There’s no art

without commerce

Since its inception five years ago, the Sales and Industry Office of the Toronto International Film Festival has become a crucial stop for buyers on the festival circuit. Over that short period of time, the business of the Canadian film industry has changed significantly and the office registration numbers have grown by about 2000%.

Most of the major European buyers can be found at the office checking for messages when they’re not watching movies till their eyes drop out of their sockets.

Roger and Me and El Mariachi snared lucrative American deals with majors at the Toronto festival. In the past couple of years the Canadian films Highway 61, Thirty-two Short Films About Glenn Gould, Zero Patience and The Grocer’s Wife secured u.s. theatrical release at the t.o. fest.

According to sales office cofounder Shane Kinnear (who, for the first time since its inception, will not be running the office with s&i office director Christine Yankou), the successes did not happen by chance; it was a matter of smarts and good movies.

As Kinnear tells it, the setting for the first year was a small room where the business of selling films was sandwiched in with the business of getting people to and from the airport.

Yankou and Kinnear (who was then with the Ontario Film Development Corporation) ran the show and signed on about 60 delegates. The duo had the foresight to hand out an invaluable information sheet on the sales status of festival films – which no one read. According to Kinnear, he and Yankou ‘were out in the hallway trying to flag people down to come sit in the s&i office so that we could introduce them to filmmakers.’

The raison d’etre of the s&i office came when former festival head, Helga Stephenson, whose own private office was swarming with buyers, producers and sales agents, realized that the same phenomenon that was crowding her office was the makings of an unofficial market.

Kinnear says Stephenson and then-deputy director Piers Handling recognized ‘a need for servicing Canadian films that were at the Toronto festival and didn’t necessarily have a distributor in place at the time of their showing, and a need for a cohesive servicing of key international buyers.’ They called in Kinnear and Yankou to help out.

With Kinnear’s involvement, the ofdc became the major sponsor of the operation, and still is. Kinnear says the ofdc saw the s&i office as a way to help independent Ontario filmmakers and distributors, but more specifically, it was a means of selling the films it had invested in.

Back in the early days, Kinnear says the one thing the office supplied that no other festival in the world provided (at that time) was a complete list of all of the films at the festival and what rights were available on every film (excluding Asian territories, which were, and still are, considered too complicated to report).

‘We described what territories were still available and who their representative was and how they could be reached. That’s why the buyers liked the s&i office.

Although in the second year (1990) the number of registered delegates doubled to about 120, ‘the really big jump came in 1991’ when about 400 delegates signed up.

The numbers kept swelling: in 1992 they rose to about 800, and last year more than 1,300 festival-goers were sporting sales and industry badges.

Kinnear says the makeup of the delegates has changed over the years. ‘It is no longer people just interested in buying rights. There are also people looking for talent, coming to Toronto to scout directors, actors.’

With the maturation of the industry has come a change in focus at the s&i office. Its primary role is no longer bringing together filmmakers and buyers, but aiding experienced agents and distributors seeking further sales.

‘Initially, we wanted to introduce the buyers to Canadian filmmakers. There were existing relationships (in 1989), but they were limited. I think it’s safe to say that Canadian producers of independent feature films have learned how to effectively use the s&i office to make introductions to buyers and sellers. The s&i office has also helped filmmakers to develop materials for presentation purposes.’

On the issue of presentation, Kinnear is adamant: ‘You’d best be prepared for the festival as you’d best be prepared for any important film festival. It is no longer a small, quiet festival where things are discovered.

‘One of the ways – if you’re a producer – to be prepared for it, is to ensure that the distribution of the film has been anticipated. That will include high-quality materials with which to promote and sell your film before, during and after the screening.

‘The other option,’ he says, ‘is to have a sales agent or a sales representative or a distributor in place at the time who can properly exploit that opportunity. Unless your film is the most extraordinary film of the year, it’s very difficult to have it properly exploited in the context of a film festival, because unless there is someone who has experience handling the flow of information and the contracting and the negotiations around advances, it can be a counterproductive experience.’

The fact that more Canadian features arrive at the festival with domestic distributors onside is significant, says Kinnear. But, he adds, ‘they are still looking for theatrical distributors in various territories. Rarely does a Canadian film get shown at the Toronto festival that has a guaranteed u.s. theatrical release, and that’s what you’re looking for – a guaranteed u.s. theatrical release and significant sales to Western European territories.’

s&i office newcomer Jim Murphy, who has taken over the position of sales and distribution director of the ofdc (following Kinnear’s departure last fall) has 10 years’ experience – from the other side – as a buyer for Malofilm.

Murphy plans to concentrate on Canadian filmmakers who are lacking distribution now, by helping to direct the appropriate materials to buyers. One new angle Murphy is looking at is how the office can help connect short films with prospective distributors. While he acknowledges the market for shorts is small compared to features, he maintains there are opportunities out there waiting to be tapped.

For all films, Murphy ‘wants to make sure that material is placed into the hands of the proper people, to make sure that filmmakers get every opportunity they can.’

The hefty price hike of an industry pass this year (from $160 to $250) is a sign the office has outgrown its first pair of shoes; the festival wants to see a bit of return, in dollars, from its success.

It is also believed that the festival has jacked up pass prices in an effort to weed out the less serious industry types and make room for more buyers. Of 1,300-plus pass-holders last year, about 300 were buyers.