Blue Ant Studios’ rights division announced Monday several new original commissions from wildlife and nature brand Love Nature that are now available for licensing and pre-sales.
The studio unveiled the slate of greenlit natural history programming titles at the Sunny Side of the Doc international marketplace event happening this week in La Rochelle, France.
The recently commissioned series are being produced with “the world’s preeminent wildlife partners,” Blue Ant Studios says in a press release, including Australia’s Wild Pacific Media and WildBear Entertainment, France’s Films à Cinq, South Africa’s Lion Mountain Media, and the U.K.’s Passion Planet.
“We’re thrilled to be showcasing such high caliber content coming from Love Nature and Sunny Side is the ideal event for it,” Lilla Hurst, global head of acquisitions and content strategy at Blue Ant Studios, said in the release. “This market is a perfect example of our partnership with Love Nature and how we leverage all aspects of our production, distribution and channels businesses across Blue Ant Media.”
“Love Nature is committed to commissioning natural history content with world-class production partners supporting our business as a premium destination for modern natural history,” said Alison Barrat, senior vice president of production and development at Love Nature. “Sunny Side of the Doc is a key festival for connecting with established production companies as well as discovering emerging talent who bring fresh perspectives to natural history filmmaking.”
The new series include Pride Rules (working title, five episodes x 60 minutes), produced by Lion Mountain Media, which “takes audiences on a journey that reveals how iconic lion prides survive and thrive in the Chobe region of Botswana,” reads a description in the press release. Featuring stunning cinematography, the series examines the environmental challenges faced by the Chobe prides as well as the intricacies of pride dynamics.
Produced by Wild Pacific Media in partnership with broadcasters ABC Australia and ARTE France, The Kimberley (working title, three x 60 mins) “immerses viewers in The Kimberley, a barely-seen environmental wonderland and one of the wildest places on earth in the North-Western corner of Australia,” the release says. This biodiverse region, “where billion-year-old sandstone formations tower like cathedrals over rivers full of crocodiles and micro-predators hunt unseen among savanna grasses,” is captured by Australia’s most awarded wildlife and aerial cinematographers and using innovative filmmaking techniques, the release says. The series received production support from Screen Australia.
Reteti Elephant Rescue (working title, two x 60 mins) is produced by Passion Planet in association with co-production partner The WNET Group. “Set in the remote foothills of Northern Kenya, Reteti Elephant Rescue follows a group of orphaned elephants, all on different paths through rehabilitation. Nurtured by skilled Samburu women and the other orphans, each calf is on their own journey away from heart-break; through recovery, towards a triumphant return to the wild,” a synopsis says.
Produced by Films à Cinq and CAPA Presse in association with co-production partner ARTE GEIE, 13 Hours to Survive (two x 60 mins), filmed near Roscoff in Brittany, France, offers “an up-close look at the epic drama that occurs with the coming of each low tide,” the release says. As sea animals become trapped in tide pools, the natural order is overturned and a struggle for survival is unleashed, with the creatures having 13 hours to survive until the tide returns.
The final two greenlights announced are both produced by WildBear Entertainment. Planet Weird (working title, six x 60 mins), narrated by U.K. comic Ross Noble, “is a quirky, light-hearted celebration of the planet’s most bizarre creatures in the animal kingdom”, while Coral City (working title, four x 60 mins) features “stunning never-before-seen underwater footage of marine life, seascapes, and animal behaviors of The Great Barrier Reef.”
The new original titles will premiere on Love Nature worldwide and will roll out on Sky Nature in the U.K., Italy and Germany, in addition to premieres across co-commissioning territories. Blue Ant Studios’ rights division oversees licensing opportunities for new titles outside of commissioning territories.
Photo of Pride Rules, produced by Lion Mountain Media, courtesy of Blue Ant Studios.
