| MRC II Distribution Company, L.P. | |
| Former Name: | Media Rights Capital (2004–2013) |
| Trade Name: | MRC |
| Type: | Limited partnership |
| Founders: | Modi Wiczyk Asif Satchu |
| Hq Location: | 750 N. San Vicente Blvd. |
| Hq Location City: | West Hollywood, California 90069 |
| Location Country: | U.S. |
| Area Served: | Worldwide |
| Key People: | Modi Wiczyk (co-chairman) Asif Satchu (co-chairman) Scott Tenley (CEO) |
| Industry: | Film Television |
| Footnotes: | [1] |
MRC II Distribution Company, L.P.,[2] doing business as MRC (formerly Media Rights Capital), is an American film and television studio founded by Modi Wiczyk and Asif Satchu in 2004. Based in West Hollywood, California, MRC develops, finances, and produces film and television in partnership with the industry's leading creative artists.[3]
The original business plan, called Another New Ballgame, was written in 1999[4] as part of a class assignment while the two attended Harvard Business School.[5] The plan quickly gained notoriety throughout Hollywood and was deemed controversial for predicting the decline of the traditional "Hollywood system" alongside the emergence of a new order driven by internet-based distribution and independent studios fueled by talent agencies.
MRC is famous for many firsts in Hollywood. It was the first studio to establish a deeply-integrated partnership with major talent agency, Endeavor Talent Agency, which would become a model for future alliances between agencies and studios.[6] Their deals for Alejandro González Iñárritu's Babel and Sacha Baron Cohen's Brüno, the follow-up to Borat, were early examples of artists owning copyrights, selling films for significantly more than their cost, and having true control over production and marketing.[7]
The company was an early innovator in the creator economy. It produced Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy (2008) for YouTube, the platform's earliest Hollywood-backed scripted series.[8] The show became YouTube's second-most-subscribed-to sponsor channel during its run and was notable for being the first show distributed exclusively online through Google's AdSense network, syndicating content across thousands of partner sites.[9] The success of Cavalcade positioned MRC as one of the first studios to merge storytelling with tech-driven distribution.
MRC's Television division developed, produced, and financed House of Cards (2013), the first original series ordered directly by Netflix, launching the streaming era of prestige television.[10] The series was the first streaming-exclusive drama to receive Emmy nominations and introduced the "binge" model of releasing all episode simultaneously.[11]
Since then, MRC has developed a reputation for financing and producing critically acclaimed films and series while maintaining a philosophy centered on supporting artists and filmmakers.[12] The company's continued success[13] has been attributed to its ability to challenge traditional Hollywood conventions, to embrace emerging technologies and business models, and to maintain close partnerships[14] with creative visionaries.[15]
Film productions by MRC include Ted, Baby Driver, Knives Out, American Fiction, and Saltburn. Representative co-financed films include 22 Jump Street, Furious 7, the Hotel Transylvania film series, and .[16] MRC's television credits include House of Cards, Ozark, The Great, The Terminal List, Poker Face, and Ted. Upcoming productions include Wuthering Heights, Ted: The Animated Series, and M.I.A.
MRC has collaborated with numerous prominent filmmakers, including Jason Bateman, Chloe Domont, Emerald Fennell, David Fincher, Ricky Gervais, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Rian Johnson, Seth MacFarlane, Walter Salles, and Edgar Wright.
To date, MRC's productions have been nominated for 120 Emmy Awards, 38 Golden Globe Awards, 17 Academy Awards, and 5 GRAMMY Awards. Its films have grossed over $6 billion worldwide at the box office.
