How the whole film festival thing works

This Variety article is perhaps the best thing I’ve read about how major film festivals like Toronto and Telluride work:

After “Black Swan,” “The King’s Speech” and “The Social Network” erupted from last fall’s festivals to share eight Oscars and gross nearly $1 billion worldwide, the stakes have been raised in the courtship between festival program directors and the big Hollywood players.

With so much cash and kudos on the line, festival toppers say negotiations over the selection of major titles have become more intense than ever.

“It’s a mutual seduction. Sometimes we’re chasing them, sometimes they are chasing us,” says Cameron Bailey, co-director of the Toronto Film Festival. “After last year, there is more of an awareness now among the major companies that a festival can do a lot for their film, not just in prestige but in dollars and cents.”

Tom Luddy, co-director of the Telluride Film Festival, agrees. “A lot of companies are definitely now holding films that could have been ready earlier in the year, because they see the fall festival circuit as what leads to awards, and from awards to a lot of business.”

In recent years, Toronto played a key role in altering the trajectory of pics such as “Juno,” which wasn’t even slated for a fall release before Toronto sought it out, and “Slumdog Millionaire,” when the enthusiasm of the Toronto team helped give Fox Searchlight the confidence to pick it up from Warner.