The happy ending you crave is when a movie you love finds the right home - the ideal boutique distributor, say, for a great documentary that’s going to need tender loving care (this year, “Little Richard: I Am Everything” getting picked up by Magnolia Pictures was the perfect example of that), or a bigger studio with deep pockets shelling out for a drama that has popular potential. Which movies will be invited to the ball? It can feel like sports betting, like seeing your kid get into college, like the first draft of the awards race, or like the story of Cinderella. But even if you’re a critic like me, watching the action from the sidelines, it’s easy to get invested in the drama of watching the deals happen.

Those deals mean the world to the parties involved (the filmmakers, the actors, the producers, the distribution companies, the agents and everybody’s mother).

The distribution deals that make headlines at the Sundance Film Festival can feel like engagement announcements (“‘The Big Sick’ will marry Amazon Studios for $12 million!”).

Why isn't wild at heart streaming