Last of The Independents
Charlie Varrick
Films, books and television rooted in music, subculture and cultural collision.
Story-driven work built for long afterlives - not opening weekends.
We have lived through post-punk, acid house, California rock ’n’ roll, the collapse and reinvention of independent film, the rise of streaming, the birth of the internet, Web3, TikTok and vertical storytelling - while remaining connected to the deeper question underneath all of it.
The quest for stories that help people navigate an unstable world - and feel less alone inside it.
Current Projects
In Development / In Production
Charlie Varrick builds film, television, books and non-fiction projects with a strong cultural spine, clear audience identity and long-tail value.
In Development - Feature Film
ROXY
The story of Andrew Czezowski and Susan Carrington and the 100 nights in 1976/77 at The Roxy Club, Neal Street, Covent Garden that launched The Clash, The Damned, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Jam and The Police. Budget: GBP 10-12 million. In active development.
Pre-Production - Feature Film
Rhinestone Cowboy
A fading TV star and a Gen Z outsider. Over 72 hours they become each other's reason to keep going. Jeff Fahey starring and producing. Jeff Goldberg producing. Shooting script locked.
In Production - Non-Fiction
I Predict A Riot
Oral history of the 12-year making of Riot on Redchurch Street. Co-authored with producer Sean McLusky. Pre-order live at charlievarrick.com. August 2026 delivery.
In Development - Documentary
In White America Still
A documentary about Gary Allan, described by Flea as "our Andy Warhol" in Netflix's Our Brother Hillel.
Charlie Varrick Books - Pre-Order Now
I Predict A Riot
The 12-Year Making of Riot on Redchurch Street
Part tell-all memoir. Part visual archive. Part independent film war story. Co-authored by writer-director Trevor Miller and producer Sean McLusky.
It started with a knitting notebook from a Manchester pound shop, stolen whiskey, and a BBC documentary about Cabaret playing late at night while Shoreditch burned in the background. Twelve years later it had become something nobody planned - a film shot on the last rolls of 16mm Fuji stock, with songs by Siobhan Fahey, during actual riots.
Built around unseen photographs, production material, nightlife ephemera and stories from the strange orbit that formed around the film - including Siobhan Fahey, Johnny Borrell, Les McKeown, David Dorrell and an unexpected late-night visit from Johnny Depp.
Digital Edition
Founding Supporter
Complete digital book on release. Opening chapter delivered immediately. Your name in the acknowledgements.
Pre-Order - $24.99Signed & Numbered - 50 Copies Only
Collector's Edition
Physical copy signed and numbered by Trevor Miller and Sean McLusky. Includes handwritten note, button badge and bookmark.
Pre-Order - $49.99Secure payment via Stripe. PDF chapter delivered by email within 24 hours of purchase. Physical copies ship August 15th 2026. UK and European orders fulfilled by Charlie Varrick UK Ltd, London.
Previously unseen photographs from the making of Riot on Redchurch Street
Siobhan Fahey (Bananarama / Shakespears Sister) on set with Katie Prado, Redchurch Street, 2011.
Johnny Borrell (Razorlight) on location, Shoreditch, 2011.
A rioter gets his picture taken with the tallish man in the beige fedora. Redchurch Street, August 2011.
A handwritten note from Gena Rowlands, 2013. John Cassavetes' widow wishing us luck with the picture.
Film
Rhinestone Cowboy
Everyone's ready for their close-up. Even if nobody is watching.
A fading television actor collides with a Gen Z outsider. What begins as an accident becomes something neither of them can control. A story about identity, relevance and what's left when the version of you that used to work doesn't anymore.
Jeff Fahey starring and producing. Jeff Goldberg producing. Shooting script locked.
Riot on Redchurch Street
The Director's Cut
A British rock 'n' roll feature released across North America by Freestyle Digital Media (Byron Allen's Allen Media Group). Starring Sam Hazeldine (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power). Songs by Siobhan Fahey (Bananarama, Shakespears Sister). World premiere theatrical screening at the TCL Chinese Theatres in Hollywood. Winner of Best Director at the Golden State Film Festival 2025.
"Wildly cinematic - like The Killing of a Chinese Bookie."
Dazed Digital"Prickly as a mohawk."
Stern MagazineBooks
Punk to Prestige
A Rebel Filmmaker's Guide to Crashing the Film Industry
A raw, no-bullshit guide for outsiders who want a real career in film on their own terms - without film school, connections, or a trust fund. How to build a body of work that opens real industry doors. How to talk to agents, producers and financiers without giving away your power.
"I feel like I've got someone in my corner - a place to turn to when you start questioning why the hell you picked up a camera in the first place."
Matt Holt - Spoon Jar Films, UK"His insights into relationships, momentum, and long-term career development are especially valuable for anyone trying to break into the business."
Tracy Dale - Verified Purchase, US
Your Creative Toolkit
Stay In The Work. Let It Change Everything.
A companion framework for creatives outside film. Part field manual. Part creative survival system. For anyone who needs to keep making things when it stops being easy.
Trip City
The acid house novel. An underground literary landmark.
Originally published in 1989 with a five-track cassette EP by A Guy Called Gerald. The down and dirty side of London nightclubs, dance music and hallucinogenic drug subculture. The original launch descended into a riot, shut down by the Metropolitan Police. Reissued by Velocity Press in 2021. Audiobook in production.
"An On The Road for the post warehouse-party generation."
The Evening Standard"Sharp and lacerating - like a broken bottle."
The Sunday Times Magazine"A work of much underground intellect. The first of its kind."
The GuardianPhilosophy
Audience is not marketing. Audience is gravity.
The old system keeps mistaking visibility for connection. Charlie Varrick is interested in work that carries cultural charge - stories with enough identity, pressure and emotional truth to survive beyond the platform that first releases them.
We look for projects rooted in real cultural movement - music, identity, contradiction, class, youth, age, reinvention, survival.
Not as an afterthought. Not as a marketing department problem. The audience is part of the architecture of the work.
The work worth making is the work people return to, pass on, argue with and use to understand themselves.
About
Charlie Varrick is an independent film, television and publishing company operating between Los Angeles and London. Built around writer-director Trevor Miller's long history inside film, books, music culture and outsider storytelling, the company develops projects designed for audience clarity, cultural charge and long-tail value.
Trevor Miller is a British filmmaker, producer and author whose work the Sunday Times described as "sharp and lacerating like a broken bottle." He holds an MFA in Screenwriting from the David Lynch Graduate School of Cinematic Arts. Based in Los Angeles for over three decades, he has written for studios and independents, collaborating with talent including Sylvester Stallone, John Cameron (Dune: Prophecy, The Pitt) and Siobhan Fahey, with development and editorial experience at Franchise Pictures, Moebius International and Muse Productions - where he worked as an editor on Spring Breakers and London Fields.