A film festival is two events wearing one badge. There is the public face, the red carpet, the premieres, the audience applauding in the dark. Then there is the part nobody photographs, where rights to your film are bought and sold in meeting rooms and hotel bars. That second event is the market, and if you want a film to sell, it is the one that matters.
Understanding how a market works, and being honest about how rarely a sale actually happens, is the difference between a strategy and a hope. Here is how it really runs.
What a film market actually is
A film market is a trade fair for screen rights. Buyers, distributors and acquisitions executives, sit down with sellers, sales agents representing finished or in-progress films, and negotiate who gets to release what, in which country, for how long. There are screening rooms running all day, booths lining the halls, and a printed schedule of titles looking for a home.
The biggest markets are deliberately co-located with the biggest festivals, because the buyers are already in town. Cannes runs the Marche du Film concurrently with the festival, and it is the largest film market in the world. The Berlinale runs the European Film Market (EFM) alongside it in February. The third major is the American Film Market (AFM), which historically ran on its own in the autumn rather than bolted to a festival. Toronto is adding a fourth, TIFF: The Market, launching in September 2026.
So when people say a film sold at Cannes, they almost always mean it sold at the Marche, the market running in the same buildings, on the same days, as the festival you read about.
Sales agent and distributor are not the same job
These two roles get used interchangeably, and getting them confused will send you pitching the wrong people. They are distinct, they sit in a specific order, and they take their cut in different ways.
A sales agent represents your film to buyers. They take it into the markets, present it to distributors territory by territory, draft the contracts and handle the recoupment accounting. Their commission typically runs from 15 to 35 percent of revenue, with domestic deals nearer the low end and international rights nearer the top. As of June 2026 the trend is toward roughly 20 percent commission paired with higher recoupable expenses. That second part matters. Before you see a penny, the agent deducts the market and marketing costs they spent on your behalf. Those expenses are recoupable, meaning they come out of your share, so the single most important number in the contract is the expense cap. Without a cap, deductions can swallow the deal.
A distributor is the buyer at the other end. They acquire rights for a specific territory and window, then release the film there, theatrical, VOD, streaming, television, and carry the cost and risk of that release. A distributor handling a domestic theatrical release commonly takes around 35 percent of gross. Television licence fees sit nearer 25 percent, within a wider range of roughly 10 to 40 percent depending on the deal. A distributor acquiring a finished film bears no production risk, they did not make the film, though they do risk any minimum guarantee and the marketing spend they put behind the release.
The sales agent works for you and takes a commission. The distributor buys from you, through the agent, and takes a share of what the release earns. Treat these as separate line items, because they are. The agent's commission and the distributor's share both come off the same revenue, in sequence.
How a sale actually happens at a market
The sequence is more orderly than the bidding-war headlines suggest. It usually runs like this. Your film premieres at a festival. Sales agents in attendance watch it and decide whether they want to represent it. One who does makes you an offer, their commission, their expense cap, the term, the territories. You sign. The agent then screens the film for distributors at the next market, takes the territorial offers, and closes the deals. Money flows back down the chain: the distributor pays, the agent deducts expenses and commission, and what remains reaches you.
The part that surprises people is where the top festival slates come from in the first place. The largest festivals are curated, not open submission. Most films at the prestige tier arrive through sales agents, distributors and personal relationships, not through a submission portal and a fee. A sales agent with strong programmer relationships can get your film prioritised and seen, which is real and valuable, but it can never guarantee a slot. Anyone who promises one is selling you something.
The honest part: the market has been cold
You should walk in with realistic expectations, because the recent acquisition market has been difficult, and that is the single most useful thing to know before you spend money chasing a sale.
The numbers from this cycle are sobering. Sundance 2025 saw roughly 19 titles secure US distribution, down from about 30 the year before and around half of the 38 deals struck in 2019. There were no bidding wars. Streamers turned selective, buying fewer but bigger, and largely exited the broad overall deals they once chased. Broadcasters pulled back. Buyers became more methodical, with many deals closing in late spring or early summer rather than in the heat of the festival itself. The handful of large 2025 deals, in the eight-figure range, were the exceptions that proved the rule, not the baseline.
These 2025 to 2026 figures are fast moving and reflect a specific, cold cycle. Markets recover and contract. Treat the direction as the lesson, that a festival sale is low probability even after selection, rather than treating any single number as permanent. Re-check the current climate before you build a budget around a sale.
What this means for an indie filmmaker
The practical takeaways follow directly from how the chain works.
- Get a sales agent before you chase distributors. The distributors at a market are mostly there to meet agents, not unrepresented filmmakers. The agent is the door. Skip that link and the market run is largely wasted.
- Target the right market for your film. Cannes Marche, Berlin EFM and AFM each have a character and a buyer mix. A small arthouse documentary and a genre feature do not belong in the same room. Match the venue to the work.
- Negotiate the expense cap, every time. Commission is visible and easy to compare. Uncapped recoupable expenses are where a deal quietly becomes worthless. Get the cap in writing before you sign.
- Price in the odds. A festival sale is the exception, not the plan. Treat the circuit as a route to qualification, visibility, an audience and relationships that compound across films. If a sale comes, it is a bonus, not the business model.
The framing that keeps you sane
A market is not a lottery you enter and hope to win. It is a professional sales process that runs on representation, fit and relationships, and it has been running cautiously for over a year. The filmmakers who do well are the ones who understand the chain, sign with the right agent on the right terms, aim at the right room, and keep their expectations grounded in what the data actually shows.
None of that requires connections you do not have. It requires knowing who is likely to be in the room for a film like yours, so you spend your time and your travel budget on the conversations that can realistically lead somewhere.
Frequently asked questions
What is a film market and how is it different from a film festival?
A film market is a trade fair for screen rights, where buyers and distributors meet sellers and sales agents to negotiate who can release a film, in which country, and for how long. The biggest markets are deliberately co-located with the biggest festivals because the buyers are already in town. So when people say a film sold at Cannes, they usually mean it sold at the market running in the same buildings, on the same days, as the festival.
What is the difference between a sales agent and a distributor?
A sales agent represents your film to buyers, takes it into the markets, presents it territory by territory, and handles the contracts and recoupment accounting, taking a commission. A distributor is the buyer at the other end, acquiring rights for a specific territory and window, then releasing the film and carrying the cost and risk of that release. They are separate line items, and both come off the same revenue in sequence.
How does a film actually get sold at a festival market?
The usual sequence is orderly. Your film premieres, a sales agent who wants to represent it makes you an offer covering commission, expense cap, term, and territories, and you sign. The agent then screens the film for distributors at the next market, takes the territorial offers, and closes the deals. Money flows back down the chain: the distributor pays, the agent deducts expenses and commission, and what remains reaches you.
How likely is it that my film will sell at a festival?
A festival sale is low probability, even after selection, and the recent acquisition market has been difficult. Buyers have become more methodical and selective, with many deals closing later rather than in the heat of the festival itself. Treat the circuit as a route to qualification, visibility, an audience, and relationships that compound across films, and check the current climate before you build a budget around a sale.
The room you needKnow who is in the room before you go
Circkit maps the buyers and sales agents most likely to be in the room for a film like yours, tied to the markets and festivals where they actually show up. You walk in knowing who to find, not guessing.
