Topic is on a roll. How did you get here?
Ryan Heller: We’ve worked hard over the last few years to identify things that we feel uniquely suited to make happen. In this post-COVID period, which we’re all still living in, we’re figuring out what new the behaviors look like and how movie culture has changed. We’ve leaned into things that resonate with us – on the filmmaker and story level. Things that have a communal aspect. We never take anyone showing up to a movie theater for granted, so we’ve tried to earn their trust.
How do you think movie culture has changed?
How would you define your palate for story?
RH: Distinctive and filmmaker-driven. Movies that may have to fight to be seen, but in execution can find a sizable audience. We want movies that drive conversation. We’re mostly developing or financing projects on the way to production or financing them through, and we gravitate toward writer-directors. We love that sort of intimacy.
So what makes you “fall for” a project?
“The Debut” is the hottest ticket in Telluride this year, it seems.
RH: The expectations are hard to control. I don’t know that we think about them too much. We are truly over the moon excited for people to see this movie. We’ve been working on it since the release of “A Real Pain.” We’ll lean on our great partners at A24 to figure out how we how we get as many people to see the film as possible. We’re counting down the minutes to let this thing loose in front of audiences.
So you’ve got the hot hand. Are people talking to you about sales and mergers and acquisitions, or are you tuning that out?
RH: We love where we are, and we’ve built such great relationships with so many partners. We focus on being deliberate and going in on things finding ways to be self-reliant. What we’ve built is an internal capability to make a movie from start to finish. There’s a real value to companies like Topic supplying certain kinds of movies to distribution partners. They have different economics than we do. I think we’re part of a healthy ecosystem. We love where we are and want to keep doing it.
What’s next?
RH: We have some stuff we haven’t announced yet, but we’re in postproduction on a movie called “Scorn.” It’s from a writer-director named Sarah Bliss, who co-created the series “Search Party.” That’s a house favorite over here. She’s incredible, and it gave a chance to reteam with the incredible Adria Arjona, who we worked with on “Splitsville.” It’s a surprising and very modern take on the psychological erotic thriller. It goes to very unexpected places.
