Ryan Heller, Vice President, Film and Acquisitions at Topic Studios
Ryan Heller is Vice President, Film and Acquisitions at Topic Studios, the entertainment unit of First Look Media, where he is responsible for overseeing the company’s narrative feature film slate across development, financing, production and distribution as well as seeking out key acquisitions in film (narrative and documentary), television and short form that complement and fortify original studio productions.
Feature films from Topic include Spotlight (2016), Roman J. Israel Esquire (2017) and Leave No Trace (Sundance 2018). Upcoming film projects include The Climb, the debut feature film filmmaking team Michael Covino and Kyle Marvin; The Laundromat from director Steven Soderbergh and starring Meryl Streep, Antonio Banderas and Gary Oldman; On the Other Side starring and produced by Carey Mulligan; and Bastard, the directorial debut of acclaimed cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto from Executive Producer Martin Scorsese.
Ryan was previously at Starz Entertainment where he led the buying and releasing of feature films for the Starz Digital banner including: Amy Berg’s Every Secret Thing starring Diane Lane, Dakota Fanning and Elizabeth Banks; Jason Bateman’s The Family Fang starring Bateman, Nicole Kidman and Christopher Walken; Sophie Goodhart’s My Blind Brother starring Adam Scott, Nick Kroll and Jenny Slate; and two-time Academy Award-winning director Barbara Kopple’s Miss Sharon Jones!
Ryan holds a BA from Boston College and is a graduate of New York University’s M.B.A./M.F.A. dual degree program. In a former life, Ryan was a founding member of rock band Aberdeen City. He is based out of First Look Media’s headquarters in New York.