Judge Thomas M. Horan converted Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment and 21 affiliated debtors from chapter 11 to chapter 7 after the debtors made an oral conversion motion at the July 10 status conference. The conversion order makes the conversion effective immediately under Bankruptcy Code section 1112(a), ending the debtors’ debtor-in-possession control and moving the cases into trustee-administered liquidation.

The order requires the debtors to turn over estate records and property to the chapter 7 trustee, file a schedule of unpaid postpetition debts within 14 days, and file a final report and account with the U.S. Trustee within 30 days. A debtor representative must appear at the post-conversion section 341 meeting, and counsel must appear if requested by the chapter 7 trustee. For restructuring professionals, the practical shift is immediate: recoveries, asset monetization, postpetition administrative claims, and information flow now run through a chapter 7 trustee rather than a chapter 11 sale or plan process.