Sundance: Sunrise to Sunset, and Beyond

Call it a hustle, a frenzy, a crap shoot. Buying and selling independent movies at the Sundance Film Festival is, at the very least, exhausting.

And despite the stunning setting and glamour of movie stars and studio executives, it is a trade show where business is conducted almost nonstop, Andrea Chalupa writes from Park City, Utah.

United Talent Agency agent Rich Klubeck has been going to Sundance since 1994, and he says the deal making is always the same. "It's remarkable how routine it is," he says.

Here's a breakdown of how a Sundance deal goes down:

After a day to a couple days at the festival, buyers and their marketers screen the film, meet with the filmmakers, and get on their cell phones, convincing the seller of how much they want this movie.

2 a.m.: After a night of parties, the buyer and seller go back to the seller's condo to work out the details. "Once you get into a room, you give up a certain amount of leverage," says Klubeck, "Because you never want to be the one to walk out of the room."

2 a.m. to 4 a.m.: "You're really grinding it out. Going over box office bonuses, anticipating the profitability of the movie, making sure the buyers understand how much they can and cannot change it."

5:30 a.m.: "You hug and leave and hopefully get in three hours of sleep before you have to do it all over again. During festivals, you only average around five to six hours of sleep a night."

Then the real work begins: Marketing the movie you just bought so that you can more than cover your costs.