While the stars walk the red carpets and smile for the cameras, most of the action at TIFF happens behind the scenes.

Many films came to the festival without distributors and the producers are busy trying to convince potential buyers to screen them and make an offer.

Some films have already been successful in landing a deal this week.

The Place Beyond the Pines starring Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper has been nabbed by Focus Features.

Sarah Polley's documentary Stories We Tell has been acquired by Roadside Attractions.

A much talked about film, Dangerous Liaisons, has been picked up by Well Go USA.

But some producers are still in the middle of the search, including Toronto's Daniel Iron. His film, Inescapable with Joshua Jackson, Alexander Siddig and Marisa Tomei, premieres at TIFF tonight.

Iron says finding a U.S. buyer is a crucial step.

"It's the biggest market, so you want to break into the market. It also helps generate foreign sales if you get a U.S. sale because it puts a stamp of approval on it that foreign buyers like to see."

He says that in general, sales at TIFF this year have been healthy so far, but business hasn't been the same during the festival since the last recession.

"When the economy was better, films would sell right away. Often now it takes a week, two weeks until after the festival, simply because sometimes there are marketing people who aren't here who have to see it. But you sort of know pretty quickly if there's interest."

And he says that after a couple of industry screenings of Inescapable this week, he already has a lot of interest from U.S. distributors.