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LONDON — Nutopia, the shingle formed by former Discovery and BBC topper Jane Root, hopes to cement its reputation for ambitious docus aimed at the international market with its new commission for History, whose working title is “Mankind: The Story of All of Us.”
Greenlit by the U.S. web, the 12-hour show will debut later this year, with different versions made for individual local markets, a first for History.
The channel, which has reinvented itself by screening more reality shows and fewer traditional history programs, claims worldwide distribution of more than 300 million homes.
The new project kicks off with the Big Bang and traces the development of humans on a planet where most species end up extinct, said Root.
She described the show as a “real action-adventure,” encompassing astronomy and geology as well as the history of mankind.
Planned as a 12-hour, six night TV event, the docu is produced by the same team as “America: The Story of Us,” led by executive producers Root and Ben Goold.
Screening is planned for later this year.
Filming is up and running in such locations as China, South Africa, Morocco and the U.K.
Root said: “There is a huge appetite throughout the world for documentaries such as this that tackle the biggest subjects on our planet in an entirely new epic style that combines extraordinary drama, CGI and interviews.”
Nancy Dubuc, prexy and general manager, History, added: “‘Mankind: The Story of All of Us’ has the same spirit of bold storytelling that made ‘America the Story of Us’ such a phenomenal success. But this time we’re going even bigger.”
Nutopia is currently prepping upcoming Discovery skein “How We Invented the World,” a five-part show examining technological breakthroughs such as the automobile and the cell phone, and also localized for individual markets.
By Steve Clarke
Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com
By DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — After its successful series on the history of America in 2010, television’s History channel is setting its sights even higher.
The network said Tuesday that a 12-hour miniseries, “Mankind the Story of All of Us,” will debut late this year. History, seen in more than 300 million homes worldwide, will offer different versions of the series in different parts of the world, the first time it has ever done that.
“America the Story of Us” hadn’t even concluded when History executives, impressed by its ratings, began talking about what to do next, said Nancy Dubuc, the network’s president and general manager.
“Rather than take a slice of the America story and do something more in depth on that, we decided to go bigger and broader,” she said.
The “America” miniseries was the most-watched special ever on History, with 5.7 million people watching the first episode and nearly 40 million people in total watching some part of it, the Nielsen ratings company said.
The new series starts with the Big Bang and traces the development of humans on a planet where the vast majority of species go extinct, said Jane Root, the project’s executive producer.
Root described it as a “real action-adventure” project, one that encompasses astronomy, geology and other sciences along with history. It will make liberal use of computer-generated recreations in its storytelling, she said.
The series traces the development of tools and the construction of the pyramids. Root said the production tries to make viewers aware of what it felt like, for instance, to set sail for distant lands on a ship when the common belief was the world was flat.
Root said she was surprised to discover the amount of connections among cultures in ancient times, like when Vikings visited China and fought with people in what is now Canada, each before the time of Christopher Columbus.
“We all grow up in a place where we learn just our history,” she said. “You grow up in America, you learn American history. You grow up in France, you learn French history. To try to bring it all together and yet still make it a real exciting story of how humans made it is a real challenge.”
History will offer companion material to schools interested in the project, although Root said it was “very important to us that this wasn’t an educational mission. This is something you’re going to watch like the best of a Hollywood superhero movie.”
About a third of History’s audience is in the United States. Worldwide, History is available in 150 countries, with India the biggest market, and in some 35 languages. Dubuc said the project would be localized in several markets with the inclusion of interviews with local historians.
Airdates have not been set for the series, which will stretch over six days, but it will be within the last three months of 2012, the network said.
The History channel is owned by A&E Television Networks.
On the Net:
http://www.history.com/
Copyright © 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
The cable network, overseen by president Eileen O’Neill, has given the green light to a project exploring the most iconic inventions and breakthroughs of the modern age — from the cell phone to the airline black box.
Nutopia has reached 20th position in the Production 100 rankings, Televisuals annual survey of the UK’s independent sector!
