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Searchlight Pictures top executive Katie Goodson-Thomas told the BFI London Film Festival (LFF) on Tuesday how passion and “humanity” make the studio special even though it gets “priced out” by streaming giants on a daily basis.
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. The studio is behind movies like The Banshees of Inisherin, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Poor Things, All of Us Strangers, Jojo Rabbit, Boys Don’t Cry, Napoleon Dynamite and Little Miss Sunshine.
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 director Bradley Cooper with Will Arnett that is “inspired by” the life of John Bishop. Its working title has previously been reported as being Is This Thing On?
The responsibility to keep indie films going is not just on the shoulders of studios but also on 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 signaled she didn’t have much to offer on the topic. “You know the future’s coming,” she said. “It’s inevitable, and it’s just about how you use it. And I I can only speak for myself. I can’t speak for the company. … We just got to learn to use it to our best advantage, but hope that fundamentally … it’s still humans.” She added: “Everybody said theater was dead, and yet it’s thriving. So I just think we’ll see what happens, and we have to be cautious and careful and considered. But I personally don’t have any solutions. It’s a big thing.”
The Searchlight exec was also asked about the competitive marketplace. “We can’t be competitive with Netflix. It’s just not going to happen … or Apple or Amazon,” she said. “Emerald Fennell is a filmmaker I’d love to work with. I know that she’s going [to make an adaptation of] Wuthering Heights. We’re not going to be able to be part of that conversation. But I think she’s an extraordinary filmmaker, and I want her film to be made, so I’m proud that she can make it with people who can pay the money that she would like.”
She continued: “Part of our edge, I hope, at Searchlight is … this humanity, the face-to-face. We’re really rigorous and we’re really thoughtful.” Concluded the exec: “I’m not in this department, so I can say it. I don’t think there’s a better distribution or marketing [team] than ours, both internationally and globally.”
What would Goodson-Thomas do if she had to pick an alternative career? Quipped the executive: “If I wasn’t working in film, I’d probably be a therapist.”
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