{"id":10870,"date":"2018-01-24T10:48:41","date_gmt":"2018-01-24T15:48:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/grb-entertainments-michael-lolato\/"},"modified":"2018-01-25T09:42:22","modified_gmt":"2018-01-25T14:42:22","slug":"grb-entertainments-michael-lolato","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/grb-entertainments-michael-lolato\/","title":{"rendered":"GRB Entertainment\u2019s Michael Lolato"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michael Lolato, the senior VP of international distribution at GRB Entertainment, sat down with <\/em>TV Real to talk about the trends he\u2019s seeing in the factual space, including a continued appetite for crime, paranormal, automotive and more.<\/em><\/p>\n

Long before Netflix\u2019s Making a Murderer<\/em>, GRB Entertainment was thriving in the true-crime space. The company, which is an established force in the factual world as both a producer and distributor, continues to do so, with paranormal and automotive also carving out strong positions in the marketplace.<\/p>\n

TV REAL: <\/strong>Which factual genres are currently trending, and which titles are performing particularly well for GRB?
\n\"***Image***\"LOLATO: <\/strong>Crime is still on top. It\u2019s the juggernaut that just keeps going, which is great because GRB Entertainment has over 700 hours of crime programming and there has been, over the last year, an even bigger increase in demand. We have a new show called The Stalker Files<\/em> that\u2019s going to be premiering on REELZ on January 27. We\u2019ve heard about all of these famous stalker stories and they\u2019re always centered on big celebrities. The first episode is about Madonna and her stalker in 1995. Everybody remembers a man was stalking her, we all heard about it on the news, but the interesting twist is that The Stalker Files<\/em> follows two timelines\u2014there\u2019s Madonna releasing her album and touring, and there\u2019s her stalker, listening to her album in his home as he hangs pictures of her on his wall. We see both timelines progress until they converge with the stalker leaping the fence onto Madonna\u2019s property and telling her bodyguards that he will marry Madonna or he\u2019ll slit her throat. You suddenly realize that this is real life, this is not just, \u201cAw, poor Madonna, you have a stalker.\u201d This is, \u201cMy life is threatened and I have to go to court to stop it or I could die.\u201d The show also covers Steven Spielberg, Gwyneth Paltrow and other big names. That is GRB\u2019s top show in the crime space right now.<\/p>\n

Paranormal still hits hard in a lot of different countries, and it\u2019s starting to take off again. It had plateaued for a period of time, but it\u2019s taking off for us in a new way. Our biggest hit for three years in a row has been Monsters & Mysteries<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Automotive has also made a big comeback and we have a couple of shows that people cannot get enough of. We launched Arabia Motors<\/em> in 2017 and it\u2019s been ramping up. It\u2019s beautiful to watch because not only is it filmed in the Middle East, where there are gorgeous views, we also see Lamborghinis that are worth $5 million. There are 20-car garages with Monet paintings and chandeliers and gold floors. On the show, the company that publishes the motor-sport magazine Arabia Motors<\/em> brings in a social media expert and they work together to expose the world of luxury cars. It\u2019s fascinating and luxurious.<\/p>\n

Another popular trend in factual is male-oriented programs in the science space, including weapons shows and shows with action. These types of programs have seen a big resurgence lately. Man at Arms<\/em> airs on El Rey Network in the U.S. Danny Trejo is the host, and the show takes weapons that come from fiction\u2014movies, comic books, TV shows\u2014that aren\u2019t real and brings them to life. Swordsmiths actually make these fictitious weapons using the technology that would have been available at the time the book or movie takes place. When they\u2019ve finished, martial arts experts test these weapons. The interesting thing is, even though you\u2019ve got a ninja warrior in a book who\u2019s killing people with the fictional weapon, when these experts actually go to use the weapons, a lot of times they\u2019ll cut their arms and say, \u201cNo, this doesn\u2019t work in real life.\u201d Man at Arms<\/em> brings together history, weaponry and martial arts. It\u2019s a big one for us and it really fits in the male space.<\/p>\n

