Sherman Oaks-based indie prodco and distributor GRB Entertainment has rebranded and is now GRB Studios, with an expanded focus on worldwide growth and a renewed push into premiere content.
Scot Cru (pictured), who previously served as president of GRBâs international sales and distribution, has again been upped to president of the reorganized company. He will work with founder and CEO Gary R. Benz to push the company towards a greater international footprint and more partnerships and co-productions with other indies.
Cru immediately promoted Karen Pinto to EVP of production and Megan Reeves to SVP of development. Patrice Choghi, who Cru recently brought on as SVP of international, will continue in that role and run the companyâs international distribution and production arm.
Cru sees his role as president as a collaborative process, working alongside Benz and a small team who have their hands in everything. âIâm the president of the company, but weâre a very small company. We wear several different hats all throughout the day. Everybody in this company does,â says Cru, in an interview with realscreen. âI could be talking about a domestic format development weâre doing, and the next meeting we could be talking about acquiring 100 hours of somebodyâs great program out of the UK, so itâs all of those things, and Iâm running point. Iâm like the coach, and Garyâs the owner of the team, I guess.â
Cru joined GRB in July after 15 years working with Mark Burnett. He was quickly upped to the head role when a former lead executive departed the company.
âWeâre going to be maintaining our strengths in the core business that weâve been doing for years, which is great distribution of over 3,500 hours of content that we put through our distribution arm, and producing our award-winning series like [A+E Networks’]Â Intervention,â he says. âBut also looking at different ways to create new revenue streams. At the end of the day it all comes down to great content, and we want to expand our relationship with independent producers, not only here in LA but around the world.â
That independence is one of the main messages Cru wants to drive home. While smaller companies might get lost in the shuffle at larger studios, Cru wants GRB Studios to be home to those independent producers with great ideas who are ready to move on them now.
âWe can make quick, fair deals with producers, and then work aggressively with them to develop their content and get it out into the marketplace,â he says.
Heâs also keen to diversify content moving forward. âWeâve been very strong in the super high-end, Emmy Award-winning cable space, but we havenât been doing a lot of network. We havenât done a big shiny floor show, we havenât done big formats,â he says.
Cru remains mum about what specific projects we can expect from GRB Studios, though he hints that at least some of the new slate will be announced at the upcoming MIPCOM marketplace.
âWe are aggressively expanding our reach with celebrity-driven development projects and thereâll be some announcements coming out about those,â he says.
For now, the priority will remain on expanding while continuing what the company has been known for over its 30-year run.
âWeâre shifting our focus to be more inclusive and not so narrow-minded in what our output is. And thatâs the biggest takeaway from our rebrand to GRB Studios.â
ORIGINAL LINK:Â http://realscreen.com/2018/10/10/new-grb-president-scot-cru-talks-rebrand-global-expansion/