Sales agents on why fewer films break through, how buyers are thinking post-COVID, and what producers still get wrong when pitching.
Part of the Glasgow Film Festival’s Made in Glasgow programme—a full day of panels and events featuring representatives from leading studios and creatives—the discussion formed part of Meet the Sales Agents, an in-depth session exploring how films reach global audiences. Sponsored by Glasgow-based production house Blazing Griffin, the programme continues to position the city as a serious node in the international screen industry.
The panel featured Yana Georgieva, Head of Sales at Bankside Films (Talk to Me, The Quiet Girl, The Ballad of Wallis Island), and Valentina Bronzini of The Match Factory (La Chimera, Drive My Car), alongside fellow sales executives, offering a clear-eyed look at a market that is no longer behaving predictably.
A Market That Doesn’t Behave
If there was one point of agreement across the panel, it’s this: the market hasn’t stabilised—it’s fragmented. Berlin’s European Film Market (EFM), traditionally a bellwether for the year ahead, reinforced a pattern that has been building for several cycles. A small number of projects attract the majority of attention, while everything else fights for diminishing space.
“It’s very much drawn to a handful of projects,” one panellist noted, describing a widening gap between what sells easily and what struggles to find traction. That divide isn’t just about quality—it’s structural. Fewer territories are consistently buying. Political instability, currency fluctuations, and shifting audience habits are all reshaping the map in real time.
Where distributors once provided reliable pre-sale blocks—Latin America, Eastern Europe, parts of the Middle East—those certainties have eroded. Some territories have disappeared entirely for certain types of projects. Others fluctuate unpredictably from one market to the next.
The result: a system that feels less like a market cycle and more like constant recalibration.
Pre-Sales, Rewired
Berlin, increasingly, is no longer about finished films.
Instead, it’s become a staging ground for projects further down the pipeline—particularly those targeting Cannes or Venice later in the year. Sales agents are leaning harder into pre-sales, often working from scripts, promos, or early materials rather than completed films.
Buyers, meanwhile, are more cautious. Where pre-COVID markets might have seen bidding wars on strong packages, today’s distributors are slower, more analytical, and more risk-averse. Decisions that once happened in days now stretch across months.
Completed films can still be attractive—sometimes more so, as they remove uncertainty. But timing remains key. Bringing in a sales partner too late can limit a film’s potential, particularly around festival strategy and positioning.
What Actually Sells
Despite that uncertainty, some patterns are emerging. Clear audience targeting has become non-negotiable. Projects that blur genre or tone without a defined market position are increasingly difficult to place.
Cast still matters—but not in the way it once did. Recognisable names alone are no longer enough to unlock financing or guarantee sales. And then there’s the outlier effect: smaller films, often with distinctive voices or strong emotional hooks, continue to surprise.
Budgets in a Contracting Market
Across the board, the panel pointed to a clear threshold: films under $5 million are significantly easier to finance and sell. Above that, risk increases sharply. Sales estimates, once used more aggressively to close financing gaps, are now approached with caution.
“We send what we believe we can sell,” one panellist said. “Even if it doesn’t meet what they need.”
The Festival Paradox
Festivals remain critical—but their role has shifted.
Many are reporting strong attendance and sold-out screenings, yet that enthusiasm doesn’t always translate into theatrical performance. Instead, festivals have become discovery platforms—places where films build visibility even if distribution comes later.
A Market Defined by Adaptation
The takeaway is less about any single trend and more about mindset. The old rules—around territories, timelines, and what sells—no longer apply consistently. Success now depends on adaptability.
Budgets are tighter, buyers are slower, and territories are less reliable than they were even a few years ago. The projects that cut through do so for specific, often unpredictable reasons.
For producers, that means sharper positioning and more disciplined budgets. For sales agents, it means navigating a market where instinct still matters—but certainty doesn’t exist. There’s no single rule anymore—only variables. And in a market that no longer behaves, clarity is the closest thing left to an advantage.