Execs Greenlight-Test 'Trainspotting,' 'Wicker Man' as 2026 Pitches
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- Christine Vachon dismissed Trainspotting as risky, saying she would 'pitch it as genre or genre adjacent' and at the right price 'I don't think it's risky at all,' while Film4's Stefanie Fahrion cited its 'talking factor' and viral shareability of extreme scenes.
- On Bill Forsyth's 'Local Hero,' Vachon argued it needed soft money first, then a 'nice high price' U.S. sale, since without 'a really big, big star' you wouldn't get American equity or a pre-buy; Binns identified older cinemagoers as an underserved audience.
- The 'leap from shorts to that first feature' was the key hurdle for 'Ratcatcher,' with Casarotto's Simon Renshaw noting known cast often secures financiers; Fahrion highlighted U.K. public funding for unique voices, while Vachon joked 'What is this public funding of which you speak?' and proposed a $300,000 budget.
- Vachon called 'The Wicker Man' — paganism, full-frontal nudity, remote island, human sacrifice — 'exactly what the A24s, Neons, etc. are looking for right now,' with Renshaw noting it could be made inexpensively.
- When asked for the worst pitch he'd ever received, Simon Renshaw deadpanned: ''The Sixth Sense,' but it's a dog.'
Why it matters: Several panelists argued that today's market — with A24 and Neon chasing distinctive genre packages — could actually absorb films that struggled or flopped on initial release, while Vachon's proposed $300,000 budget for *Ratcatcher* exposes the yawning financing gap between U.K. public funding models and American private equity for first features.
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