MRC was founded by Modi Wiczyk and Asif Satchu in 2006,[17] and its early investors included Guggenheim Partners, AT&T, WPP Group, Goldman Sachs and ABRY Partners.[18] [19] The company was established as a financer-producer, packaging film projects for sale to film studios, and holding ownership stakes in the production.[20]
In 2007, it funded filmmakers such as Robert Rodriguez, Ricky Gervais, Walter Salles, Ryan Murphy, Richard Kelly, Bennett Miller and Todd Field.[21] The same year, it entered into an agreement with Warner Bros. Pictures to allow Warner to distribute three of the eight pictures over a $250 million feature production funding.[22] MRC launched a television division of the studio in early 2008.[23]
In 2008, The CW leased its Sunday-night schedule to MRC beginning in the 2008–09 television season. MRC scheduled the reality show In Harm's Way and the dramas Valentine and Easy Money.[24] In November 2008, after all four shows drew poor viewership, The CW announced that it would withdraw from the agreement.[25] The network returned the Sunday timeslots to its affiliates in the 2009–10 season.[26]
In March 2010, it was reported that MRC had made an offer to acquire Focus Features from Universal Pictures, but that the deal had fallen through.[27] In April of that year, MRC sold the upcoming Seth MacFarlane film Ted to Universal.[28] Later in December, MRC would reach a distribution agreement with Universal, under which it would provide distribution and marketing services for up to 20 MRC films over the next five years. The agreement would give the option for Universal to invest in the films, but was not a first-look deal, and also gave MRC the option to pre-sell distribution rights in specific territories.[29] [30]
After acquiring rights to produce a U.S. remake of the BBC miniseries House of Cards, MRC would sell the series to the streaming service Netflix in 2011.[31] [32] [33]
On February 1, 2018, Eldridge Industries, a holding company owned by former Guggenheim Partners president Todd Boehly, announced that it would contribute its media assets — including The Hollywood Reporter, Dick Clark Productions, and Billboard, and merge them with MRC into a new company known as Valence Media.[34] In October 2018, MRC formed a joint venture with United Talent Agency known as Civic Center Media, which seeks to back projects involving its members via MRC.[35] [36]
In December 2019, Valence Media acquired Nielsen Holdings' music data business, with the division being rebranded as MRC Data.[37]
In 2020, Valence Media rebranded as MRC.[38]
On September 23, 2020, it was announced that Penske Media Corporation, owner of The Hollywood Reporter
In September 2021, former E! president Adam Stotsky became the new president of MRC Live & Alternative, replacing the outgoing Amy Thurlow. At this time, Dick Clark Productions was folded into MRC Live & Alternative and discontinued as a brand.[40]
In August 2022, Eldridge agreed with Wiczyk and Satchu to divide MRC's assets, effectively undoing the 2018 Valence Media merger. Eldridge re-acquired the company's live and alternative division (which reinstated the Dick Clark Productions banner), as well as MRC's share of the PMRC joint venture, Luminate (the former MRC Data), and investments in studios including A24 and Fulwell 73. The remaining MRC entity, in which Eldridge will retain a minority stake, will retain its scripted film and TV production entity as well as investments in Civic Center Media and T-Street Productions.[41] Wiczyk and Satchu became chairmen of the company in 2023.[42]
SpinMedia (formerly BuzzMedia) was an American digital publisher that owned a number of pop culture websites, including Spin, Stereogum, Vibe, and The Frisky.[43] It was founded in 1999 by Anthony Batt, Marc Brown, Kevin Woolery, and Steve Haldane under the name Buzznet,[44] and by 2006, Buzznet had a total of nine employees in the Los Angeles, California, area. The BuzzMedia name was created as the company started to acquire more pop-culture and music blogs.
