Endemol Shine, Grylls in adventure-series pact with Stallone’s Balboa Productions

Bear Grylls, Sylvester Stallone and Sharon Levy

Endemol Shine North America (ESNA) and Bear Grylls’ The Natural Studios have forged a production partnership with Sylvester Stallone’s production company Balboa Productions to create “high-adrenaline, cinematic and genre-bending” adventure series.

Projects produced through the partnership will be executive produced by Grylls and Delbert Shoopman from Natural Studios, alongside Stallone, Kourosh Taj and Carrie Keagan from Balboa Productions and Sharon Levy and DJ Nurre from ESNA.

The companies have been working on “first-of-its-kind, hybrid unscripted series” that will be brought to the marketplace soon, according to Sharon Levy, chief content officer at ESNA.

Stallone said: “My goal has always been to push the envelope, not only in life but in all of my creative endeavours. Nothing is more satisfying than mixing the improbable with the incredible and creating the unforgettable. What we have planned is epic, beautiful and game-changing and I can’t wait for everyone to experience it.”

Grylls added: “It’s a complete honour to be working with the whole team at Balboa Productions. As possibly the most iconic face in the action space, Sly has long brought an injection of adrenaline to his roles and we envisage that energy being channelled into our development.”

ESNA is behind series such as Big Brother (CBS), MasterChef (Fox), MasterChef Junior (Fox), Wipeout (TBS), LEGO Masters (Fox) and the upcoming drama Ripley (Showtime).

The Natural Studios is a joint venture with ESNA’s parent company, Banijay. It is led by co-CEOs Grylls and Shoopman and has produced series such as Running Wild (Disney+), You vs Wild (Netflix), Ranveer vs Wild (Netflix) and the upcoming documentary Finding Michael (Disney+).

Balboa Productions’ credits include the feature films Samaritan (MGM/Amazon) and Rambo: Last Blood (Lionsgate), in addition to the feature documentary One Night: Joshua vs Ruiz (DAZN) and forthcoming TV series Tulsa King (Paramount+).