was a Droider. I’m not a student of the cinema, but my neighbor managed the San Rafael outlet. I recently reached out to Mitch via email and phone and was unable to connect. And in fairness, had I reached him, he probably would have told me he couldn’t talk on the advice of counsel, as his legal woes are an ongoing tale. But if they make a movie of Lowe’s life, the elevator pitch would go something like Rocky meets The Wolf of Wall Street only with sweeter music. Lowe is the outsider who never went to college but loves films and understands how to reach people, along the way finding improbable success. But in the end, he migrates from a creative entrepreneur to someone living in the gray area between good intentions and the ends-justify-the means. And then he gets caught. In September 2024, Lowe pled guilty to one charge of securities fraud tied to his time atop the company MoviePass, which promised to allow its members to view unlimited movies in theaters for just $9.95 a month. He has a status conference this month in Miami which could determine just how long he will be a guest of Uncle Sam. Securities fraud is a federal beef. Lowe has agreed to cooperate with the feds in the hopes of knocking his sentence down, which could top out at five years. In a statement at the time, attorneys Margot Moss and David Oscar Markus said, “Mitch is a good man who is looking to move forward with his life. He has accepted responsibility for his actions in this case and will continue to try to make things right.” Lowe also faces a civil issue with the Securities and Exchange Commission over the same matter. As is standard practice, the SEC will wait for the DOJ to complete its case before pressing its own. A little perspective here. Lowe, who now calls Miami Beach and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico home, is 73, so moving into a federal prison for five years is not a little time out. The clock is ticking for him. In the word of the late great Dodger announcer Vin Scully, “He is day to day, but then again, aren’t we all?” And like anyone facing a possible prison term, Lowe needs to consider his family. He has a trio of grown kids and his wife of 37 years. Lowe’s current legal challenges spring from his tenure at MoviePass, a subscription-based company founded in San
Former Mill Valley Video Droid owner Mitch Lowe found success at Netflix and Red Box. M itch Lowe is truly the local boy who made good. He called Mill Valley home for a number of years and went on to be one of the founders of Netflix, the president of Redbox Inc. and the CEO of MoviePass Inc. He and his brother Mark also owned and operated the Video Droid chain, spanning 14 different locations in San Francisco and the North Bay. The video rental company was regarded as a gem by movie connoisseurs. It featured a mix of mainstream films, forgotten classics, indie productions and international flicks. The stores, however, were more than a deep library of films and snacks. The Droid boasted staffs of people persons and movie geeks. They were quirky centers jammed with everything from Sundance darlings to Hollywood masterpieces to genre defying stories to Japanese anime. Video Droid customers weren’t the run of the mill consumers looking for something to watch while scarfing popcorn. Those with Droid cards tucked snuggly in their wallets often were looking for something beyond the latest Hollywood blockbuster. They wanted the hard-to-find, the straight-to-video and films that required subtitles. And Mitch Lowe dug those folks. Lowe in fact ended up with the Video Droid chain through happenstance. He made a $20,000 loan to the owner of the chain, but when the loan couldn’t be repaid, he was in the videos business. A couple quick notes here. I knew Lowe a little from my days at the Mill Valley Record , the quintessential small-town newspaper where I covered everything from city council meetings to Little League parades, which at times were almost indistinguishable from each other. Lowe was a member of the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce and was more than generous with his time and insights on the community. He was affable, quick with a smile and a kind word, and a successful businessman. More full disclosure: I
MoviePass promised subscribers daily movie tickets for $9.95 a month.
40 NorthBaybiz
May 2025
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