The company acquired Spin Media, publisher of Spin magazine, in July 2012.[45] After shutting down the print version of the magazine, reducing its staff to about 200, and focusing on advertising, it rebranded itself as SpinMedia in March 2013.[46] At that time, Steve Hansen became its chief executive. In April 2013, it acquired Vibe magazine.[47] [48]
In 2014, M/C Partners became the primary owner of SpinMedia after an assignment for benefit of creditors.[49] That year, BuzzMedia had also acquired music sites Property of Zack, AbsolutePunk.net, Under The Gun Review, and Punknews.org.[50]
In September 2016, SpinMedia sold Buzznet, Idolator, and PureVolume to startup corporation Hive Media.[51] In December of that year, Eldridge Industries acquired Spin, Vibe, Stereogum, and Death and Taxes via the Hollywood Reporter-Billboard Media Group for an undisclosed amount, making Billboard the world's largest music brand in terms of digital traffic and audience share.[52] [53] Celebuzz, The Frisky, and The Superficial were sold to CPX Interactive.[54] In January 2020, Spin and Stereogum were sold to Next Management Partners and the site's management, respectively, as part of a larger focus on Vibe and a music data business.[55]
Films produced or co-financed by MRC have included:
| Year | Title | Details | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Director(s) | Co-production company(s) | Distributor(s) | Budget | Gross | ||
| 2006 | Babel[56] | Alejandro González Iñárritu | Paramount Vantage Anonymous Content Zeta Film Central Films | Paramount Pictures (English-speaking territories and Latin America) StudioCanal (France) Summit Entertainment (International) | $25 million | $135.3 million |
| 2008 | Linha de Passe | Walter Salles Daniela Thomas | Pathé Videofilmes | Universal Pictures | ||
| 2009 | Brüno | Larry Charles | Four by Two Films Everyman Pictures | $42 million | $138.8 million | |
| Shorts | Robert Rodriguez | Imagenation Abu Dhabi Troublemaker Studios | Warner Bros. Pictures | $20 million | $29 million | |
| The Invention of Lying | Ricky Gervais Matthew Robinson | Radar Pictures Lynda Obst Productions | Warner Bros. Pictures (United States) Focus Features (International) | $18.5 million | $32.7 million | |
| The Box | Richard Kelly | Radar Pictures | Warner Bros. Pictures (North America) The Weinstein Company (International) | $30 million | $33.3 million | |
| 2010 | Devil | John Erick Dowdle | The Night Chronicles | Universal Pictures | $10 million | $62.6 million |
| 2011 | The Adjustment Bureau | George Nolfi | Gambit Pictures Electric Shepherd Productions | $62 million | $127.8 million | |
| 30 Minutes or Less | Ruben Fleischer | Columbia Pictures Red Hour Productions | Sony Pictures Releasing | $28 million | $40.7 million | |
| 2012 | Ted | Seth MacFarlane | Fuzzy Door Productions Bluegrass Films Smart Entertainment | Universal Pictures | $50–65 million | $549.4 million |
| 2013 | Elysium | Neill Blomkamp | TriStar Pictures QED International Alphacore Kinberg Genre | Sony Pictures Releasing | $115 million | $286.1 million |
| 2014 | A Million Ways to Die in the West | Seth MacFarlane | Fuzzy Door Productions Bluegrass Films | Universal Pictures | $40 million | $87.2 million |
| 22 Jump Street[57] | Phil Lord Christopher Miller | Columbia Pictures Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer LStar Capital Original Film Cannell Studios Storyville 75 Year Plan Productions | Sony Pictures Releasing | $50–84.5 million | $331.3 million | |
| Think Like a Man Too | Tim Story | Screen Gems Will Packer Productions | $24 million | $70.2 million | ||
| Sex Tape | Jake Kasdan | Columbia Pictures LStar Capital Escape Artists | $40 million | $126.3 million | ||
| 2015 | Chappie | Neill Blomkamp | Columbia Pictures LStar Capital Kinberg Genre | $49 million | $102.1 million | |
| Furious 7 | James Wan | Original Film One Race Films China Film Co., Ltd. | Universal Pictures | $190 million | $1.515 billion | |
| Ted 2 | Seth MacFarlane | Fuzzy Door Productions Bluegrass Films | $68 million | $215.9 million | ||
| Hotel Transylvania 2 | Genndy Tartakovsky | Columbia Pictures Sony Pictures Animation LStar Capital | Sony Pictures Releasing | $80 million | $474.8 million | |
| 2017 | Baby Driver | Edgar Wright | TriStar Pictures Big Talk Productions Working Title Films | $34 million | $226.9 million | |
