National Geographic takes Australian wildlife series Built to Survive global

Built to Survive is coproduced by Butter Media and Breslin Media

Disney’s National Geographic has secured a multi-territory rights agreement for Australian documentary series Built to Survive, coproduced by Butter Media and Breslin Media.

Under the deal struck by distributor Australian Children’s Television Foundation (ACTF), the Emmy-winning natural history series will be aired internationally on Nat Geo, excluding the USA, Latin America, France and Australia.

The series is currently being broadcast on Nat Geo in the UK, Turkey, Germany and South Africa, with other territories to follow.

The 10-part series was originally commissioned in Australia for the ABC and follows Indigenous educator, biologist and outback adventurer Phil Breslin, braving extreme conditions to search for the ultimate animal survivors.

Breslin coproduced the series with Butter Media’s Jerry Butterfield, Dan Walkington and Luke Williams, with the ABC’s Mary Ellen Mullane, Margaret Ross and ACTF’s Bernadette O’Mahony serving as executive producers.

The series received funding from Screen NSW, Screen Australia and the ACTF.

In further international deals ACTF has extended Netflix’s worldwide rights deal for Australian series MaveriX, produced by Brindle Films.

The motorcross racing drama series, filmed in the Northern Territory, was a co-commission for Netflix and the ABC and has until now aired exclusively on the ABC in Australia and on Netflix for rest of world. Under the revised deal struck by distributor ACTF, Netflix has now secured Australian and New Zealand rights for the series.