Taiwan Producer GrX Studio Launching $50 Million Asia Spring Fund

GrX Studio has set its sights on an international expansion that matches its leading position within Taiwan’s film and TV production industry.

At a fast-paced event on Monday held on the margins of the Busan International Film Festival, the company detailed plans to invest some $45 million over five years into 15 Mandarin-language series and five horror films through a new fund.

The launch event also included a roster of current shows from the group, which was formerly known as Greener Grass Productions. It was previously responsible for “Copycat Killer,” a series which has performed strongly for streaming giant Netflix.

Taiwan actor Ning Chang and Vietnam actor Lien Binh Phat from “The Outlaw Doctor,” a crime series which is now in post-production and which GrX co-produced with Public Television Service Foundation (PTS) and Chunghwa Telecom (CHT), and Korean celebrity Jinyoung and Taiwan actress Moon Lee from “The Photo from 1977.” The title is a romance film facilitated by the Hakka Affairs Council, with script development supported by the Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA) and is part-funded by the Hakka Public Communication Foundation.

Other titles confirmed at the event included: a horror film “Trapped in Yellow”; a boys’ love (BL) feature film “Wild With You,” produced by Golden Bell Awards-winning producer Phoebe Ma; and the thriller series “The Ones I Killed and the Ones Who Killed Me,” that is currently in development and is adapted from the popular Japanese novel by Akira Higashiyama.

An historical series set in Taiwan and Japan, titled “KOHAKU: The Traitor of the Night,” is to be directed by Lien Yi-chi and Kentaro Hagiwara. A story of reconstruction and imaginative thoughts about the future of the human race., the show is conceived as comprising eight 45-minute episodes. If it is successful, GrX envisages it running for three seasons.

GrX Studio will also distribute a reality food show ”Go! Go! Michelin” and handle international distribution of a recently launched Taiwanese and K-pop variety show “SCOOL.”

The $45 million fund initiative, known as ‘Asia Spring,’ is intended to further cement the company’s and Taiwan’s position as a growing hub for Asian co-production. “Through this initiative, we hope to invite exceptional filmmakers from various countries and regions to collaborate with us,” said strategy and chief investment officer Dennis Wu. Taiwanese companies are enjoying something of a renaissance as a source of Chinese-language productions for the Asian region at a time when many mainland China and Hong Kong firms are taking another direction and international streamers are unable to operate in the mainland.

Wu said that the current slate is unified around the themes of comfort, exhilaration and subversion. He said that the studio has a network of operations in Taiwan, mainland China and Singapore and next needs build out and stabilize its distribution network.