Hot Shots 2025: Kiki Yihui Wang

Before moving to Bristol in 2023, Kiki Wang says she had felt pigeon-holed working on Chinese shows – for the likes of Shanghai Media Group – or docs where access to China was needed, such as Netflix’s Mysteries of the Terracotta Warriors and CCTV’s In the Footsteps Of Marco Polo.

Beating 300 applicants to a placement in the Wildstar Academy opened up new opportunities in natural history and specialist factual and was instrumental, she says, in proving she had more to give.

Wildstar Films executive producer Chloe Sarosh remembers being immediately struck by Wang’s “warmth and intelligence”. During a six-month placement, she spent time in development, helped to set up complex shoots and forged relationships with high-profile scientists.

This gave Wildstar the confidence to hire her for landmark Nat Geo series Sentient. Wang identified and secured around 20 contributors around the world and conducted casting calls across the series, as well as delivering a story of a mass wedding in China involving 47 couples.

Wang has since pitched to Nat Geo a full episode on wildlife and conservation stories for Wildstar’s Animals Up Close.

Reflecting on a journey that has also led her to be named a Fremantle Breakthrough Leader in 2023, Wang says: “There is no set path for anyone who wants to work in natural history TV.

“This is a space that urgently needs diversity in perspectives and story formats. I believe that opportunities often rise in times of crisis. We sometimes need to think outside the box and work with people in different genres and countries, to embrace a different future.”