Film Regions International, Inc. (FRI)

11/20/2025

Inside Producers United, a collective fighting for the survival of TV and film producers in Hollywood amid rapid industry changes.

10/06/2025

John Blythe resigns as CEO of FRI
> Indie film company with Bonfire unveils restructuring; operational oversight handed to joint management team.

(LOS ANGELES, CA) Film Regions International, Inc. (FRI) announced the resignation of its long-time Chief Executive Officer John Blythe last week. Blythe, who originally co-founded the company in 2005 and spearheaded its incorporation in 2009 served both as CEO and a consultant to independent film producers. Blythe relinquishing the title as CEO came as a result of a special board meeting which entailed a corporate restructuring since Bonfire Entertainment entered into a joint venture/management sharing contract with FRI that occurred over the summer.

The former head of the company will be replaced by a newly created joint management team as Co-Executive Officers consisting of current FRI Co-Chairman Myron Ward who has been with the company since 2010; and Bonfire Entertainment Vice President/COO Eric Reingrover, who was also named Co-Chairman.

Ward expressed interest in stepping up to more management responsibilities since July and with his financial planning experience, will take on the task of revamping the indie film company’s strategic plan objectives and improving its balance sheet; and Reingrover has been taking the lead on Bonfire’s behalf on film production development and looking at outside working capital.

An external Chief Financial Officer will also be retained in the coming months to help oversee the company’s fiscal position and to assist in bridging the two.

Blythe will, however, continue as non-executive Co-Chairman and retain his seat on the company’s seven-member Board of Directors.

“This is a tough business, there is zero question about it, and we certainly thank John for his amount of time and dedication to building FRI into an independent film company,” said Ward. Reingrover echoed the same sentiments, “we hope that our plan will stabilize FRI’s operations and provide it to prosper into the future.”

“FRI can now draw from the team we have assembled and help lead the company through its next phase,” Blythe said in a statement. “As a shareholder, I firmly believe that this new team going forward will work to bolster FRI’s operational and financial strengths during an extremely challenging time in the film industry.”

Blythe’s track record as CEO in the past year and a half had been in question, and to appease company shareholders and debt holders, the Board voted to take him out of the chief executive position, in favor of more managerial and operational oversight handed jointly between FRI and Bonfire Entertainment.

Since 2024, under Blythe’s leadership FRI has struggled financially and compounded by a debt default, sought outside consulting assistance as it began to cut costs and develop a turnaround plan which included the following:

- Dramatically scaling back its film productions in development for 2025.
- Canceling underutilized contracts including one with the post-facility Finalé-Picture Shop in Vancouver, Canada.
- Re-negotiating existing distribution contracts such as those with Buffalo 8 where FRI’s current films have been underperforming financially.
- Contacting other indie companies in an effort to establish stronger joint venture ties and raise working capital equity.

This plan was adopted by FRI’s Board of Directors in the summer of 2024 in an effort to avoid slipping towards potential insolvency. After a second plan to garner shareholder support for working capital failed in January of this year, FRI began to explore the possibility of looking at another company to partner with, and Bonfire was selected as the alternative. The Board voted to approve its operational action plan which will also include revitalizing FRI’s production and distribution operations, finding working capital to improve its cash position and selecting specific films to put into production based on market trends and appeal.

In recent months Reingrover and Bonfire have been attempting to strike partnerships to finance or co-finance some of FRI’s pricier film projects such as the war action/drama “Beyond Mosul”. FRI should also have two available independent films “How to Kill Your Co-Workers” and its sequel “How to Kill Your Family at Christmas” in the coming months as well. “But the biggest task is getting these long-term film investment debts paid down,” said Ward.

And a slight cash flow turnaround after the end of the third fiscal quarter is evidence that the financial drain may gradually be plugged. FRI’s net position was "good enough so that the company was back in compliance with all requirements regarding its immediate contractual obligations, for now" said FRI board member Ron Puleio.

Nonetheless, it was apparent that debt holders had been getting anxious and were determined to see new management brought into the indie film company.

09/16/2025

“How to Kill Your Family at Christmas” will be holding its world premiere this weekend at the Hollywood HorrorFest International Film Festival!

09/06/2025

New teaser posters for the upcoming “How to Kill” dark comedy/horror series! “How to Kill Your Co-Workers” and “How to Kill Your Family on Christmas”! Both coming soon!

