EXCLUSIVE: We understand that Row K’s top trio of executives — President Megan Colligan, Chief Revenue Officer Mo Rhim and Chief Marketing Officer Ben Carlson — are in the midst of steering their boats away from the nascent U.S. distributor.
The trio are currently negotiating their exits, according to sources, following news that Row K is money-strapped. Meanwhile, parent company Media Capital Technologies is trying to course-correct their armada, and looking to prioritize more commercial projects over arthouse selections.
MCT is also in active discussions with executives to backfill the rotating C-suite; we understand Row K Head of Distribution Steve Garrett is staying.
In addition, we hear that Row K’s Toronto Film Festival acquisition, the critically acclaimed Maude Apatow-directed comedy Poetic License (91% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes), is searching for a new distributor. We’re told that Row K can’t fulfill its legal obligations on the pic’s acquisition.
Deadline first told you that Poetic License was snapped up by Row K for $5.5 million-$7 million. However, that money is nowhere to be seen. Originally, Row K set a May 15 release date for the movie timed to the third season of HBO’s Euphoria, in which Apatow stars. But then, at the end of February, Row K pushed the college comedy starring Cooper Hoffman, Leslie Mann, Method Man and Nico Parker to October 16.
There was a bidding war to begin with on the WME Independent-sold Poetic License, so finding a new home for the festival crowd-pleaser shouldn’t be hard. Colligan was a big champ, we hear, of Poetic License.
The outgoing tide at Row K comes in the wake of its other TIFF pickup, Gus Van Sant’s Dead Man’s Wire starring Bill Skarsgård and Al Pacino, failing with a $2.2M take at the domestic box office. Row K reportedly shelled out $5M for North American rights and spent just under another $5M to market the pic and push it for Oscars. Dead Man’s Wire also was critically acclaimed at 92% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
The filmmakers went with Row K given their excitement to get the movie out quickly. We understand that the studio had to go fast with a theatrical release to raise interest among financiers for the rest of the slate. While Dead Man’s Wire screened for voters during the fall, it opened on January 9. How did it miss? Everyone involved in the movie found out late in the game that Skarsgård wouldn’t fully be available to promote the movie given he was shooting the movie Lords of War.
In regard to Row K’s money dilemma, particularly post-Dead Man‘s Wire, we were pointed to a statement from principals Christopher Woodrow and Raj Singh provided Friday: “Row K’s release of Dead Man’s Wire has provided an important opportunity to evaluate and refine our strategy as a new entrant building in a highly competitive marketplace. Like many early-stage companies, we moved quickly to establish a slate and are now taking a more measured, disciplined approach – prioritizing commercially viable titles, strengthening our internal infrastructure, and aligning our team accordingly.”
The arthouse business is tricky at the box office. Last fall saw the meltdown of several prestige titles including Smashing Machine, Kiss of the Spider Woman and Anemone. What’s hard for a newcomer like Row K versus say a studio classic label is that it’s an indie, making it an uphill battle to book their trailers in theaters before movies. When you’re a studio classic label, you don’t have to worry about booking trailers thanks to the strong-arm of the parent company.
Upcoming for Row K is the reboot of Cliffhanger on August 28. Starring Lily James and Pierce Brosnan and directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, we reported the deal as Row K’s biggest to date (we heard it was picked up for seven digits). There’s also the Emilia Jones-Nick Robinson romance Charlie Harper, which is set for September 25.
Variety first reported Friday evening about Row K’s financial meltdown. Colligan and her colleagues have tapped attorney Bryan Freedman to sort out the dilemma.
Entertainment investment company Media Capital Technologies, led by Woodrow and Singh, launched Row K Entertainment just prior to TIFF. MCT reportedly has a financial backer in MassMutual, however, exactly how that relationship is defined is unclear. Media Capital Technologies also co-funded Lionsgate’s 2024-2025 feature slate including movies such as Good Fortune and The Long Walk.
“As is standard in our industry, certain payments are scheduled in alignment with incoming receivables as part of prudent working capital management, and we remain in active communication with our partners to ensure all obligations are met in a timely fashion. Row K is well-capitalized, continues to support its existing projects, and is focused on long-term, sustainable growth with a clear emphasis on commerciality,” Woodrow and Singh said in a second statement. The duo didn’t provide further comment beyond the two statements.
Colligan is a storied motion picture industry veteran who long served as Paramount Pictures’ marketing czar from 2006-2017. She was the studio’s Worldwide President of Marketing and Distribution during a three-year period; from 2011-2014 she served as the Head of Domestic Marketing and Distribution, and as Co-Head of Domestic Marketing from 2008-2011. She spearheaded and was behind many of the studio’s campaigns for such franchises as Transformers, Mission: Impossible, Star Trek, Anchorman, G.I. Joe, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Paranormal Activity in addition to the Melrose lot’s Marvel business before Disney bought it (Iron Man, Thor and Captain America launched at Disney). Such efforts by Colligan spurred a $1 billion annual business for Paramount’s Home Entertainment division as well as several Oscars. Following her time at Paramount, she was the President of Imax from 2019-2023, cultivating their concert pic biz.
Rhim was the founder and CEO of the Advisory Collective. In addition she was Imax’s chief strategy officer and SVP of international digital marketing at Paramount. She began her career at Google as the company’s first head of industry for media and entertainment.
Carlson previously served as EVP and general manager of media, sports, and entertainment at MarketCast. He also founded social media analytics corp Fizziology, which was acquired by MarketCast in 2017.