Top Searchlight Exec Says Studio Gets ‘Priced Out’ by Streamers on Daily Basis: ‘We Can’t Be Competitive With Netflix, Apple or Amazon’

variety.com:

Alex Ritman Searchlight Pictures‘ top international exec Katie Goodson-Thomas has acknowledged the constant battle the specialty studio has against the deep-pockets of streamers when it comes to securing projects.

Speaking at an industry talk at the BFI London Film Festival, Goodson-Thomas, head of international production and development, said that Searchlight being “priced out” by streamers was something “that happens on a daily basis, it really does.” She added: “But we just can’t be competitive with Netflix of Apple or Amazon.” Goodson-Thomas pointed to Emerald Fennell — someone she said she’d “love to work with” — and her upcoming “Wuthering Heights” adaptation, a film Searchlight simply wouldn’t have the finances to support. “But I think she’s an extraordinary filmmaker and I want her film to be made so I’m happy for her to go to those people who have the money to finance it,” she said.

But at Searchlight — which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year and comes to London with both “A Real Pain” and “Nightbitch” — she said their “edge” was the human interaction it offered with filmmakers, plus a distribution and marketing team she claimed was the best in the business. “Look what they did with ‘Poor Things,’” she said about Yorgos Lanthimos’ raunchy gothic comedy, which made more than $117 million globally. “That film wasn’t easy — but they just loved it and I’m so proud of what they did.

And I don’t see that over those places.” Goodson-Thomas did, however, lift the lid on the “human touch” Searchlight offers when it does come to getting films off the ground.