Eager filmmakers braved the rain and wind on Saturday to pack into the Glenn Gould Theatre for an hour-long Q&A with Alison Thompson, co-president of Focus Features International, as part of TIFF’s 2013 Industry Conference.

Leaving plenty of time for audience queries – which ranged from how first-time filmmakers can get a foot in the Focus door to how the distribution business is changing – the “mogul” candidly discussed Toronto’s place on the international sales calendar and its evolving sales market.

Noting, somewhat ruefully, the decline of Venice as a critical sales festival against TIFF’s rise, she said the fall festival circuit as a whole nonetheless continues to play crucial role in launching independent film internationally. Toronto in particular, she noted, has gained increasing international prominence as a key festival for pre-sales – in combination with fall’s AFM – as savvy sales agents nab the first opportunity on the fall calendar to get their wares in front of buyers.  (2013 is proving an exception, she said, saying that, as of Day 4, this year has proved quiet on the pre-sales front thus far.) The quieter action is also a reflection of the how much harder it is to get films made in 2013 than 2008: “the pre-sales market [overall] is not what it used to be 3-4 years ago.”

In a sophisticated marketplace that can at times feel saturated by the same pitches from sales agents – Thompson said Toronto remains an excellent venue for discovery of new films. “[Buyers] want to be able to discover something – and here, they will have a real opportunity to do that; it’s something I think Toronto does tremendously well.”

Gracious and candid in response to audience questions, she offered insight into Focus’s development strategy (“we are driven by theatrical movies; great stories with an audience in mind”), politely declined to name preferred script-pipeline partners, but did help an audience member prep for his next-day distributor meeting. Her advice? Let them know they can trust you; have confidence in your project, know what you have, who the audience is, and how a distributor can sell it to them: “Come across as being someone who is honest instead of bullshit; most people can see through that.”

The discussion ended on a sombre note as Thompson responded to a question regarding the rise of VOD and streaming as consumer habits change. Focus, she said, is still “grappling with how to deal” with the international digital distribution landscape: “We live on commissions – that’s the only way we know how to work.” The U.S., she said, is the only territory in which business models and changing viewer habits are merging successfully: “VOD is so valuable [in the US], people are offering significant guarantees against it.” As for the rest of the world, successful business models in the segment remain to be seen.

With files from Katie Bailey and Danielle Ng-See-Quan