Ryan Heller is an American film producer and an executive at Topic Studios where he serves as Head of Film and Documentary. Heller has served as a producer and executive producer on a number of feature films, including Nanny, The Climb, A Real Pain, Splitsville, Club Kid, The Debut and Wicker.
Heller served as an executive producer of the HBO documentary series 100 Foot Wave, which was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series in 2022 and 2023 and won the award in 2025.
Education Heller holds a BA from Boston College and an MBA/MFA dual degree from New York University. He studied in a joint program combining business courses at the Stern School of Business with filmmaking at the Tisch School of the Arts.
Early career Heller was a guitarist in the Boston-based indie rock band Aberdeen City, whose members met at Boston College. In 2008, Heller made his final appearance as an official member of Aberdeen City at a concert opening for the Hold Steady in Boston. He left the band to attend graduate school in New York.
Career In February 2017, Heller joined First Look Media from Starz Entertainment, where he had served as senior director of acquisitions and distribution at Starz Digital. At First Look Media, Heller was responsible for developing new partnerships and expanding the number of titles acquired by the company. In March 2017, The Hollywood Reporter reported that First Look Media's expanding film, television and digital slate was being developed under the newly branded Topic banner.
Heller has championed projects from new filmmakers including Nanny, directed by Nikyatu Jusu, the first horror film to win the Sundance Grand Jury Prize and The Climb, directed by Michael Angelo Covino, won the Un Certain Regard prize at the Cannes Film Festival. He oversaw three Topic Studios films which premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival: Brandon Cronenberg's Infinity Pool, produced in partnership with Neon; Randall Park's Shortcomings; and Theater Camp, directed by Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman. Other projects he oversaw at Topic Studios included Pablo Larraín's Spencer, Kevin Macdonald's The Mauritanian, and the HBO documentary series 100 Foot Wave. Documentary projects on which he served as an executive producer included Nuclear Family, Bring Your Own Brigade, and Turn Every Page – The Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb. In January 2023, Heller was promoted to executive vice president of film and documentary at Topic Studios.
In 2025, Heller served as a producer on Splitsville, directed by Michael Angelo Covino, which premiered in the Premieres section of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. Earlier that year, he produced the documentaries It's Never Over, Jeff Buckley and Folktales, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. He also executive produced A Real Pain, which received two Academy Award nominations and won Kieran Culkin the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
In 2026, Heller served as a producer on Jordan Firstman's Club Kid, which had its world premiere in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2026 Cannes Film Festival. Following its premiere, the film was acquired by A24 after a competitive bidding process. Serving as Head of Film and Documentary at Topic, Heller's credits include Wicker, a fantasy drama starring Olivia Colman and Alexander Skarsgård that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and Jesse Eisenberg's The Debut, which premiered at the 2026 Telluride Film Festival and will be released by A24 December 2026.
Filmography
Feature films YearTitleRole2019PahokeeExecutive producer2019The ClimbExecutive producer2020The Nowhere InnExecutive producer2021The MauritanianExecutive producer2021SpencerExecutive producer2021Italian StudiesExecutive producer2022NannyExecutive producer2022God's TimeExecutive producer2023Infinity PoolExecutive producer2023ShortcomingsExecutive producer2023Theater CampProducer2024A Real PainExecutive producer2025SplitsvilleProducer2026WickerProducer2026Mother MaryExecutive producer2026Club KidProducer2026The DebutExecutive producer
Documentary films YearTitleRole2019Wrinkles the ClownExecutive producer2021Bring Your Own BrigadeExecutive producer2021Bernstein's WallExecutive producer2021Nuclear FamilyExecutive producer2021Bring Your Own BrigadeExecutive producer2022Turn Every Page – The Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert GottliebExecutive producer2023CaterpillarExecutive producer2025It's Never Over, Jeff BuckleyProducer2025FolktalesExecutive producer
Television series YearTitleRoleNotes2013–2014Hollywood Acting StudioExecutive producer12 episodes2013–2015TvooviesExecutive producer29 episodes2014Llama CopExecutive producer6-episode television series2018The ArtistsProducer10-episode miniseries2021–2025100 Foot WaveExecutive producerDocumentary series; 17 episodes
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