Burning Question: How Does Lindsay Lohan's Film Career Keep Going?

Every time Lindsay Lohan’s career looks dead, some new project comes up for her. Is she really that desirable? Is she more of a financial risk or a reward? Look: Lohan has a long colorful history as a hot mess. And she hasn’t starred in a film that grossed more than six figures since 2007. But even after all that — heck, even after her

Canyons debacle —she’s still more desirable than you might think.

Aside from Inconceivable, the film she just announced at Sundance — and which reportedly got $5 million in financing solely on her name recognition — I’ve learned that Lohan is being eyeballed for other projects.

Are they massive? No.

Lucrative? Maybe. Maybe not.

But solid and respectable? Absolutely.

"Everyone loves a comeback and she did her mea culpa on Oprah," Cricket Feet casting director Bonnie Gillespie tells me. “She’s someone we’re looking at for both a film I’m casting and a show I’m developing and consulting on. She’s still tough to insure, and we’re always building in days in case she becomes unmanageable or causes shooting delays, but she’s definitely still bankable, because everyone wants to see where she’ll land with all of this.”

[Related: Adam Sandler, Sylvester Stallone, and Lindsay Lohan Dinged With Razzie Nominations]

"She’s got about six months to make a great comeback," Gillespie adds. "If she chooses her next project well, she’s gonna have a great year to two years. But if she keeps having spats in front of paparazzi instead of focusing on her craft, it’s not gonna go well for her."

Let’s also remember that you don’t need a huge audience to make money in movies these days. A $5 million budget is tiny. And, unlike many a picture, this one already has overcome one major hurdle: distribution, and through a division of Lions Gate, no less.

Even though The Canyons made barely more than $50,000 at the box office, that doesn’t mean that “Inconceivable” won’t bring in a profit. If the film is distributed digitally, it can travel pretty cheaply; traditional film prints can cost upwards of $2,000 each, while a digital version requires a tenth of that price or less. Plus, the current distribution plan for “Inconceivable” seems to lean more heavily on video-on-demand—i.e., an even cheaper means of reaching fans no matter where on the planet they are.

[Related: Sundance Scoop: Kristen Stewart Dons Fatigues in GITMO Drama Camp X-Ray]

Even insurers don’t currently see Lohan as an insurmountable obstacle. Instead, cases like hers usually just mean bigger premiums, higher deductibles—say, four days worth of shooting costs instead of one—and maybe a few more babysitters.

“It may involve the talent having a handler, or getting information from a sober living facility, or coordinating with an attending physician,” says Maureen McDonald, senior vice president at Aon/Albert G. Ruben Insurance Services, Inc.

For plenty of producers out there, Lindsay is still worth all that and more.

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Leslie Gornstein is an entertainment writer and the host of the weekly Hollywood gossip podcast The Fame Fatale.