Searchlight Pictures (The Banshees of Inisherin, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Poor Things, All of Us Strangers, Jojo Rabbit, Boys Don’t Cry, Napoleon Dynamite, Little Miss Sunshine) top executive Katie Goodson-Thomas told the BFI London Film Festival (LFF) on Tuesday how a lot of passion and little corporate focus makes the studio special.
Sharing her thoughts and behind-the-scenes insight during a spotlight conversation at the 68th edition of the festival in the British capital, the studio’s head of international production and development said “we are quite light” in the U.K. as a team, with eight staffers in Britain, four of which are lawyers who work across the whole company.
Has the studio changed under the ownership of the Walt Disney Co.? “They give us total creative freedom” while allowing the studio to have this “huge creative powerhouse behind us,” Goodson-Thomas shared. However, Disney has made the Searchlight team “more aware” of the importance and power of brand though, she argued.
Touting the “passion” for indie film of everyone at Searchlight, she highlighted how “collaborative” the team is, “how un-American, how un-corporate the whole company is.” She added: “We are a flat company. Everybody has a voice. … We all have a voice.” While there are notes the studio gives in post-production, there is never the feeling that suits in the U.S. will dilute a filmmaker’s voice. “We are very collaborative and respectful,” she concluded.
Searchlight has been celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. Goodson-Thomas has overseen the specialty film brand’s U.K. and international slate for more than a decade. Given the specific type of film Searchlight makes, she and her team often end up helping creatives with “realizing their dream project.”
Discussing the two Searchlight pictures at LFF, she said that A Real Pain with Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin, written, directed, and produced by Eisenberg, was a great fit for the studio because its movies traditionally have the ability to “be both humorous and to say something.” And “it is so Jesse” and expresses his voice naturally, she added.
The other Searchlight LFF movie is Nightbitch, starring Amy Adams, directed by Marielle Heller who talked to the studio about it/ “It is a satirical comedy but has something to say about motherhood” and other issues,” the executive explained. “We fully financed it.”
Discussing All of Us Strangers, Goodson-Thomas recalled that Andrew Haigh shared the script with her and she loved it and has always wanted to work with her. Casting was then key. When Haigh asked her what she thought of Paul Mescal, she replied: “I really like Paul Mescal.” The same reaction then was repeated. “I really like Andrew Scott,” she recalled saying. And she said Haigh and her both agreed: “The two of them together are hot.”
Diversity, inclusion, representation, and sustainability are all key for Searchlight, Goodson-Thomas said. Showing “underrepresented communities” on screen and working sustainably is something her team is passionate about while also keeping its focus on making “commercial” movies.
On financing decisions “we are totally flexible,” the studio exec also shared about Searchlight’s approach on Tuesday. “Making films is gambling” given the intrinsic risk in picking creative projects, she also said.
Discussing upcoming projects, Goodson-Thomas touted The Roses, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman, from writer Tony McNamara and director Jay Roach, a reimagining of The War of the Roses.
She also mentioned a film in development from Bradley Cooper with Will Arnett.
The responsibility to keep indie film going is not just on studios but also audiences. “People need to come back to cinemas” and watch more challenging films, which has been the case as of late, and she hopes will continue, the Searchlight exec said.
Asked about AI, she said that “the future is coming,” but she has “no solution” and has not had any discussions about using AI.
“We can’t be competitive with Netflix or Apple,” the Searchlight exec said when asked about the competitive marketplace. The studio can offer “the humanity and the face-to-face” as an alternative value proposition.
Does she ever have any alternative job ideas? “If I wasn’t working in film, I’d probably be a therapist,” Goodson-Thomas quipped.
