02/07/2026
FRI holds annual shareholders and first of year board meeting
> No dividends declared; 2026 plan adopted, addresses need for financial solvency
(Los Angeles, CA) Film Regions International, Inc. (FRI) held its annual shareholders meeting and first of year board of directors meeting on January 29th. The main issue at the shareholders meeting centered around the company’s film debts with several shareholders and debt holders inquiring about the plan moving forward into 2026 and whether these debts can be restructured. Details of a potential restructuring of the debts were briefly addressed by Myron Ward, co-chairman/co-chief executive officer, who submitted his annual report to the shareholders. However, any plan for restructuring the company’s debts remains dependent on the working capital the independent film company needs. “If a new consortium of investors were to come into FRI and with an understanding for basically starting with a clean slate, it would be phenomenal, but it’s up to any potential new investor to decide,” said Ward.
The debts have been concerning for the past two years as they have grown on FRI’s balance sheet, while its revenues have been declining. FRI’s debt holders blamed financial problems on former chief executive officer John Blythe for failing to meet its turnaround projections last summer, which resulted in a management restructuring with Bonfire Entertainment and Blythe resigning as CEO, though he remains on the company’s board of directors. “The plan forward is to strategically deal with not only the debts but continue to oversee see the company’s potential growth which will of course improve its bottom line so the board can finally start paying out dividends,” said Ward. FRI’s board voted not to declare any dividends for fiscal year 2025 due to a net loss of $5,482.
Ward, along with Bonfire’s vice president Eric Reingrover, took the management reigns in September sharing the co-chief executive officer title with the task of turning the small indie film company around. Reingrover also submitted an annual report to the shareholders re-enforcing a need for financial solvency and has been working to seek out potential investors through recently revised FRI stock term sheets, since some of the company’s shares had been relinquished.
Next month, FRI is set to prepare its 2025 audit with its accountant Debbie Stonebarger, and thus far, FRI appears to not be in any imminent danger of insolvency, though the company has for now been depending on existing shareholders equity contributions to remain operational into fiscal year 2026.
In other business at the shareholder meeting, the shareholders elected three incumbent board members for the 2026-2027 term: Reingrover, along with Raaj Rahhi and Stephen Wu will be returning to their respective seats on the company’s seven-member board of directors, having all been previously appointed due to vacancies on the board in the past year.
After adjourning the annual shareholder meeting, the first of the year board of directors meeting convened. The previously mentioned net loss for fiscal year end 2025 was reported to the board, which was an improvement from fiscal year end 2024, however Ward further addressed that working capital must be a priority for 2026. Board member Michael Russo inquired about why the net loss for 2025 had been reported, which board member John Blythe responded that these were mainly due to third party contract payouts and items that were previously not budgeted for which the board had modified and approved at the meeting in December. An interim external chief financial officer through SCORE was also announced. Robert Pettit is a retired finance executive based in Nashville Tennessee with experience in accounting, strategic financial planning and capital management, and will be utilized on an as needed basis until FRI can retain a more regular part-time external CFO.
FRI’s focus on the film production front for 2026 includes three films in active development: “Beyond Mosul”, “Naked Zombie Girl” and “Our Amityville Horror”, all of which had shown some progress in the past few months in the development phase and trying to move those into production hopefully this year. It is anticipated that FRI’s previous completed films “How to Kill Your Co-Workers” and its stand-alone sequel “How to Kill Your Family on Christmas” will also see distribution this year as well.
The board voted to adopt its 2026 business plan which included carry over priority items from 2025 that were still in process, but also with an emphasis on a goal of selling FRI’s remaining stock to outside investors; a slate of three to five films a year that are commercially viable and grow FRI’s existing filmed entertainment revenues. The board also voted to adopt its fiscal year 2026 budget with two scenarios, one with its status quo mandated expenses, and a second scenario with the working capital needed earmarked specifically for recommended expenditure action items that had been previously brough to the board’s attention by SCORE consultant Veeresh Devireddy and additional input by interim CFO Pettit. The board voted to adopt both scenarios subject to modification as needed.
In other business, the board also voted to acquire relinquished shares, which should hopefully entice future investors in seeing the company’s available stock; and the board voted for its 2026 board officers with Ward and Reingrover maintaining their positions as Co-Chairs of the Board; and Blythe serving as Secretary/Treasurer of the Board.
Prior to adjourning the meeting, the board also went through a Governance and Compliance Overview, so board members and company officers understand their respective legal and fiduciary responsibilities to the corporation and the need to begin a new three year strategic plan which Ward and Reingrover will schedule a future executive team meeting to begin this discussion and bring it back to the board for input and approval.
