Is natural history perfect for a pandemic, with small crews in remote locations, or a logistical nightmare riddled with travel complications? By Clive Whittingham.

So many of the stereotypes of natural history filmmaking would seem to make it TV’s ideal genre amid the pandemic. Small crews in the world’s most remote locations, far away from centres of infection. Perfect.

However, before Covid-19 hit, the genre was already grappling with the contradiction of spreading the climate emergency message while flying people and kit around in jets. Add to that the headaches that come with quarantines and travel restrictions and it could turn into a costly nightmare.

“It’s both,” says Tom Hugh-Jones, creative director for natural history at UK- and US-based genre specialist Plimsoll Productions, the firm behind Night on Earth (Netflix) and Hostile Planet (Nat Geo). “Once you’re actually out on location, it’s probably the dream genre. However, I can’t think of another genre that has so many different trips to different countries to plan, which has proved a logistical nightmare.

“Quarantine is a huge factor. You’re often looking at it both when you arrive there and when you return to the UK. The costs are endless, really, but we have found a few workarounds. Using more local crews has been a real asset.”

Hugh-Jones does add, however, that the genre’s suitability for family co-viewing, at a time when many have been stuck in their houses longing for a connection to the natural world, makes it a worthwhile endeavour.

Carlyn Staudt, global general manager of Canada-based Blue Ant Media’s Love Nature, has also been grappling with the pros and cons of natural history’s economics. Her network has teamed with US pubcaster PBS on the Sean Bean-narrated Osprey: Sea Raptor, a blue-chip 1×60’ doc that wrapped production recently and is being taken out to buyers at Mipcom by Blue Ant International.

“If you look across the slate, we’ve been trying to diversify it into single-location shoots where you embed a small crew for a long period of time, because that’s where you can capitalise on the situation and isolate from the craziness of the pandemic,” Staudt says. “If you’re doing a multi-location shoot across the globe and flying crews in and out, that’s where it gets complicated. Making sure your programming slate is diverse enough and has enough different types of production has really helped us weather that storm.”

Sarah Cunliffe, founder and CEO of UK indie Big Wave (New Forest: The Crown’s Hunting Ground), says the small size of some crews has made it a “brilliant genre for Covid filming,” but adds that the company has struggled with travel restrictions that come, go and change at short notice.

“There is no doubt getting people around the world is a real challenge. We managed to get three international films made last year but it was hairy. Just as you thought you had access into Canada, it closed down, and that happened a lot. The costs of keeping everybody Covid-safe and quarantining are substantial as well. That could be the new way of the world. Remember you’re filming outside, though, so that’s another thing in its favour.”

Stephen Dunleavy, founder and CEO of Bristol-based Humble Bee Films, which delivered the ambitious Life in Colour for the BBC, Australia’s Nine Network and Netflix, adds: “When Covid first hit, I thought natural history would be really badly affected because of the travel. As time went on, we put some projects on ice and worked out how to get through. We do often film in quite remote places and if you can get good crew in those areas filming remotely you are away from big populated areas and could carry on.

 
“The dynamics of how Covid is spreading in different countries are changing all the time. As you begin to focus on a country in Africa that might open up and be successful, it can suddenly evaporate because of an outbreak.”

Ros Ali, senior VP of content sales for UK, Europe & Africa at Flame Distribution, says: “I don’t believe that natural history is the perfect genre for Covid times as invariably it requires international travel and when dealing with nature, changing of the seasons and inclement weather, shoots are unpredictable as it is, without the added issues posed by the global pandemic. The ability to travel the globe in these times is often threatened with unexpected restrictions coming into force, countries unexpectedly moving from the amber to the red list and borders being shut down, often with little warning. Add to that the cost of Covid testing and extra paperwork to fill out, budgets can be stretched even further.

“Local and smaller crews will be key, since working in a bubble will most likely be in play for a long time as indeed will be the requirement for regular Covid testing. On this basis crews on rota and perhaps backup crews might need to be considered. To reduce the need for travel, local location scouts could be used.”

