Stacy Spikes | |
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![]() Stacy Spikes | |
Born | Houston, Texas, U.S. |
Occupation(s) | CEO and Co-Founder, MoviePass |
Organization | MoviePass |
Stacy Spikes is an American entrepreneur and inventor. He holds several business and technical patents. He is the co-founder of the subscription service MoviePass and founder of Urbanworld, an international festival dedicated to nurturing Women and BIPOC storytellers and Creators. A former film marketing executive and producer, Spikes has held senior executive roles at Motown Records, Sony Music Entertainment, Miramax Films, and October Films.[1]
Spikes is from Houston, Texas.[2] His father was a school principal and his mother hosted a public-access TV show.[3]
After high school, he relocated to Los Angeles, where he lived with an uncle and worked a blue-collar job before entering the entertainment industry at Motown Records.[3] By 1995, Spikes was working at Miramax Films and had been promoted a number of times before reaching the position of vice president of marketing.[3] By 1996–97, Spikes was senior vice president of marketing at October Films.[4]
Spikes founded Urbanworld Film Festival in 1997.[5] The festival celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2021.[6] and is held annually in New York City.[7]
In February 2011 Spikes launched MoviePass along with co-founder Hamet Watt. In October 2012, the company introduced a new business model that used proprietary location-based payment technology.[8] Robert De Niro was an early supporter for MoviePass.[9] After it was acquired by Helios and Matheson Analytics, he was fired from the company in January 2018.[10] MoviePass filed for bankruptcy in 2020.[11]
In 2021, Spikes bought the company out of bankruptcy and relaunched it in Fall 2022. Approximately 30,000 people registered on the pre-launch waitlist within five minutes of the announcement, causing the MoviePass website to crash.[12] The new iteration of MoviePass has three subscriber tiers: basic, standard or premium.[13] The Financial Times commented that "In the roll call of terrible business ideas, MoviePass ranks alongside the Sinclair C5, Juicero and The Soup Tube."[14]
Stacy Spikes memoir Black Founder, The Hidden Power of Being an Outsider was published in February 2023, and chronicles Spikes' career.[15][16]
Spikes was the executive producer for Punks,[17] The Visit, King of the Jungle,[18] Higher Ed (2001), For da Love of Money (2002), and the TV movie Urbanworld Film Festival Special (2004).[19]
He received a “Made in NY Award” from Mayor Bloomberg in 2011 for his work with the Urbanworld Film Festival.[20]