My Octopus Teacher director ties with Natural History Unit

The director of Netflix’s Oscar-winning doc My Octopus Teacher, James Reed, has tied with BBC Studios’ Natural History Unit (NHU) to develop several natural history docs.

During the one-year development partnership, Reed and his creative partner Matt Houghton will work with the production team behind landmark natural history series including Frozen Planet II (BBC1) and Prehistoric Planet (Apple TV+) through their indie Underdog Films.

A specialist in underwater features, Reed’s credits also include Animal Planet’s Chasing Ocean Giants and BBC4’s Jago: A Life Under Water, Discovery+’s Rise of the Warrior Apes, a co-production with Keo Films.

Head of BBCS NHU Jonny Keeling said: “Character and emotional storytelling are at the heart of filmmaking both at the NHU and Underdog Films, so we look forward to developing a number of original, ambitious and compelling natural history features for audiences across the globe.”

Reed said: “[The NHU has] been at the forefront of natural history film-making for decades and their further growth in the feature doc market will be a fantastic development for the industry as a whole.”

Houghton added: “Collaboration and successful partnerships are a key part of Underdog Films’ approach to filmmaking and we’re delighted to be working with the talented storytellers of the NHU.

“The team has exciting, ambitious plans and we’re looking forward to contributing to stories that will be entertaining, enlightening and thought-provoking.”

Before starting Underdog Films in 2015, Reed worked as a freelance producer-director on blue chip natural history features including Nature Untamed for National Geographic and Disney obs docs Bears and Chimpanzee.