In this industry masterclass, Roeg Sutherland, co-head of CAA Media Finance, offers his insights into the detailed challenges and opportunities of independent filmmaking and other content creation in 2025. How is packaging, financing and distribution changing now and in the near future? Is story still king or do you need to work with established talents to get a project financed and greenlit? Which projects are cutting through the noise both with financiers and later with audiences – and does that change country by country?

Sutherland will also reflect on how the US, European and global industries are connecting and finding new, smarter ways to collaborate and explain how CAA works truly globally with both English-langauge and local-language projects. Sutherland will also talk about how CAA works across every stage of a project from idea through packaging and financing and bringing it to festivals and markets, closing the right deal with distributors. The lessons he’s learned from working on iconic films like Emilia Perez, Les Miserables, 12 Years a Slave, Knives Out, I’m Still Here, Coda, The Banshees Of Inisherin, Conclave, Capernaum, Licorice Pizza, Longlegs and many more hits. In just the past five years, films packaged and/or sold by CAA Media Finance have generated approximately $5 billion at the worldwide box office, and they broker more than 100 distribution deals per year on films. Sutherland truly is an expert in what works for independent film in 2025 and beyond.

With this offer, the EFM Industry Sessions aim to contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), and 17 (Partnerships for the Goals).