Discovery and Liberty Global-owned super-producer All3Media has acquired Silverback Films, the producer behind Netflix’s epic David Attenborough natural history series Our Planet.
All3Media has taken control of Silverback for an undisclosed fee after the independent natural history specialist was first launched by former BBC executives Alastair Fothergill and Keith Scholey in 2012.
As well as Our Planet, Silverback was recently behind David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet, which had a worldwide theatrical release at the end of September before launching on Netflix.
Current projects include a five-part BBC climate crisis series that will mark the launch of Prince William’s Earthshot Prize, working titled Earthshot: How To Save Our Planet.
Other BBC collaborations include The Hunt and the upcoming A Perfect Planet, a Discovery co-production that fuses natural history and earth science to explore the unique systems that allow planet Earth to thrive.
The deal is likely to be one of the biggest in the UK market for some time. Silverback’s 2019 earnings showed that it generated a revenue of £16.4M ($22M), which was up 74% on the previous year. It posted a pre-tax loss of £113,000, though this was significantly down on 2018’s loss of £503,000.
All3Media CEO Jane Turton said: “The talent is world class and Silverback is at the very top of its game at a time when the relevance of landmark natural history programming has never been greater.
“Silverback’s films are stunning – showing us the diversity of the natural world and through their fantastic storytelling and ingenious mastery of technique and technology, they capture breathtaking moments on camera and take us to places we have never seen before and continue to teach us about the world’s natural environments, and how vital it is to preserve them.”
Commenting on the deal, Fothergill added: “We have found a partner that shares our creative ambition to make the highest quality programming. Key to this is our shared focus on attracting and retaining the best talent long into the future.”
Silverback was advised by Tom Manwaring of Helion Partners.
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