isn't anybody buying my movie?" Sometimes the answer really is the movie. It isn't good enough, the pacing doesn't work, the genre is difficult, or the audience simply isn't there. Nobody likes hearing that, but it happens. Increasingly, though, I think filmmakers are too quick to blame the film itself. I...

TIFF launches its first official marketplace in September. What I'm hearing from other buyers and sales agents suggests this could be much more than another stop on the calendar—and filmmakers need to prepare accordingly. For decades, the Toronto International Film Festival has been one of the most important unofficial film markets in the world. Deals happened everywhere. Hotel suites became sales offices. Buyers bounced between screenings and meetings. Sales agents worked out of the Hyatt,...

What a two-hour conversation with Radial Entertainment's SVP Acquisitions & Orignals, Jordan Fields, reveals about how sophisticated distributors really evaluate independent films. Most filmmakers think buyers are looking for great movies. That's only partially true. After spending more than two hours speaking with Jordan Fields, Senior Vice President of Acquisitions & Originals at Radial Entertainment, I came away convinced that many filmmakers are asking the wrong question. The question...