Upsized Taiwanese producer, GrX Studio, is building upon the success of "The Victim’s Game" and "Copycat Killer" to roll out a studio/hub model it says will enable producers to expand and find new stories, markets and audiences across the region and – if all goes according to plan – beyond.

 

The Victim’s Game was something of a turning point for Taiwan’s GrX Studio – in more ways than one. 

The series, about a forensic detective with Asperger’s syndrome and a bloodthirsty reporter turned public relations rep, was Netflix’s first Chinese-language series renewal.

Season two, which premiered in June 2024 four years after season one ended, drew the original 2020 season back into Netflix's country top 10 rankings in the show’s top four markets – Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Vietnam.

The series return didn’t expand its footprint beyond those four markets, according to Netflix’s published data.

But fans nevertheless say the season two ending paves the way for a third season (no confirmation on a renewal as of mid-August) to follow other stand-out made-in-Taiwan shows, like GrX’s Copycat Killer, which hit Netflix’s global non-English top 10 for two weeks, and, soon, The Outlaw Doctor.

While The Victim’s Game and Copycat Killer drove eyes on Taiwan's production community, the shows have also paved the way for GrX’s upsized ambitions and outreach across the region. 

Founder Hank Tseng and CEO Phil Tang are positioning GrX, which incorporates Greener Grass Productions, for bigger things, led by a studio structure and a “hub” model that connects creators, investors, distributors across languages and geography. 

Tseng highlights GrX ambitions to bridge East and West.    

To this end, Tseng and Tang have expanded GrX's leadership team, forged regional alliances, and are building on initiatives such as the biennial script pitching initiative, Wild Grass Project, where blockbuster feature film, Marry My Dead Body, was originally pitched. 

Pitching for the fourth edition of the Wild Grass Project takes place at the end of September this year.

More than 1,000 scripts, including English-language scripts for the first time, were received from around the world by the May 2024 entry deadline. 

As they move from production house to studio, Tseng and Tang also speak about broadening the stories they tell, a focus on mainstream drama and narratives, taking note of global trends, and building out regional as well as international distribution networks.

Countries on GrX’s immediate radar are Vietnam, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore and Indonesia.  

"Audiences can find good content anywhere. We are in competition with productions from all over the world," Tang says. 

Yet, he acknowledges, while "the global challenge is the same – everyone wants a bigger audience – the conditions are not the same". Scale and budgets in particular. 

"For us, we already make good content for Taiwan. For Mandarin content, we have China, Singapore and Malaysia. But our market is not that big. The challenge is how to scale this content," Tang says. The solutions include international partnerships and alliances. 

In July this year, GrX appointed veteran entertainment execs Dennis Wu as strategy and chief investment officer and writer Shing Ming Ho as chief creative director.

Ho talks about the “new industrial revolution” of AI, and finding solutions to this challenge in developing creative talent, “crossing borders and breaking boundaries”.  

This multi-culture approach was evident in The Victim’s Game season two, which, along with returning cast members, starred Japanese actor Dean Fujioka and Hong Kong’s Lau Chun-him Terrance.

Whatever its current shifts and cutbacks, streaming has irrevocably changed viewing habits and tastes.

Tang speaks about building on GrX's streaming-based learnings, including embracing new genres.

"The Victim's Game. Copycat Killer. These were very good experiences for us. If we have good stories, we can find audiences in other places," he says.  

"We can have different genres... just like BL (Boys' Love). These stories have found their audience, not only in Taiwan, but also in Thailand and Japan.

Tang also talks about cross-regional strategic co-operation, injecting different cultural elements, and using multiple languages in series such as upcoming medical crime drama, The Outlaw Doctor, starring Taiwan’s Janine Chang (The Psychologist) and Vietnam’s Lien Binh Pha (Running Man Vietnam). 

The Outlaw Doctor in an alliance with Taiwanese public broadcaster, Public Television Service (PTS), with investment from Taiwan’s Chunghwa Telecom. The 10-episode drama was filmed in Vietnam with a cast drawn from the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and India.

Tang says 60% of the series is in English. “In future, we will produce all English works. It’ll be starting from Taiwan and forward to challenging the international market,” he says. “Everyone wants something new,” Tang says. “We know that.”

▶ Published in ContentAsia September 2024 magazine