08/10/2025

Bonfire steps up commitment to FRI
> Action plan discussed and restructuring proposed in effort to begin turning indie film company around.

The year-long strain on Film Regions International, Inc. (FRI) may begin to finally turn around as Bonfire Entertainment committed to helping the independent film company succeed and turnaround financially as was discussed its recent quarterly board of directors meeting. Eric Reingrover, vice president of operations for Bonfire and who initiated the management joint venture contract between both indie film companies, answered questions from the board regarding its action plan moving forward:

- Continue to push for film financing on viable film projects through Bonfire’s relationships.
- Potential available FRI stock for equity capital investors to purchase.
- Consideration of selling undeveloped film assets which would free up cash flow to help reduce debt on its corporate balance sheet.

“We want to see FRI succeed financially and become a viable film company, as that has been the end goal since last year when we were informed of the problems” said Reingrover.

Since last year, FRI began to retrench and was forced to scrutinize its business plan, cut costs and figure out a way to raise working capital. The complete turnaround plan was in part a result of demands by FRI’s debt holders to begin realizing annual profits. The plan, adopted last year, included the following:

- Dramatically scaling back its film productions in development for 2025.
- Canceling underutilized contracts including one with the post-facility Finalé-Picture Shop in Vancouver, Canada.
- Re-negotiating existing distribution contracts such as those with IFC Films and Buffalo 8 that are underperforming financially.
- Contacting other indie companies to establish stronger joint venture ties and raise working capital and equity.

Reingrover points out that the latter on the turnaround plan is what brought Bonfire to FRI when initial plans for securing working capital at the beginning of this year had failed.

And evidence of a financial turnaround may finally see a realization as FRI’s second quarter financials ending June 30, saw net profitability for the first time since the company’s fiscal crisis hit last year.

FRI will schedule another special meeting to discuss a more in-depth proposed company restructuring which will include a concrete delegation of duties over FRI’s administrative, financial, production and distribution operations as Bonfire begins to step up its management partnership role. Initial plans to have a meeting in July did not transpire due to schedule conflicts and Chief Executive Officer John Blythe and Board Co-Chairman and Secretary Myron Ward were either out of town or unavailable at that time. But through a formal restructuring of the company, it will further solidify all expectations and share more authority to do what needs to be done.

06/26/2025

New review from iHorror on the upcoming “How to Kill Your Co-Workers and Get Away with It”.

https://ihorror.com/exclusive-first-look-at-how-to-kill-your-co-workers-and-get-away-with-it/?fbclid=IwY2xjawLJucFleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHn8iO1i5aKIHrzEpZclkz1yyjneUYgmPEqm9XHLqzpwXqVOuaRJIfe24Zczr_aem_Fpilvp5qM7QQ5tCHILdUZw

06/26/2025

New review from iHorror on the upcoming “How to Kill Your Co-Workers and Get Away with It”.

https://ihorror.com/exclusive-first-look-at-how-to-kill-your-co-workers-and-get-away-with-it/?fbclid=IwY2xjawLJucFleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHn8iO1i5aKIHrzEpZclkz1yyjneUYgmPEqm9XHLqzpwXqVOuaRJIfe24Zczr_aem_Fpilvp5qM7QQ5tCHILdUZw

How to Kill Your Co-Workers and Get Away With It is a dark comedy-horror film that blends office satire with twisted revenge fantasy. The

06/14/2025

Review for “How to Kill Your Co-Workers and Get Away with It” courtesy of iHorror !

How to Kill Your Co-Workers and Get Away With It is a dark comedy-horror film that blends office satire with twisted revenge fantasy. The

06/02/2025

Bonfire Entertainment enters joint contract with FRI for three years

The shareholders and debt holders of Film Regions International, Inc. (FRI) were recently briefed after the company’s quarterly board of directors meeting on May 21st that Bonfire Entertainment, will be entering into a contractual joint management relationship with FRI for at least the next three years. Like FRI, Bonfire Entertainment is also independent film company, but has proposed potentially greater resources that can help FRI stay afloat.

Facing severe financial setbacks, compounded immensely by defaults on film investment debts and cash flow shortages last year, FRI signed approved a contract with Bonfire last Wednesday evening. Moving forward, Bonfire will be involved with overall management including business, film financial development and production operations. Bonfire is headed by Steven Taylor and it is hoped that the new arrangement will eventually enable FRI to support itself by overseeing quality film production, which will also improve its finances.

