MIPTV Spotlight: GRB Entertainment

CANNES: Over the past few years, GRB Entertainment has been building up its scripted offering, and at MIPTV, the company is presenting Day 5, set in the aftermath of a fatal sleep epidemic.

In Day 5, Jake sets out with a scrappy teenager, an overnight doctor and a red-eye pilot to figure out what happened. “Day 5 capitalizes on the post-apocalyptic trend that has been so popular lately—if you fall asleep, you die,” says Michael Lolato, the senior VP of international distribution. “Just like in The Walking Dead, these people are obsessed with survival, making this great, high-anxiety drama.”

The company’s slate also includes Crunch Time, which Lolato calls “a great combination of sci-fi and comedy. It’s The Big Bang Theory on steroids (and not asteroids), following a group of young scientists who create a VR dream machine and in the process accidentally create a potentially world-ending black hole.”

Mohawk Girls, meanwhile, is a scripted dramatic comedy about four young Mohawk women who are trying to find two things: their place in the world and love. “We are expanding our scripted section with the addition of [these] three unique series,” Lolato adds.

GRB is also showcasing Arabia Motors, which brings viewers into a world of lavish lifestyles and motorheads. The show follows the partners of the most popular car magazine in the Middle East as they increase their readership and test-drive and profile cars in the region, from classics to luxury collectibles to the most expensive ones ever made. There’s also the roundtable interview series Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter.

“In addition to the great factual and unscripted content that GRB Entertainment is known for, we have begun distributing films,” says Lolato.