MUMBAI: Multimedia entertainment studio Electus, an operating business of IAC, has unveiled highlights of its scripted television programming slate. These include the priority titles from an ever-growing slate that will be brought to market at MipTV in Cannes, France, which begins on 1 April.

Electus? block of original scripted programming include: Marco Polo, the new martial arts epic about the thirteenth century explorer, chronicling the famous adventurer?s early years in the court of Kublai Khan; Casca: Based on the cult favorite book series by Barry Sadler, this action-adventure series follows Casca, a soldier who was cursed into a life of immortality by Jesus Christ on the day of the crucifixion.

Written, directed and executive produced by Wayne Kramer, The Lam is a dark drama set in modern day Chicago centered around The Lambert Arms, a full service hotel for criminals.

Written by Rod Lurie and Marc Frydman, The Crux is a drama whose revolutionary concept explores the mystery surrounding George Gabbler, a polished and enigmatic cult leader.

William the Conqueror is a historical epic series following the iconic French monarch through his rise to power and invasion of England in 1066.

Electus has also acquired the rights to distribute various successful international formats for global and domestic distribution, including:

Blue Natalie is a dynamic drama series centered around a family who runs a busy sex trafficking business out of their yacht (Blue Natalie) that is supposedly used to accommodate honeymooning couples, bar mitzvah parties and birthday celebrations.

Based of off of a successful Israeli format (DBS) created by Yuval Fridman, Yuval Semo and Ben Bachar, Zanzuri centers on Pini Zanzuri, an average family man who suffers a heart attack at a surprise party on his 40th birthday and discovers that every man in his family has died of a heart failure at that same age.

This new block of television programming includes original series concepts developed by Electus and its creative partners, as well as successful third party international formats that the studio has acquired for both international distribution and US production.

"From comedies and dramas to epic action/adventure series, our diverse set of scripted programming demonstrates our Company?s ongoing commitment to creating premium, creative content that resonates with TV audiences around the world," said Electus CEO Chris Grant. "We look forward to working with our domestic and international partners to bring these stories to life on a global scale."

MUMBAI: Ben Silverman‘s multimedia studio Electus, an operating business of IAC IACI, has announced that Chris Grant will join the company as CEO effective 1 November.

In his new role, Grant will take responsibility for the company‘s next phase of growth across Global TV, digital and branded entertainment.

Grant‘s strengths in advertising and international distribution,
acquisition and production will also serve as a launching pad for Electus‘ domestic television agenda.
 
Grant will report directly to founder Silverman who will continue to oversee all aspects of Electus including creative opportunities and expansion strategies amongst the company‘s studio partners CollegeHumor, Notional, DumbDumb, Electus Distribution, 5x5 Media, DiGa and myriad of television and digital projects.

Drew Buckley, COO of Electus will expand his role, taking responsibility for all operations including digital, advertising, finance, mergers and acquisitions and managing the company‘s Yahoo, Microsoft and Google relationships. Buckley will be partnered with Grant and will report directly to Silverman.

Silverman said, "With Drew Buckley and Chris Grant‘s individual experience, relationships and skill sets, Electus will continue to drive forward our ambitious content strategy across platforms as well as our overall vision to become the only true, nimble independent studio."

Grant said, "Once I join Electus, I expect to collaborate with Ben and Drew to aggressively seek out and acquire U.S. and U.K. companies who can create international productions that live and thrive on a variety of platforms and that can leverage Electus‘ distribution model."0

Grant previously served as Shine International president, the global sales and distribution arm responsible for distributing programming from the Shine Group companies, including Reveille, Kudos, Dragonfly, Princess Productions, Brown Eyed Boy, Shine TV, Shine France, Shine Germany, Shine Australia and Metronome, the Nordic region‘s production group.

During Grant‘s tenure at Shine International, non-scripted formats including MasterChef, The Biggest Loser, Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? and The Moment of Truth became global television brands, broke ratings records across multiple territories; while scripted successes have included The Listener, a successful co-production between NBC, Fox International Channels and CTV in Canada where the show is entering its‘ third season, and Archer, a hit FX series which, despite its adult animation format, has done exceptionally well all over the globe.

Earlier in his career, Grant was MD at Reveille, the production and distribution company focussing on exploiting worldwide intellectual property rights through scripted and alternative television formats that was founded by Silverman.