Off the Fence teams with John Downer and One Tribe

Factual distributor Off the Fence has announced a new natural history collaboration with John Downer Productions and One Tribe TV.

Under the deal, the partners will go to market with a slate of natural history projects, offering co-development and co-production opportunities. The first shows on the slate include Nature’s Odysseys (3 x 60’), Wild Offspring: Animal Families (3 x 60’), Nature’s Indestructibles (3 x 60’) and Wild Geniuses (3 x 60’). The alliance brings together access to John Downer Productions’ natural history library of wildlife footage and the global reach of Off The Fence and its expansive library, whilst One Tribe TV will produce the films, drawing on the company’s storytelling and long form narrative expertise.

One Tribe TV managing director and exec producer, Dale Templar (Human Planet, BBC1/Discovery), brokered the deal based on the idea of combining each partner’s “creative excellence, extensive assets and international reach to deliver a powerful new offering for broadcasters and platforms worldwide.”

Templar said: “We are three companies with a remarkable heritage in the genre and a deep shared commitment to storytelling excellence. Using the JDP and OTF libraries, we have the clear ambition of building a long-running natural history strand that not only resonates with global audiences but provides a steady pipeline of high-quality, innovative shows that meet the needs of broadcasters, platforms, and audiences alike and are uniquely positioned to react quickly to shifting commissioning demands.”

Bo Stehmeier said: “The timing of this collaboration is particularly significant. The natural history genre has clearly been navigating a challenging period, with slowdowns in commissioning which of course has led to a disruption in the supply of programming. This new tripartite constellation has been purposefully formed to help address that gap and support the resurgence of natural history content on a global scale and built, of course, to work for both the traditional linear outlets as well as FAST and digital networks.”

John Downer added: “We’ve spent years building a unique archive by challenging how the natural world is filmed. It’s exciting to see our treasured footage take on a new life in the hands of One Tribe’s creative team, as well as reaching wider audiences through OTF’s global reach.”