| The Dark Tower | Nikolaj Arcel | Columbia Pictures Imagine Entertainment Weed Road Pictures | $66 million | $113.2 million | ||
| 2018 | Genndy Tartakovsky | Columbia Pictures Sony Pictures Animation | $65–80 million | $528.6 million | ||
| Mortal Engines | Christian Rivers | Scholastic Entertainment Silvertongue Films Perfect World Pictures WingNut Films | Universal Pictures | $100–150 million | $83.7 million | |
| 2019 | Dora and the Lost City of Gold | James Bobin | Paramount Players Nickelodeon Movies Walden Media Burr! Productions | Paramount Pictures | $49 million | $120.6 million |
| Knives Out | Rian Johnson | T-Street Productions Ram Bergman Productions | Lionsgate | $40 million | $312.9 million | |
| 2020 | The Lovebirds | Michael Showalter | Paramount Pictures 3 Arts Entertainment Quinn's House | Netflix | $16 million | |
| 2021 | [58] | Tim Hill | Paramount Animation Nickelodeon Movies United Plankton Pictures | Paramount Pictures (Canada and China) Paramount+ (United States) Netflix (International) | $60 million | $4.8 million |
| The Sparks Brothers[59] | Edgar Wright | Complete Fiction Pictures | Focus Features (worldwide) Universal Pictures (International) | $1.2 million | ||
| Will Gluck | Columbia Pictures Animal Logic 2.0 Entertainment Olive Bridge Entertainment | Sony Pictures Releasing | $45 million | $154 million | ||
| 2022 | Derek Drymon Jennifer Kluska | Columbia Pictures Sony Pictures Animation | Amazon Studios (worldwide) Sony Pictures Releasing (China) | $75 million | $18.5 million | |
| Jerry & Marge Go Large | David Frankel | Paramount Players Levantine Films | Paramount+ | |||
| Persuasion[60] | Carrie Cracknell | Bisous Pictures Mad Chance Fourth and Twenty Eight Films | Netflix | |||
| The Last Rider | Alex Holmes | New Black Films | Roadside Attractions (United States and Canada) Dogwoof (International) | $253,770 | ||
| 2023 | The Blackening | Tim Story | The Story Company Tracy Yvonne Productions Artists First Catchlight Studios | Lionsgate (worldwide) Universal Pictures (International) | $5 million | $18.6 million |
| Fair Play | Chloe Domont | T-Street Star Thrower Entertainment | Netflix | |||
| Milli Vanilli | Luke Korem | MTV Entertainment Studios Keep on Running Pictures | Paramount+ | |||
| Self Reliance | Jake Johnson | Clown Show Lonely Island Classics Walcott Productions | Hulu Neon (United States) Republic Pictures (International) | |||
| Saltburn | Emerald Fennell | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Lie Still LuckyChap Entertainment | Amazon MGM Studios (United States) Warner Bros. Pictures (United Kingdom/Ireland) | $21.1 million | ||
| American Fiction | Cord Jefferson | T-Street Almost Infinite 3 Arts Entertainment | Orion Pictures (through Amazon MGM Studios) | $10 million | $23 million | |
| The Contestant | Clair Titley | Misfits Entertainment | Hulu | |||
| 2024 | The Greatest Night in Pop | Bao Nguyen | Republic Pictures Dorothy Street Pictures MakeMake Entertainment | Netflix | ||
| Snack Shack | Adam Carter Rehmeier | Paperclip Limited T-Street | Republic Pictures | $4.5 million | $455,708 | |
| Blink | Edmund Stenson Daniel Roher | Fishbowl Films Eyesteel Film | Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (United States and Canada) National Geographic Documentary Films (International) | |||
| 2025 | SLY LIVES! (aka The Burden of Black Genius) | Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson | Onyx Collective Two One Five Entertainment RadicalMedia Stardust Films Network Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment ID8 Multimedia | Hulu (United States) Disney+ (worldwide) | ||
| G20 | Patricia Riggen | JuVee Productions Mad Chance Productions | Amazon MGM Studios | |||
| All of You | William Bridges | Republic Pictures Ryder Picture Company | Apple TV+ | |||
| Derek Drymon | Nickelodeon Movies United Plankton Pictures | Paramount Pictures | ||||
| 2026 | The Gallerist | Cathy Yan | MountainA Concordia Studio Slow Pony | |||
| The Only Living Pickpocket in New York | Noah Segan | T-Street Productions | Sony Pictures Classics[61] | |||
| Wuthering Heights | Emerald Fennell | LuckyChap Entertainment | Warner Bros. Pictures | |||
