Egotastic
MRC II Distribution Company, L.P., 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.
The original business plan, called Another New Ballgame, was written in 1999 as part of a class assignment while the two attended Harvard Business School. 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. 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.
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. 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. 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. The series was the first streaming-exclusive drama to receive Emmy nominations and introduced the "binge" model of releasing all episode simultaneously.
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. The company's continued success has been attributed to its ability to challenge traditional Hollywood conventions, to embrace emerging technologies and business models, and to maintain close partnerships with creative visionaries.
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 The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run. MRC's television credits include House of Cards, Ozark, The Great, The Terminal List, Poker Face, and TED TV. 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.
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