National Geographic teams up with Will Smith’s Westbrook for factual content

Disney-owned US factual cablenet National Geographic has signed a five-year first-look deal with Will Smith’s Westbrook Studios for adventure, exploration, travel and science content.

Will Smith (photo: Max Morse/TechCrunch via CC)

Nat Geo is already working with Smith and Westbrook, along with film director Darren Aronofsky and Jane Root’s prodco Nutopia, on doc series Welcome To Earth, which will premiere on the Nat Geo section of global streamer Disney+.

The series sees Smith embark on a global journey to unlock the secrets of unexplained natural phenomena. In each episode, Smith is guided by National Geographic Explorers on experiences including climbing into a live volcano and traversing giant waterfalls.

Nat Geo content president Courteney Monroe made the announcement during her network’s virtual summer TCA press tour session.

Monroe said: “Will and Westbrook share our passion for telling bold, best-in-class stories that ignite curiosity and inspire people to explore and care about our world, and we can’t wait to see where our next adventures together take us.”

Westbrook Studios co-president and head of television Terence Carter and Alan Eyres, senior VP of development and production for National Geographic, spearheaded the first-look deal.

Elsewhere in the TCA presentation, three new unscripted series greenlights were unveiled, including an extension to the network’s long-running Life Below Zero franchise.

Life Below Zero: First Alaskans is billed as the first non-fiction series on Nat Geo with a cast of native Alaskans at its core, including representation on the production team. BBC Studios’ LA production arm will begin work on the series in September.

The 7 Toughest Days on Earth features survivalist Dwayne Fields, the first black Briton to conquer the magnetic north pole, as he aims to survive the most extreme elements on the planet. Root’s Nutopia is again working with Nat Geo on this project, with production beginning in winter 2021.

In addition, BBQ pitmaster and former US Navy veteran Big Moe Cason will hit the road to explore rare flavours only found in remote locations around the world in Appetite for Adventure. Hit + Run, the prodco behind Nat Geo Wild’s Critter Fixers: Country Vets, is producing with Rob Shaftel exec producing.

All three of these series will also have a second window on Disney+.

Courteney Monroe

A third season of its black market exploration series Trafficked With Mariana Van Zeller has been greenlit in advance of the show’s second-season premiere in December 1. Filming begins in the autumn, with episodes continuing to stream the day after their linear debut on Disney-owned streamer Hulu. US indie Muck Media is the prodco

Nat Geo is also working on a new three-part original docuseries from Alex Honnold, the star of its Oscar-winning feature doc Free Solo.

On The Edge with Alex Honnold is being produced by UK indie Plimsoll Productions for the Nat Geo strand on Disney+ and sees Honnold embark on a lifelong dream – a climbing quest across the remotest and toughest walls and peaks of Greenland, a country on the front line of the climate crisis.

Finally, Nat Geo’s Field Ready Programme, which aims to promote diversity and inclusion in production by providing clear career paths for a new generation of behind-the-camera talent, is being expanded following its launch in 2020.

Last year, the programme made the move to digital mentorship and will continue this six-month digital learning and mentorship scheme between 10 mentees (National Geographic explorers) and 10 mentors (Nat Geo production partners).