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.

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: 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. RH: Distinctive and filmmaker-driven.