KUALA LUMPUR, April 25 — YouTube filmmaker Jared Lee’s production company Grim Film has been acquired by PR agency SLPR worldwide.

This comes after Lee’s animated short Horologist was selected for the 2023 Cannes Short Film corner and won the Best Animation award at the 2023 San Diego International Independent Film Festival.

SLPR will be also investing RM15 million in high-tech video production over the next five years to improve the quality of its content.

The acquisition was marked by a MoU signing ceremony involving Lee and SLPR Worldwide senior partner and group chief operating officer Leon Tang.

According to Tang, Grim Film’s creative and engaging stories will be able to produce ‘enriched narrative and visual content’ to improve its campaigns.

"This collaboration represents the next step in Grim Film’s evolution since our inception in 2011,” Lee said in a statement.

"Together, I believe we can provide brands with a complete solution, where films are not just produced, but fully optimised to resonate with their target audience.”

Speaking to Malay Mail, Lee said that the new chapter for Grim Film will hopefully allow him to focus on Intellectual Property (IP) development while his team handles commercial work.

"Currently I have two (IPs) in development which if I could I want to spend more time on. The plan is also to not just have movie IPs, we're looking at manga, animation, web series and TV shows,” the filmmaker said.

Lee also wants to eventually add a talent arm as his company did not have the manpower to do so.

He said signing in-house talents ‘made more sense’ as they’ve been working with established brands for social media campaigns.

Grim Film was started by Lee in 2011 as a YouTube channel where he uploaded his short films and comedic skits. It grew into a production house that specialised in corporate and commercial clients.