Grain Media, Oscar-Winning Doc House Behind Netflix Hit ‘Buy Now,’ Restructures and Expands Development Hub (EXCLUSIVE)

variety.com:

Alex Ritman Grain Media, the two-time Oscar-winning British documentary company behind acclaimed titles such “The White Helmets,“ “Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl)” and “Virunga,” has restructured its operations in order to weather the ongoing challenges facing the doc world and, it claims, continue to make the sort of socially conscious films it’s renowned for.

Grace Labs — the development hub that sits within Grain and is funded by philanthropist Jorge Villon — is set to expand with several key hires.

Grace, which until now has primarily focussed on projects connected to environmental and biodiversity, will now become the home for all of Grain’s socially-conscious filmmaking, which will also adopt Grace’s strategy of positioning each concept in a more commercially-focussed manner to appeal to commissioners. “We make films about issues that we believe are important,” says Grain co-founder Orlando von Einsiedel. “But they’ve become very hard to get commissioned, so what we’re doing is taking that model with Grace Labs and expanding it significantly.

I think we’ve now got a better idea of how to make those same films about those same issues, but in a much more globally appealing way.” For von Einsiedel, it’s no longer about pitching a “really important film about the climate crisis,” but to pitch films that are “thrillers, conspiracy stories, action movies and survival stories.” The expansion and greater role of Grace Labs within Grain should allow it to “scale up” its output, says Grace creative director Chloe Leland. “With the scaling up of the development hub that should lead to an increased number of commissions,” she says. “It also allows us to increase the volume of commissions because we’ll.