If you've tried to grab a table on restaurant row at King and John Sts during the festival, you may have noticed how difficult it's been because they've been at full capacity.

TIFF is like Christmas for many businesses in the area, especially the restaurants feeding all the filmgoers and filmmakers in town.

Here's what some of the businesses in the area had to say today:

Todd Sherman, owner of Hey Lucy and Gabby's bar on King St, says business has been up about 25 per cent this past week. Meanwhile, his Yorkville Hey Lucy location has not seen any increase in business since the festival started. For two years now, all official TIFF events have moved from Yorkville to the King and John Sts area where the TIFF Bell Lightbox stands.

Sherman also says this has been the busiest TIFF for his restaurants. He says he thinks the festival itself ...

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. ...

TIFF isn't just about the red carpets and the stars, even though that is what ends up on the front page.

There's more action happening behind the scenes, including at the Filmmakers Lounge at the Hyatt. That's where filmmakers and actors from around the world gather.

For 10 days, the industry folk are networking, learning from each other and creating contacts.

"TIFF is pretty much a home for me, to educate myself and to meet new people," says Kobi Ntiri, an emerging director hoping to get one of his short films on the festival's line up in the future.

Steven Dunn, also a young director, says TIFF is an extremely important event for him.

"That's your chance to meet distributors, sales agents, and other filmmakers that you wouldn't get a chance to meet the rest of the year."

Actors also spend a lot of time meeting filmmakers in the lounge, including Charlie ...

Rob Zombie got quite the reception when he arrived at Ryerson Theatre Monday night for the screening of his horror flick, Lords of Salem.

It was part of TIFF's Midnight Madness programming that shows genre films.

When he got out of his SUV alongside his gorgeous wife, Sheri Moon, his fans erupted with excitement.

One fan, Lisa, yelled out, "He's been my god since I was four years old and I just met Rob Zombie!" She then went on to explain how excited she is to have been able to touch his hair.

I got a chance to chat with Rob on the red carpet. He says he's grateful TIFF screens genre films like his.

"It seems as if they treat the movies with respect, so that's nice."

And he says he was looking forward to seeing the audience's reaction to his film first-hand. The reaction he was hoping for? ...

On Sunday, Hugh Grant was celebrating his birthday at TIFF. A day later, his Bridget Jones' Diary costar turned 52 in Toronto.

Colin Firth walked the red carpet for the film, Arthur Newman.

The film is about a man who fakes his own death because he found his life miserable and wanted to start over.

Firth says he's never had that urge because acting lets him parachute out of his life every once in a while. Then, he says he enjoys getting back to his everyday life.

Watch a video of Colin Firth on the red carpet, along with his costar, Emily Blunt: