Nat Geo Greenlights Silicon Valley Limited Series

National Geographic has greenlit a new six-part limited series set against the backdrop of the ’90s tech bubble and the dramatic early days of Silicon Valley.

Titled Valley of the Boom, the scripted drama/documentary hybrid series will be produced by STX Entertainment’s TV studio, STXtv, for National Geographic along with creator, showrunner, director and executive producer Matthew Carnahan (House of Lies) at the helm and executive producer Arianna Huffington (founder of The Huffington Post, founder and CEO of Thrive Global, and the author of 15 books, including Thrive and The Sleep Revolution).

Valley of the Boom promises to take viewers on an adrenaline-fueled ride through the culture of speculation, innovation and debauchery that led to the rapid inflation and burst of the 1990s tech bubble. The series will premiere globally on National Geographic in 171 countries and 45 languages. STX will distribute the series in China. 

“National Geographic pioneered the hybrid scripted-docuseries genre with Mars, which is currently in production on its second season,” said Carolyn Bernstein, executive vice president and head of global scripted programming and development at National Geographic. “With Valley of the Boom, we are continuing on the same genre-busting path. The provocative world of Silicon Valley has long dominated headlines and captured the public’s imagination. We cannot wait to tell this timely, wildly unpredictable and captivating story of the early days of the dotcom boom and bust with showrunner Matthew Carnahan and his signature irreverent blend of drama, comedy and pathos.”

“Valley of the Boom is the perfect example of the creatively ambitious, globally-minded content that STXtv is producing for audiences across platforms,” added Jada Miranda, the executive VP and head of scripted television at STXtv. “Matthew has been a dream collaborator and the perfect creator for this project—blending his past in documentary filmmaking with expert TV series show running. We’re thrilled to bring his innovative vision to National Geographic and give audiences a peek behind the curtain of one of the most fascinating periods in recent history.”

Added Carnahan, “We wanted to make something as disruptive and exciting as the people and the tech that came out of The Valley during this period, so this is a wild, hybridized, rule-breaking look at a truly remarkable time and place.

STXtv and NatGeo have allowed us tremendous creative freedom, and I’m excited about making something truly new and different.”

“Silicon Valley and the technology that came out of it dominate our world in so many ways, both physically and culturally,” said Huffington. “But we can’t understand the present without understanding how we got here. So I’m thrilled to be partnering with a master storyteller like Matthew Carnahan, a global studio of STXtv’s caliber and a brand that has rightly earned such deep trust and loyalty as National Geographic.”