Playback is keeping tabs on the day-to-day hustling of producer Stephen Hegyes as he works to land distribution deals for director Mina Shum’s Drive, She Said, screening in the Perspective Canada program.

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Same time, same place but three years ago to the day, producer Stephen Hegyes was at the Toronto International Film Festival beating the drum on Mina Shum’s first feature Double Happiness where he managed to score a u.s. deal with Fine Line Features. The film went on to critical acclaim and theatrical runs in all major Canadian and u.s. cities, and picked up two Genie Awards, including best actress for Sandra Oh.

Now he’s back with Shum’s second film, the romantic journey Drive, She Said in which a bank teller finds her life switches gears when she is taken hostage in a thief’s getaway car.

Selling the u.s. and international rights (Malofilm already has Canadian rights) on Shum’s second film will be a far cry from the previous experience, he says.

‘With Double Happiness I had to run around with flags in my hand saying here I am,’ recalls the Vancouver filmmaker. ‘No one knew who we were, we just about had to parade down Yonge Street to get people to see the film.’

Heading into this festival, there’s already a momentum built from the success of Double Happiness.

‘Buyers are coming in ready to see her second film,’ says Hegyes.

He barely had time to turn the key to his Toronto hotel room when the phone was ringing from a buyer announcing he was heading to town to catch the world premiere screening.

All of this attention has also upped the pressure. ‘They are saying we know you are good, now you have to be great.’

For Shum’s returning film Hegyes has a more sedate festival approach in mind than the previous hoopla. Rather than create a huge promo blitz and prescreening hype, he wants audiences and industry reps to respond to the film itself and the word of mouth and critical press it can generate.

But he can’t resist having a bit of fun, by way of a 10-foot-long, three-foot-high banner which he’s trying to figure out where to hang in the Sheraton Hotel, and, quite appropriately, Drive, She Said bumper stickers. Actors Moira Kelly and Sebastian Spence will be on hand for interviews.

The biggest effort has been concentrated on bringing in the buyers. A long list of American companies and foreign sales agents – all the usual suspects – have been contacted far in advance and lured to attend the world premiere screening at tiff.

Working as a producers rep, Hegyes sold Lynne Stopkewich’s Kissed to Samuel Goldwyn Jr., Lakeshore Entertainment and Malofilm. This time around he’s collaborating with New York lawyer John Sloss to put together the Drive, She Said deal.

Sloss has represented the likes of John Sayles and Ed Burns (She’s The One) and specializes in helping indie filmmakers sell their films. ‘Not only is he a great negotiator but he understands what makes for the best deal for the film and the filmmaker,’ says Hegyes.

Hegyes is determined to close an American deal by the time tiff wraps, as well as secure a foreign sales agent to sell the rest of the world.

He’s not necessarily looking to snag the biggest u.s. company. ‘I want to find a distributor that shows a real commitment to give this film a good run, get it onto screens, and give it the right kind of publicity and advertising support,’ he explains.

As for the foreign sales company, Hegyes is aiming for a rep who not only knows how to fit the film with the right distributor in each territory but who can tip the balance for a buyer sitting on the fence.

Cozying up to other festival programmers is also on his tiff to-do list. Hegyes is aiming to get the film into other fests which hopefully can piggyback with releases in those territories. Sundance, Berlin and Cannes are high priorities, as are a number of smaller fests.

While in town Hegyes will be setting up meetings to shop three projects in development: Shum’s All Night Bender, a chronicle of 24 hours when two lovers break up and reunite; Shum’s contemporary musical Fry Girl, centering on a young woman stuck working in a fast food restaurant; and She Lost Her Luggage, to be written and directed by Bill Robertson (The Events Leading Up to My Death), a contemporary spin on the 1972 campy comedy What’s Up, Doc? where a case of mixed-up luggage leads to all sorts of screwball adventures.

Hegyes is also exec producing Bruce Sweeney’s (Live Bait) Dirty, currently in post. Malofilm is distributing in Canada and Hegyes is planning to wait until the film is screened at a market to wrap international deals. But if a substantial bid came along over the next 10 days he would love to have distribution wrapped early.

The Drive, She Said film print will arrive in Toronto just in time for the first of three screenings, Sept. 8 at the Uptown 2. There are no earlier press/industry viewings.

Stay tuned for an update on Hegye’s initial hustlings in Hogtown. . .