Meet Topic, the Indie Studio Dominating the Festival Circuit With ‘The Debut,’ ‘Club Kid,’ ‘Wicker’

Movies developed and financed outside of the major studios and streamers have a massive hill to climb. It happens that Topic Studios, one such independent shop, has made it all the way up the Rockies — with some of the year’s buzziest films in tow. 

On the ground at this weekend’s Telluride Film Festival in Colorado, Topic will show Jesse Eisenberg’s anticipated follow-up to “A Real Pain,” the Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti dramedy “The Debut.” The studio will also let Jordan Firstman’s “Club Kid” out of the gate for the second time after enchanting the Cannes Film Festival in May. In a month, Black Bear will release Topic’s “Wicker” after a successful bow at Sundance in January. 

Founded in 2017, the company is a division of First Look Media and has been behind some of the most acclaimed projects of the past decade (including Pablo Larrain’s “Spencer,” Michael Angelo Covino’s “The Climb” and the Oscar-winning “Spotlight”). Variety caught up with Topic film and documentary head Ryan Heller to discuss the company’s secret sauce, surviving without M&A and what’s next. 

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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?

RH: It seems like audiences are showing up for specific movies now, instead of walking into theaters [looking to discover]. We approach the projects we take on by asking how we’re uniquely suited to help. That means projects that are independent as a feature, not a bug. Our responsibility is to figure out how to guide those things to market with a shot at getting the audience they deserve.

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.

There seems to be something confrontational about each of these movies, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. “Splitsville” confronts the terrors of insecurity and marriage. “Club Kid” is about acknowledging self-destruction, in a way, and realizing that better decisions mean more happiness.

RH: I’m sure there’s truth to that, but it’s not intentional. The hardest thing for us is finding the projects. So, when we see something we fall for it’s the greatest thing. Some of what you’re saying is just inherent to what gets made in the independent system.

So what makes you “fall for” a project?

RH: I think we gravitate toward big laughs and big feelings. We love comedies that have the stakes of a drama. That’s why we love “Club Kid” so much. That script knocked us out. We all had expectations of what it was going to be, and every single person at Topic who read that script ended it in tears. And it was all earned. Getting to have a front row seat to how Jordan pulled that off at every stage of production while also acting in almost every scene was really special. It was a career highlight. The same goes for “The Debut” and “Wicker.” They really got us.

“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.