Introducing TIFF: The Market

The Toronto International Film Festival is changing the way it does business with the introduction of TIFF: The Market. It’s a bold, large-scale initiative that brings together industry types from around the globe. We chat with the head of TIFF: The Market, Charles Tremblay, and TIFF’s chief programming officer, Anita Lee, about The Market’s offerings and why it was time for TIFF to go big.

If you build it, they will come.

Okay, that’s not the exact line from Field of Dreams (insert he for they), but it’s a perfect mantra for the team responsible for this year’s inaugural TIFF: The Market.

Running for seven days (September 10-16) during the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), TIFF: The Market brings the global film, series and innovation industries together in one location in the heart of downtown Toronto.

“The most important ingredients for making The Market work are to create a cost-effective and efficient platform for key players in the global industry to do business,” says Charles Tremblay, the event’s head of market, via email.

“The footprint, the programming, the events, all of the main aspects must be structured in a way that maximizes opportunities for buyers, sellers, creators and industry professionals to connect, generate exposure for multi-format projects, and acquire diverse content that appeals to audiences at home and abroad.”

And the entertainment world is responding.

“We listened to the sellers, who told us that having a broad base of buyers is a crucial value add for them, so we invited 200 buyers from every major region who have never been to TIFF before or haven’t attended in a while,” says Tremblay. “Thanks to recommendations from some of the industry’s leading sales agencies and national funding bodies in the world, we compiled a great list and had confirmations from more than 130 of these buyers from 49 countries by early June.”

Responding to the post-pandemic landscape

A few years ago, it became clear to TIFF’s chief programming officer, Anita Lee, that the entertainment industry had changed post-pandemic, and TIFF had an opportunity to change with it.

“The landscape had shifted significantly coming back after COVID,” she explains on the phone from Toronto. “The reality is that costs are so much more expensive, and the industry at large has to be much more efficient in the way it conducts its business. How much value does each market, or attending each festival, bring?

“What became apparent is TIFF, getting onto almost 50 years at that point, was already a festival that had a significant industry, or business, component.”

And no other North American film festival — Sundance, New York, Telluride — offers an official market.

“I always believed it was a missed opportunity to not have an official market attached to the largest public film festival in the world,” says Tremblay. “Many in the industry feel the same way, especially since there’s an eight-month gap between the Cannes and Berlin markets and both take place in Europe. With no major markets affiliated with a major festival in the fall and none in the Americas, there’s a significant void in both time and space.”

What the market includes

Creating the market was a huge undertaking. The team put together various offerings, including a Pitch Stage, where market-ready projects are presented.

There’s an IP Exchange, where “individuals and companies with intellectual property across publishing, brands, gaming and immersive media meet with film and series production companies and studios to option their stories,” explains Tremblay.

There’s a Talent Development Lab that will feature 50 percent Canadian producers and 50 percent International producers. The Summit presents conversations with influential leaders, including Warner Bros. co-chairs and CEOs Pam Abdy and Mike De Luca.

Tremblay is particularly excited about the innovative Market Screenings, which allow participants to customize their audience.

“These are a game changer for creators and producers,” Tremblay says. “It gives them the opportunity to get real-time feedback from both buyers and select audiences that include the demographics they are specifically targeting with their content. This feedback is an invaluable way to validate or refine their stories since the screenings can feature finished projects or works in progress.”

Advice for Canadian creators

TIFF: The Market offers Canadian creators the rare opportunity to present, sell, buy and develop their works here at home without travelling abroad. But navigating the programs can feel daunting, so Lee offers some advice.

“If you're going to apply to a program, do the research about the program. Make sure that you prepare your project and know what it is that you want to happen to the project. Ask yourself, are you looking for an investor? Are you looking for a co-producer? Are you looking for a distributor?

“This is such a relationship business. It may not be something that you can accomplish in one year. So, think further, look at your whole slate. Do you have a project that will need financing next year? Ask yourself, what are the key things that you can accomplish that are essentially going to ladder up your project.”

Tremblay couldn’t agree more.

“If a creator has a project they’re pitching, formally or informally, they should have premium materials and be able to explain their story in a clear and concise way. At The Market, creators should focus on relationship-building, which is different from simply mingling or networking. It’s about actively listening and having genuine conversations that help them secure follow-up meetings or calls.”

What is especially gratifying to The Market’s team is the fact that Canada’s entertainment industry is having its moment. The success of our series in particular — Heated Rivalry, Empathie, North of North — gives The Market added cachet.

“With the current global politics, and with our neighbour to the south, there is a little bit of a silver lining,” notes Lee. “Canada has a great reputation and there's significant trust in Canada right now. Our prime minister is very appealing to the world, and we are hearing from the Americans, who are a huge presence at the film festival, that timing-wise it could not be better that TIFF is hosting a new inaugural market because people are very interested in Canada as a trusted and open partner.”

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Ingrid Randoja

Freelance writer Ingrid Randoja is the former film editor of Toronto’s NOW Magazine, the former deputy editor of Cineplex Magazine, and a founding member of the Toronto Film Critics Association.

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