Please click here for the story by Michael Deacon
The Telegraph previews Bin Laden: Shoot to Kill (Channel 4), a poignant documentary charting the operation that led to the killing of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
The U.S. effort to hunt down and kill Osama bin Laden will be featured in a two-hour television program, including interviews with President Barack Obama and senior counter-terrorism officials…
Read this great review of ‘Targeting Bin Laden’ by the New York Post. Premiering TONIGHT on History US at 8pm!
US President Barack Obama considered halting the daring special forces mission following an intelligence review that concluded there was less than a 50% chance that the al Qaeda leader was in a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, identified by the CIA.
A new documentary about the plan to hunt down Osama Bin Laden, which includes an interview with US President Barack Obama, has been picked up by broadcasters around the world.
For more info follow this link:
Nutopia’s Bin Laden film goes global by Michael Rosser, 31 August 2011
A HISTORY® EXCLUSIVE
TARGETING BIN LADEN
TO PREMIERE ON TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6 at 8 PM ET
New York, NY, August 31, 2011 – HISTORY will take viewers inside the dedicated effort to hunt and kill Osama Bin Laden in TARGETING BIN LADEN. This two-hour special event premieres on Tuesday, September 6 at 8pm ET featuring exclusive interviews with President Barack Obama and other senior aides. The announcement was made today by Nancy Dubuc, President and General Manager, HISTORY.
In addition to President Obama, interviewees include National Security Advisor, Tom Donilon; White House Chief Counter-Terrorism Advisor, John O. Brennan; Ben Rhodes, Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications; former CIA Director, Gen. Michael Vincent Hayden; former CIA Deputy Director of Counter-Terrorism, Philip Mudd; members of Congress; policy experts and others.
Rigorously researched, TARGETING BIN LADEN will take you inside this critical effort and examine the historical ramifications for President Obama’s administration as well as look at the role of the dedicated men and women who worked for many years over several administrations to make this possible. TARGETING BIN LADEN uses historical footage, photographs and dramatic re-enactments to illustrate one of the most important missions in our nation’s history.
TARGETING BIN LADEN is produced for HISTORY by Nutopia, producers of History’s Emmy®-Award winning AMERICA THE STORY OF US. Nutopia’s CEO Jane Root is executive producer. The special is produced by Phil Craig (producer of six films about America’s secret war with Al Qaeda, including the Emmy-nominated docudrama about United Flight 93, The Flight that Fought Back, Attack on the Pentagon and 911 State of Emergency) and directed by Bruce Goodison, who worked with Craig on The Flight That Fought Back. Julian P. Hobbs and Susan Werbe are executive producers for HISTORY.
About HISTORY®
HISTORY® and HISTORY® HD are the leading destinations for revealing, award-winning original non-fiction series and event specials that connect history with viewers in an informative, immersive and entertaining manner across multiple platforms. Programming covers a diverse variety of historical genres ranging from military history to contemporary history, technology to natural history, as well as science, archaeology and pop culture. Among the network’s program offerings are hit series such as American Pickers, Ax Men, American Restoration, Ice Road Truckers, Top Gear, Pawn Stars and Top Shot, as well as acclaimed specials including Gettysburg, America the Story of Us, WWII in HD, 102 Minutes That Changed America and Life After People. HISTORY has earned four Peabody Awards, seven Primetime Emmy® Awards, 12 News & Documentary Emmy® Awards and received the prestigious Governor’s Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for the network’s Save Our History® campaign dedicated to historic preservation and history education. Take a Veteran to School Day is the network’s signature initiative connecting America’s schools and communities with veterans from all wars. The HISTORY website, located at www.history.com, is the leading online resource for all things history, featuring over 20,000 videos, images, audio clips, articles and interactive features that allow visitors to dig deeper into a broad range of thousands of historical topics. For more information go to www.historypressroom.com.
Press Contacts:
Vicky Kahn, History: vicky.kahn@aetn.com
Heather DiRubba, History: heather.dirubba@aetn.com
Kevin Goldman, Nutopia: kgoldman@hstrategies.com