“Unlike the previous advisors the Board has had, under this contract, it gives them (Bonfire) more directive and power” said FRI board member Ronald Puleio. “It was a tough decision, but we can’t keep spending money and going nowhere.”

Since 2024, FRI has been forced to scale back operations, canceling contracts and cutting film productions. “There may be fewer films this year, but we need to just get through all that and focus on turning the company around as a priority, all of the consultants have reiterated this” said Puleio. And such a turnaround now depends on the entire team with Bonfire being in place. Unlike some smaller independent film companies, FRI does have existing film library assets to monetize off of, it’s been a problem of the best distribution deals that are in place, which will be another item that Bonfire will further address.

The board and John Blythe, head of the company, will be backing off and leaving the initial operating plan to Bonfire. The diminished role of administration was reflected in CEO Blythe’s brief address “I want to thank the board for approving this contract… From my viewpoint, we really need the help, and it looks like a potential solution to a lot of problems.”

Some of FRI’s debt holders, though not present at the board meeting, were keenly interested in FRI’s arrangement with Bonfire and hopes it will generate funds sufficient to meet the production company’s debt obligations. “The debt on FRI’s balance sheet is concerning, but it’s a situation of tackling working capital and improving revenue” said board member Stephen Wu, who joined the FRI board last August. The 30-day transition with the company was triggered by debt holders “lack of results overtime” said Puleio.

Bonfire Entertainment however, was not recommended by FRI’s debt holders. Under severe financial constraints, FRI board members evaluated several options from asking shareholders for working capital stock. When that plan failed, the scenario of bankruptcy was even considered, until partnering with another company was discussed at length and reached out to Bonfire in February of this year for a proposal.

The company is expected to evaluate FRI’s situation over the next 30 days and present an action plan which will be further discussed and approved later in June.

04/20/2025

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/post-production-los-angeles-music-tax-incentives-1236190752/

As a new tally shows plummeting shoot days in Los Angeles, organizers gathered to strategize on ways to get postproduction and music incentives included in California's bill to boost the industry.

04/18/2025

Bonfire Entertainment, to establish joint venture management partnership with FRI

> Item to be a key topic at next quarterly board meeting in May.

(Los Angeles, CA) Film Regions International, Inc. (FRI) Board of Directors recently approved signing a letter of intent with another independent film company, Bonfire Entertainment, LLC to establish a joint venture partnership which will also include management services for an agreed upon period of time. Under the agreement, which is currently in the development process, this will allow both companies to not only collaborate on film productions, but will also enable Bonfire to help FRI stabilize its existing operations and develop strategic long range planning including film financing opportunities.

After a turbulent year of financial challenges and concerns addressed from company debt holders, FRI had preliminary discussions with Bonfire and eventually resulted entering into an LOI at a special board meeting on April 1st. The formal agreement with all stipulations and scope of services will require respective approvals of both companies. “This is the first phase in seeing what Bonfire can bring to the table to provide stability. After careful consideration, the board believes this is the best interest for FRI and entering into a joint venture management relationship allows the production company to set a new course and potentially for the independent side of the film industry” said Ronald Puleio, board member of FRI. “This does not constitute an official merger, but depending as to how things play out over the next year, it could develop into such in the future.”

An official merger would require both board and majority shareholder approval which co-chairman Myron Ward and co-chairman/chief executive officer John Blythe control 40% of the stock, the rest is owned by other shareholders.

Bonfire president/chief executive officer Steven Paul Taylor feels that this partnership will allow his team to bring experience to FRI in implementing strategies that can strengthen the production company over time with access to potentially greater resources and improve film production and services.

Based in Las Vegas Nevada, Bonfire Entertainment, like FRI, specializes in independent film production, sales and distribution.

FRI’s retention of Bonfire will be discussed at its next regular quarterly board meeting in May with a date and time to be determined.

04/08/2025

Huge congrats to our FRI alumni Ifa Isfansyah. He's been a filmmaking powerhouse in Indonesia and hit the Oscar shortlist for Best Foreign Language Film back in 2019! Glad to hear he is continuing to do bigger things!

Riri Riza, Mira Lesmana, and Ifa Isfansyah are developing 'Cubs,' a coming-of-age drama set against the backdrop of a gold mining town