Blue Ant Studios & WildBear in Co-Funding Partnership

Blue Ant Studios has struck up a partnership with the Australian independent producer WildBear Entertainment to finance three new factual series.

The three new series, all due for delivery in Q3 2025, are a mix of history and engineering titles. WildBear Entertainment is producing, and Blue Ant Studios will retain worldwide distribution rights.

The titles include Secrets of the Lost Cities (6×60 minutes), which combines the latest science, leading experts and high-end graphics to explore the world’s most ancient and mysterious cities, looking to discover the secrets of their power and the reasons for their downfall. As the 80th anniversary of the start of the Nuremberg trials nears (November 2025), World War II: History on Trial (6×60 minutes) will explore the courtroom trials that took place in Germany, Japan and other countries across the 20th century. Engineering by Catastrophe (6×60 minutes) follows the construction of some of the world’s latest and most failsafe structures.

The partnership was brokered by Lilla Hurst, global head of acquisitions and content strategy at Blue Ant Studios and WildBear Entertainment’s representative, Edwina Thring of Wild Thring Media. The new deal has been struck to deliver content that “meets market demand in the current challenging commissioning climate.” WildBear Entertainment has just gone into production on each series, led by Michael Tear, CEO and executive producer. Hurst will serve as an executive producer on each title.

“As both a creative and financial partner with producers and buyers around the world, Blue Ant Studios is committed to finding new ways of working and investing in different financial models to bring great content into the marketplace and onto the screen,” said Mark Bishop, co-president of Blue Ant Studios. “Having already acquired numerous completed WildBear titles for international distribution, we know that its programming is extremely well-produced and always in demand. So, while greenlighting these 18 hours could be considered a risk, working with a trusted partner like WildBear mitigates that risk and ensures we continue to fuel our pipeline with the sort of great factual series that buyers are seeking.”

Tear, CEO of WildBear Entertainment, added: “We are delighted to be working so closely with Blue Ant Studios in this way, sharing the potential risk—and, hopefully, the upside. It is wonderful to have such backing from Lilla and the team. This support not only demonstrates confidence in our productions but also greatly speeds up the process and allows us to quickly get series into the marketplace at a time when commissioning decisions are being made rather slowly.”