Altitude Sets Up Doc Division

Altitude Media Group has launched a new division, Altitude Factual, led by the veteran natural-history and factual programming executive Paul Sowerbutts.

The former managing director of Channel 4 international and diverse productions will now serve as managing director of Altitude Factual. Sowerbutts brings with him a wealth of experience on projects such as Touching the Void and Bear Grylls: Man vs Wild. He is also currently executive producing Otto Bell’s forthcoming feature The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu.

Sowerbutts is joined by Jeremy Bradshaw (In the Wild, Saving Planet Earth), founder of Tigress Productions, as head of natural history.

Altitude Factual will create long-running television series and feature-length documentaries focusing on the natural and human worlds, with strong family appeal.

The launch of Altitude Factual follows 30WEST’s investment in Altitude Media Group and the studio’s production partnership with L.A.-based Soluble Fish Productions.

Sowerbutts said, “Our joint experience covers the whole world of natural history and factual programming and film-making and we are thrilled to launch Altitude Factual with a focus on series where animals and humans interconnect, as well as developing more feature documentaries and specials where we have been previously successful. Jeremy and I have hit the ground running and have already traveled to Africa and Asia to meet some amazing people for a number of incredible projects already in development.”

Will Clarke, chairman and co-CEO of Altitude Film Entertainment, said, “We’re very excited to continue to grow Altitude with the launch of Altitude Factual, expanding into a new area for the company with universal evergreen popularity. Paul and Jeremy are hugely respected and experienced in the field of natural history television and film, and there is a strong demand from global platforms and broadcasters for this type of programming that we’re excited to engage.”