TV REAL: <\/strong>Is selling to digital platforms becoming a bigger focus for GRB? Is there space on these platforms for factual content?
\nLOLATO: <\/strong>Yes and yes! As everybody knows, the word \u201cdigital\u201d is now different from the word \u201cdigital\u201d even a year ago. I take my hat off to the Amazons, Netflixes and Hulus in the U.S. that have literally now become \u201canother network.\u201d For us, selling to them is just like selling to linear channels, and they are definitely players in the market.<\/p>\n

Absolutely there is room for factual on these platforms. In fact, what we\u2019re finding now is that as people go to these digital platforms, what\u2019s starting to really pop is the factual programming. GRB has just entered into its second year of a three-year deal with Netflix for several factual titles. Typically, two years ago, you went to Netflix for a certain drama or a certain scripted series, and you didn\u2019t think about watching a food show or an automotive show or a crime show, but now these types of shows are getting great numbers on these services. We deal with digital platforms around the world and it\u2019s interesting to see that similar [genres within the factual space] are popular across the board.<\/p>\n

So, yes, absolutely there is room for factual. That\u2019s the beautiful thing about digital platforms\u2014there is enough room and you\u2019ve just got to find the right titles and the good content, which we have!<\/p>\n

TV REAL: <\/strong>Is there anything you\u2019re currently on the lookout for in the marketplace?
\nLOLATO: <\/strong>We definitely want to continue in our strengths such as crime and paranormal. We are also building out our scripted catalog. Scripted is big and risky, so we\u2019ve latched onto some unique, niche scripted series that do very well, and we\u2019re delving into more of that type of programming.<\/p>\n

TV REAL: <\/strong>What are your goals for GRB in the year ahead?
\nLOLATO: <\/strong>We aim to continue our progress with strong acquisitions and sales. Additionally, GRB has a production side. We are famous for making Intervention<\/em> for A&E and Untold Stories of the E.R. <\/em>for Discovery and other productions, so another goal is to continue to produce in these spaces.<\/p>\n

The next phase for us will also involve chats we have been having about developing our own digital channels, as well as working with others on co-productions. Since we work on the international side and the world is getting smaller\u2014as are the television and production communities\u2014there are far more opportunities to start working together, so that is going to be a bigger focus. We\u2019ve started [in that direction] already because there\u2019s a lot of great talent out there, and as budgets are getting tighter and tighter, we need to start pooling resources.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The company’s senior VP of international distribution discusses the trends he\u2019s seeing in the factual space.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":477,"featured_media":10871,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[67,69],"tags":[170,2709],"class_list":["post-10870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-interviews","category-top-stories","tag-grb-entertainment","tag-michael-lolato","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\nGRB Entertainment\u2019s Michael Lolato - TVREAL<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/grb-entertainments-michael-lolato\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"GRB Entertainment\u2019s Michael Lolato - TVREAL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The company's senior VP of international distribution discusses the trends he\u2019s seeing in the factual space.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/grb-entertainments-michael-lolato\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TVREAL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-01-24T15:48:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-01-25T14:42:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2017\/07\/2018-01-24-Michael-Lolato.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"320\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"170\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sara Alessi\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sara Alessi\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/grb-entertainments-michael-lolato\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/grb-entertainments-michael-lolato\/\",\"name\":\"GRB Entertainment\u2019s Michael Lolato - TVREAL\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-01-24T15:48:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-01-25T14:42:22+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#\/schema\/person\/3a30a856ec6d9cc2372bf054d26a0418\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/grb-entertainments-michael-lolato\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/grb-entertainments-michael-lolato\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/grb-entertainments-michael-lolato\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"GRB Entertainment\u2019s Michael Lolato\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/\",\"name\":\"TVREAL\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#\/schema\/person\/3a30a856ec6d9cc2372bf054d26a0418\",\"name\":\"Sara Alessi\",\"description\":\"Sara Alessi is the associate editor of World Screen. 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