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    National Geographic Secures 1st Look Deal With Chai Vasarhelyi & Jimmy Chin

    By SHOOTUpdated:No Comments4705 Views
    Jimmy Chin (l) and Chai Vasarhelyi
    WASHINGTON, D.C. --

    National Geographic has entered into a first-look deal with the award-winning documentary team of Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin and their company, Little Monster Films. The deal covers all unscripted projects, including series and specials as well as feature documentaries. Additionally, the network has greenlit their next feature documentary, with details to be announced at a later date. The announcement follows the extraordinary wins by Chin and Vasarhelyi's Free Solo at this year’s Emmys, where the documentary swept the seven categories for which it was nominated, including directing honors for Vasarhelyi and Chin, making it the most Emmy-winning documentary in history. 

    The Emmy success adds to such other accolades for Free Solo as the Best Feature Documentary Oscar and a BAFTA Award.

    In a joint statement, Vasarhelyi and Chin shared, “National Geographic offered unconditional support and enthusiasm for Free Solo from day one, and we truly could not have asked for better partners. We are excited to have an outlet to grow our production company’s work in television, expanding the stories we are able to tell, as well as a partner for our next feature doc.”

    Courteney Monroe, president of National Geographic Television Networks, described Vasarhelyi and Chin as “extraordinary filmmakers and tremendous partners.”

    The first-look deal encompasses development of unscripted ideas for all of National Geographic’s television platforms. This marks the first expansion of Little Monster Films beyond feature documentaries. Vasarhelyi and Chin have tapped former Cinetic Media executive Anna Barnes to serve as VP of development and production under the new venture. Barnes will be responsible for overseeing the growth of the company, and will work closely with Vasarhelyi and Chin in identifying, developing and producing new projects. Additionally, the team is in early production on their next feature documentary, which will be released by National Geographic Documentary Films. 

    The deal was negotiated by WME on behalf of the filmmakers.

    Vasarhelyi and Chin are represented in the ad/branded content arena by Nonfiction Unlimited.

    Category:News
    Tags:Chai VasarhelyiFree SoloJimmy ChinNational Geographic



    Growth Brings Growing Pains–and Bots–To Bluesky

    Sunday, December 22, 2024

    Bluesky has seen its user base soar since the U.S. presidential election, boosted by people seeking refuge from Elon Musk's X, which they view as increasingly leaning too far to the right given its owner's support of President-elect Donald Trump, or wanting an alternative to Meta's Threads and its algorithms.

    The platform grew out of the company then known as Twitter, championed by its former CEO Jack Dorsey. Its decentralized approach to social networking was eventually intended to replace Twitter's core mechanic. That's unlikely now that the two companies have parted ways. But Bluesky's growth trajectory — with a user base that has more than doubled since October — could make it a serious competitor to other social platforms.

    But with growth comes growing pains. It's not just human users who've been flocking to Bluesky but also bots, including those designed to create partisan division or direct users to junk websites.

    The skyrocketing user base — now surpassing 25 million — is the biggest test yet for a relatively young platform that has branded itself as a social media alternative free of the problems plaguing its competitors. According to research firm Similarweb, Bluesky added 7.6 million monthly active app users on iOS and Android in November, an increase of 295.4% since October. It also saw 56.2 million desktop and mobile web visits, in the same period, up 189% from October.

    Besides the U.S. elections, Bluesky also got a boost when X was briefly banned in Brazil.

    "They got this spike in attention, they've crossed the threshold where it is now worth it for people to flood the platform with spam," said Laura Edelson, an assistant professor of computer science at Northeastern University and a member of Issue One's... Read More

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