Samuel Kissous, president of Paris-based indie Pernel Media, had a planned project for France 5, due to be filmed in the Brazilian Pantanal, fall through and be replaced with a domestic project on giant hamsters in Alsace. Who’s Afraid of the European Hamster? solved the travel issue, brought a quirky story filmed in a true crime style to screen, and will be distributed by Beyond. Production companies have been finding workaround solutions like this for 18 months, and it will be interesting to see how many become permanent fixtures in a genre that’s often at the forefront of innovation and new tech.

As Kissous says: “I don’t think of [Covid] as going away, that’s the problem. For a time, we thought it would be a pandemic, then it would stop. It doesn’t seem that it’s stopping. We have to learn to live and work with it somehow. Probably until a very high percentage of the population is vaccinated, it will come back again and again. We’re going to have to live with potential variants and moments in the year when the virus comes back.”

Local crews come up time and again when discussing natural history shoots in 2021 and beyond, bringing more diversity and solving issues around too much air travel and Covid restrictions in one go. But there are drawbacks and other suggestions too.

“We are digging deeper into who is positioned where, what their skills are, can they get kit,” says Humble Bee’s Dunleavy. “Some countries are limited in the specialist training that natural history camera operators tend to have. There will be occasions when you want your specialist camera operator filming bird flight, for instance. Where possible, we want to tap into local talent and help nurture them. It’s about trying to get a balance and put climate at the top of that.”

That need for a specialist affects this genre more than most. Big Wave recently completed The Great Hammerhead Stakeout for Discovery’s Shark Week, which involved setting up an underwater laboratory in a tent structure, where divers could live and work for a prolonged period. “In that scenario, we did move our specialist crew there and I wouldn’t have made that show without that expertise and people I trust to make it because it’s too hazardous,” says Cunliffe.

“We have been able to direct a number of contained shoots, with scientists in a lab, remotely. We were able to have remote access through Zoom and direct the piece like that. That’s definitely going to be a way forward in some situations.”

Hugh-Jones has been taking it a step further at Plimsoll. “The ability to operate cameras remotely is really exciting,” he says. “The tech to place cameras in a situation long term and have control of them from around the world is going to be a real game changer in what we can capture. That tech will allow us into difficult-to-access places and be there for longer to see those really rare moments and behaviours animals only display when they’re sure nobody is watching.

“In some ways, Covid has fast-tracked things that were always coming down the line, whether it’s the need to work with a greater diversity of people from around the world or reduce our carbon footprint.”

There are few better authorities in this area than Keith Scholey, a long-time BBC executive who left to form the now All3Media-owned Silverback Films in 2012 and has been behind hit series such as Our Planet for Netflix and, more recently, The Mating Game for BBC1.

“It’s been like chasing a wild horse for the last year and it’s all adding to the cost of the show. But it’s more about the wear and tear on people. Hotel quarantine is not something I would advise for your mental health,” he says.

“Local crews is a trend that’s here to stay. The industry will never be the same. Obviously, not flying all over the world is a good thing. All prodcos have become far more aware of their carbon footprint, especially in this area where we’re preaching change. Using drones instead of helicopters is good for that as well.

“The next round of stabilised miniature cameras will allow us to do big things. There are big developments around filming in the dark. But the main trend with all of these things is that it’s becoming cheaper. The cost of tech will not be a barrier soon, and that will change a lot. Throughout the developing world, people will be able to set themselves up in this space.”

Is natural history perfect for a pandemic, with small crews in remote locations, or a logistical nightmare riddled with travel complications? By Clive Whittingham.

So many of the stereotypes of natural history filmmaking would seem to make it TV’s ideal genre amid the pandemic. Small crews in the world’s most remote locations, far away from centres of infection. Perfect.

However, before Covid-19 hit, the genre was already grappling with the contradiction of spreading the climate emergency message while flying people and kit around in jets. Add to that the headaches that come with quarantines and travel restrictions and it could turn into a costly nightmare.

“It’s both,” says Tom Hugh-Jones, creative director for natural history at UK- and US-based genre specialist Plimsoll Productions, the firm behind Night on Earth (Netflix) and Hostile Planet (Nat Geo). “Once you’re actually out on location, it’s probably the dream genre. However, I can’t think of another genre that has so many different trips to different countries to plan, which has proved a logistical nightmare.
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