‘Poker Face’ studio MRC ups Scott Tenley to CEO

Poker Face

US entertainment studio MRC has elevated chief business officer Scott Tenley to CEO of the company.

In his new role, Tenley will oversee MRC’s TV, film and non-fiction divisions, as well as strategic partnerships, and finance, legal, and HR functions.

The MRC Television division is behind titles including Ozark for Netflix, The Great for Hulu, the limited series The Shrink Next Door for Apple, The Terminal List for Amazon, and Shining Girls for Apple.

Tenley’s promotion comes just seven months after he negotiated MRC’s split from Valence Media to establish it as an independent studio. Under the new executive structure, MRC founders Modi Wiczyk and Asif Satchu have been named as chairmen.

MRC is also the studio behind Netflix film Fair Play, as well as Rian Johnson’s Poker Face, with Tenley leading the team that sold the crime drama series to Peacock. He was also involved in the deal to sell Saltburn to Amazon and to secure a second season of Prime Video’s The Terminal List.

During his time at MRC, Tenley has also helped secure billions of dollars of equity and mezzanine funding for the company, through partnerships including Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Eldridge.

H first joined MRC in 2007 from Katten Muchin Rosenman and has held several positions at the company, including president of business & legal affairs and operations and COO.

“Scott Tenley has a hand in nearly every single deal, every single accomplishment at MRC over the past 16 years. He has blazed trails in almost every facet of our business, from selling House Of Cards to Netflix to setting up The Academy of Country Music Awards on Amazon Prime Video, to ever-evolving credit facilities, equity arrangements and beyond,” commented Wiczyk and Satchu.