{"id":47699,"date":"2026-08-16T01:03:23","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T20:03:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=47699"},"modified":"2026-08-16T01:03:23","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T20:03:23","slug":"would-trainspotting-get-made-today-film-execs-weigh-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=47699","title":{"rendered":"Would &#8216;Trainspotting&#8217; Get Made Today? Film Execs Weigh In"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tWould \u201cTrainspotting\u201d get financed today? Could Lynne Ramsay survive the jump from shorts to a first feature? And might \u201cThe Wicker Man,\u201d once treated as a problem child, now look like exactly the kind of genre package buyers chase?<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThat was the conceit of a lively session hosted by Wendy Mitchell, with Picturehouse\u2019s creative director Clare Binns, Killer Films\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/t\/christine-vachon\/\" id=\"auto-tag_christine-vachon\" data-tag=\"christine-vachon\">Christine Vachon<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/t\/film4\/\" id=\"auto-tag_film4\" data-tag=\"film4\">Film4<\/a>\u2019s head of distribution and sales Stefanie Fahrion, BBC Film\u2019s commissioning executive Alice Ojha and Casarotto\u2019s Simon Renshaw asked to assess British classics as if they had just landed on their desks in 2026.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tNobody suggested the market had become kinder, but several films looked less risky than their loglines might suggest.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"heading larva \/\/   lrv-a-font-secondary-l   \">\n\t\t<strong>The Talking Factor<\/strong>\t<\/h3>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tFirst up was \u201cTrainspotting\u201d: heroin use, a dead baby, filthy toilets, heavy Scottish dialect and no obvious box-office cast.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tBinns immediately went to Danny Boyle\u2019s previous film, calling \u201cShallow Grave\u201d \u201cone of the most exciting films I ever saw\u201d and saying it announced \u201ca new voice.\u201d Fahrion saw upside in the extremity. The film had \u201cso many iconic moments,\u201d she said, with enough \u201cshock value\u201d to create a \u201ctalking factor\u201d and \u201cFOMO\u201d around scenes audiences felt they had to see, and today would likely virally share. Renshaw called it \u201ca big swing,\u201d but also \u201csomething that\u2019s going to get people talking.\u201d Vachon was less concerned still. \u201cI pitch it as genre or genre adjacent,\u201d she said. At the right price, \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s risky at all.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"heading larva \/\/   lrv-a-font-secondary-l   \">\n\t\t<strong>Soft Money, Then Sell<\/strong>\t<\/h3>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tStructure was the focus for Bill Forsyth\u2019s feel good \u201cLocal Hero.\u201d \u201cI don\u2019t think you get any American equity or a pre-buy unless it was a really big, big star,\u201d said Vachon. Better, she argued, to make it \u201cwith as much soft money as possible\u201d and then sell it for \u201ca nice high price to the U.S.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tBinns saw an audience play. Older cinemagoers remain underserved, she said. \u201cThey might not come opening weekend,\u201d but \u201cthis will be a word of mouth\u201d film.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"heading larva \/\/   lrv-a-font-secondary-l   \">\n\t\t<strong>First Features: Still the Hurdle<\/strong>\t<\/h3>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tRamsay\u2019s \u201cRatcatcher\u201d brought the financing gap into sharper focus.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tRenshaw called \u201cthat leap from shorts to that first feature\u201d the hurdle, with known cast often crucial in getting financiers and distributors comfortable.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThis is where, in the U.K. at least, public backing can enter. Fahrion noted that voices as unique and challenging as Ramsay\u2019s often originate with public development or production money.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tVachon\u2019s U.S. take was starker. \u201cWhat is this public funding of which you speak?\u201d she joked, before proposing another panel title: \u201cHow the fuck would you get this movie made in America?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tHer answer: \u201cWe\u2019d make it for about $300,000.\u201d The job, she said, is to ask: \u201cHow do we create a case for this?\u201d<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"heading larva \/\/   lrv-a-font-secondary-l   \">\n\t\t<strong>Genre Looks Safer<\/strong>\t<\/h3>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThen came \u201cThe Wicker Man\u201d: paganism, full frontal nudity, a remote island and human sacrifice.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tVachon called it \u201cexactly what\u2026 the A24s, Neons, etc. are looking for right now.\u201d Renshaw noted it could be made inexpensively, while Binns saw a hook in casting an actor, in that classics case Richard Chamberlain, \u201cdoing something new, different for him.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tHow times change: when released British Lion packaged it as the secondary feature to \u201cDon\u2019t Look Now.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tAnd the worst pitch Renshaw ever received?<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201c\u2019The Sixth Sense,\u2019 but it\u2019s a dog.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Would \u201cTrainspotting\u201d get financed today? Could Lynne Ramsay survive the jump from shorts to a first feature? And might \u201cThe Wicker Man,\u201d once treated as a problem child, now look like exactly the kind of genre package buyers chase? That was the conceit of a lively session hosted by Wendy Mitchell, with Picturehouse\u2019s creative director&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47700,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Wicker-Man.jpg?w=1000&h=563&crop=1","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/47700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}