Mike Goodridge Balances Prestige and Profit in Film Production

In a candid discussion at the San Sebastián Film Festival's Creative Investors' Conference, Good Chaos founder Mike Goodridge reflected on the delicate balance between artistic merit and financial viability in today's film industry.

"I have prestige coming out of my ears, but prestige doesn't pay the bills," Goodridge remarked while discussing his latest production, "Ballad of a Small Player," starring Colin Farrell. The psychological thriller represents a step toward larger-scale productions for his relatively young company, which launched in 2020.

Goodridge envisions Good Chaos as a "secure home" for filmmakers, though building such a reputation takes time. Despite his interest in supporting British cinema's rich legacy, he acknowledges the challenges created by sharing a language with Hollywood.

"It's both a blessing and a curse," he explained, noting how American productions often dominate the UK industry, employing most local technicians. "Even franchises like 'Harry Potter' and 'James Bond,' though British in origin, are essentially American-controlled enterprises."

The producer's journey with "Ballad of a Small Player" began unexpectedly in 2018 through his connection with novelist Lawrence Osborne. Before establishing Good Chaos, Goodridge headed UK's Protagonist Pictures, where he championed acclaimed independent films like "The Rider" and "The Florida Project."

Perhaps most remarkable is director Edward Berger's commitment to the project despite his meteoric rise following "All Quiet on the Western Front," which garnered two Academy Awards. "When a director becomes that popular, opportunities flood in," Goodridge noted. "It speaks volumes about Berger that he remained dedicated to our film throughout his success."

As Good Chaos continues to evolve, Goodridge remains focused on developing a sustainable model that balances artistic integrity with commercial viability in an increasingly competitive global marketplace.

Shooting in Macau turned out to be the production’s biggest hurdle, according to Goodridge, who noted that very few Western features have been filmed there.

They relied on contacts in Hong Kong while also negotiating directly inside Macau — a tricky balance that made location work unusually complicated.

Goodridge, who spent time in Macau between 2017 and 2021, said that local unfamiliarity with Western shoots compounded the issues.

“At times Edward would point to a plot of land we wanted, and we couldn’t even find who owned it,” he recalled, adding that some sites were off-limits because of ownership sensitivities.

Filming around Macau’s casinos presented its own headaches.

Operators were unwilling to halt business for a shoot — every minute of downtime meant lost revenue — and Goodridge was told the region’s top gamblers could spend more in a day than the movie’s entire budget.

On financing, Goodridge publicly thanked Netflix for stepping in.

He explained the film could have been produced independently for roughly $15 million, even with Colin Farrell attached, but Netflix offered a larger commitment that made the project feasible at the scale they wanted. “It’s the kind of film you couldn’t make independently,” he said.

Good Chaos continues to collaborate with Netflix: the streamer picked up most global rights to Shih-Ching Tsou’s Left-Handed Girl, which premiered in Critics’ Week at Cannes.

The film is produced, co-written and edited by Oscar-winner Sean Baker, who originally brought the project to Goodridge in 2018 after their work together on The Florida Project through Protagonist.

Mike Goodridge finds navigating television development notably different from his established film expertise.

He observes a landscape where broadcasters and commissioners frequently reject pitches, leading to abandoned projects and significant creative wastage.

This stands in stark contrast to the independent film world, where he feels instantly comfortable visualizing financing structures and confident projects will ultimately get made.

Despite television's inherent challenges in capturing attention and its high rejection rate, Goodridge acknowledges the significant overlap occurring between film and television.

His ambition remains firm: he is determined to succeed in the television arena.

This drive comes after a bustling fall festival season supporting projects like "Orphan" in Venice and works with director Berger in Telluride.

Even amidst this activity, the difficulty of securing focus in today's crowded marketplace remains a constant refrain he hears.

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