| TBA | A Place in Hell[62] | Chloe Domont | Republic Pictures T-Street Productions | Neon | ||
| Eloise[63] | Amy Sherman-Palladino | HandMade Films Simon & Schuster Maximum Effort | Netflix | |||
| Good People, Bad Things[64] | Ninian Doff | Present Company Inc. Hoorae Media | ||||
| The Best Is Yet to Come[65] | Jon Turteltaub | Gidden Media Chapter 2 | Lionsgate | |||
| The Love Hypothesis[66] | Claire Scanlon | Amazon MGM Studios | ||||
| They Know[67] | Bill Hader | Hanarply | ||||
| Unabom[68] | Janus Metz Pedersen | 2.0 Entertainment | Netflix | |||
| Original run | Title | Details | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Creator(s) | Co-production company(s) | Network(s) | Season(s) | Episodes | |||
| 2008–2009 | Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy | Seth MacFarlane | Fuzzy Door Productions Main Street Pictures | YouTube | 1 | 50 | |
| 2008–2012 | The Life & Times of Tim | Steve Dildarian | HBO Entertainment Insane Loon Productions Warner Bros. Television | HBO | 3 | 30 | |
| 2008 | In Harm's Way | Craig Piligian | Pilgrim Studios | The CW | 1 | 8 | |
| 2008–2009 | Valentine | Kevin Murphy | Five & Dime Productions | ||||
| Easy Money | Diane Frolov Andrew Schneider | Hat Trick Productions | |||||
| Rita Rocks | James Berg Stan Zimmerman | Zimmerman-Berg Lifetime Television | Lifetime | 2 | 40 | ||
| 2009 | Surviving Suburbia | Kevin Abbott | Acme Productions NestEgg Productions | ABC | 1 | 13 | |
| Kröd Mändoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire | Peter A. Knight | Hat Trick Productions Watson Pond Productions | Comedy Central (U.S.) BBC Two / BBC HD (UK) | 6 | |||
| The Goode Family | Mike Judge John Altschuler Dave Krinsky | Ternion Pictures 3 Arts Entertainment Judgemental Films | ABC | 13 | |||
| 2009–2010 | Shaq Vs. | Dick Clark Productions | 2 | 10 | |||
| 2010–2012 | The Ricky Gervais Show | Ricky Gervais Stephen Merchant Karl Pilkington | WildBrain Entertainment HBO Entertainment | HBO (U.S.) Channel 4/E4 (United Kingdom) | 3 | 39 | |
| 2011–2012 | How to Be a Gentleman | David Hornsby | CBS Productions | CBS | 1 | 9 | |
| 2013–2018 | House of Cards | Beau Willimon | Trigger Street Productions Wade/Thomas Productions Knight Takes King Productions | Netflix | 6 | 73 | |
| 2015–2016 | Blunt Talk | Jonathan Ames | The Herring Wonder Fuzzy Door Productions | Starz | 2 | 20 | |
| 2017–2022 | Ozark | Bill Dubuque Mark Williams | Aggregate Films Zero Gravity Management Headhunter Films Man, Woman & Child Productions | Netflix | 4 | 44 | |
| 2017–2019 | Counterpart[69] | Justin Marks | Gilbert Films Anonymous Content Gate 34 Studio Babelsberg Starz Originals | Starz | 2 | 20 | |
| 2020 | The Outsider | Aggregate Films Temple Hill Entertainment Pieface Inc. Civic Center Media | HBO | 1 | 10 | ||
| 2020–2023 | The Great | Tony McNamara | Thruline Entertainment Echo Lake Entertainment Lewellen Pictures Macgowan Films Piggy Ate Roast Beef Productions Civic Center Media | Hulu (U.S.) Disney+ (worldwide) | 3 | 30 | |
| 2021 | The Shrink Next Door | Gloria Sanchez Productions Buckaroo Small Mammal Productions Semi-Formal Productions Bloomberg Media Wondery Civic Center Media | Apple TV+ | 1 | 8 | ||
| 2022 | Shining Girls | Silka Luisa | Love & Squalor Pictures Michelle MacLaren Entertainment Appian Way Productions | ||||
| So You Think You Can Dance | Simon Fuller Nigel Lythgoe | 19 Entertainment Dick Clark Productions | Fox | 18 | 312 | ||
| 2022–present | The Terminal List | David DiGilio | Amazon MGM Studios Indivisible Productions Fuqua Films DiGilio Films Civic Center Media | Amazon Prime Video | 1 | 8 | |
| 2023–2025 | Poker Face | Rian Johnson | Zucks. Animal Pictures T-Street | Peacock | 2 | 22 | |
| 2023 | Hello Tomorrow! | Amit Bhalla Lucas Jansen | Mortal Media Froward Enterprise Ceremony Pictures Hooptie Filmed Entertainment Apple Studios | Apple TV+ | 1 | 10 | |
| 2024–present | Ted | Seth MacFarlane | Fuzzy Door Productions Universal Content Productions | Peacock | 7 | ||
| 2024 | Time Bandits | Jemaine Clement Iain Morris Taika Waititi | Waititi Waka Atea HandMade Films Anonymous Content Paramount Television Studios | Apple TV+ | 10 | ||
| TBA | M.I.A.[70] | Bill Dubuque | Paramount Global Content Distribution | Peacock | |||
