Off the Fence secures global sales for factual series Wild battlegrounds

Award-winning factual content company Off the Fence Media (OTF) has announced sales for its natural history headliner Wild Battlegrounds to Mediaset in Italy, Viasat World and Discovery Latin America.

Wild Battlegrounds (8 x 60 mins) is produced by Australian integrated factual company Wildbear Entertainment and originally for RTL Germany. The new series focuses on ‘nature’s ultimate warzones’ — those natural battlegrounds where the wild animals meet and clash in their struggle for survival. Through the metaphor of military strategy, each episode examines the tactics employed by both predator and prey, from communication through camouflage to combat.

OTF has also bolstered its nature and wildlife catalogue with a slate of new projects from both established and emerging production partners. From Wild Earth TV, OTF has acquired Growing Up Cat (2 x 60 mins), which follows lion, leopard and cheetah cubs from the safety of the den through adolescence to independence. Filmed across the Maasai Mara, Serengeti and Okavango Delta, the two-parter reveals the skills, rivalries and survival strategies that shape some of Africa’s most iconic predators. The deal is OTF’s second collaboration with Wild Earth TV following Game of Leopard Thrones (2 x 60 mins), which has been sold widely across Europe and Asia.

From Stay Wild Studio comes Muskox: Survival in the Arctic (1 x 60 mins), narrated by UK actress Daisy Head and directed by Chris Schmid. Filmed over several years, the film offers an immersive portrait of musk oxen living on the remote Arctic tundra, where co-operation, memory and collective defence are essential to survival. As predators close in and the brutal polar seasons take their toll, the resilience of one of the Arctic’s most ancient survivors is tested to the limit.

Mind of a Predator (7 x 60 mins) from Lion Mountain Media explores the intelligence behind predation, asking what really happens inside the minds of animals when they hunt. From cobra strikes through ambush-hunting eels to tool-using chimpanzees, the series reveals how instinct, memory, experience and decision-making combine to shape survival. The title forms part of a wider deal with Lion Mountain Media that also includes Secret Ways of Wild Dogs (1 x 60 mins) and 29 hours of library programming.

CZAR Film’s one-hour documentary The Insect Effect (working title) takes viewers on a journey 400 million years into the past to explore the outsized influence of insects on life on Earth. From pollination and the creation of food chains to their role in shaping ecosystems, insects have been fundamental to evolution. But as human activity transforms the environment and insect populations decline, the film also asks whether these ancient and essential creatures can survive the impact of humanity.

This new slate being showcased at Wildscreen in Bristol this week, the UK’s traditional home of natural history, also includes several titles from UK factual producer One Tribe TV, with which OTF and wildlife film company John Downer Productions forged a tripartite natural-history co-development pact earlier this summer. Among the One Tribe programming on offer are Nature’s Odysseys (3 x 60 mins), Wild Offspring: Animal Families (3 x 60 mins).

Loren Baxter, vice-president of acquisitions and co-productions at OTF said: ‘Our wildlife programmes continue to have strong, evergreen demand. As wildlife commissioning becomes increasingly challenging, we’re looking to build relationships with producers who can bring together exceptional archive material, or alternative investment models, to ensure we can continue supplying broadcasters with accessible, premium wildlife stories, whether that's archive driven or specially shot stories.’

LC