CANNES – On Saturday, CreativeFuture Executive Director Ruth Vitale participated in a panel at The American Pavilion in Cannes called From Cat Videos to Tent Poles: What is the Future of Digital Entertainment?

The panel was moderated by Pete Hammond, a critic for Movieline and the Awards Editor & Columnist at Deadline.com and also included Bill Bromiley, President, Saban Films; Cassian Elwes, CEO, Elevated Film Sales; Tim League, CEO & Co-Founder, Alamo Drafthouse; and Elizabeth Valentina, Vice President, Content Protection Litigation for Fox.

The conversation centered on how today’s filmmakers and distributors are working to figure out how to most effectively monetize their films through the various distribution channels and how to finance films while also responding to the changing viewing habits of audiences. Financing projects is challenging enough, the panelists explained, but made more difficult by the prevalence of for-profit pirate websites that distribute their content for free.