Christie acquires NHNZ from Blue Ant

New Zealand producer Dame Julie Christie has acquired a majority stake in factual prodco Natural History New Zealand (NHNZ) from Canada’s Blue Ant Media.

Dame Julie Christie

The company has now been renamed NHNZ Worldwide and will continue to be based in Dunedin, New Zealand.

Blue Ant Media maintains a minority stake and still retains the rights to NHNZ’s existing catalogue, as well as a minority stake in the company.

Christie will become NHNZ’s CEO while Sam Sniderman, co-president of global content production at Blue Ant, will represent the company on the board of directors.

Christie founded New Zealand’s Touchdown Productions, an international TV production company that sold unscripted formats into 30 countries, most notably The Chair, Miss Popularity and Treasure Island.

After selling the company to Eyeworks in 2006 she became CEO of Eyeworks New Zealand and Australia. This acquisition marks her return to the world of production.

Christie said: “NHNZ has achieved a great deal of success and is celebrated as one of the most respected natural history and factual production houses in the world.

“I love the documentary and natural history genres, and while they will continue to be the backbone of our production business, I am excited to build a slate of projects in other categories, as we expand into other production hubs around the world.”