Sylvester Stallone, Bear Grylls & Endemol Shine North America Pact

Endemol Shine North America and Bear Grylls’ The Natural Studios, a joint venture with Banijay, have entered into a new production partnership with Sylvester Stallone’s Balboa Productions.

The three ventures are coming together to develop high-adrenaline, cinematic and genre-bending adventure series. Grylls and Delbert Shoopman from Natural Studios will be executive producing alongside Stallone, Kourosh Taj and Carrie Keagan from Balboa Productions and Sharon Levy and DJ Nurre from Endemol Shine North America.

“We are truly excited to be working with two of the biggest global names in both action and adventure—Sylvester Stallone and Bear Grylls and their respective production teams,” said Levy, chief content officer at Endemol Shine North America, a division of Banijay. “We’ve come together to create first-of-its-kind, hybrid unscripted series that we look forward to bringing to the marketplace very soon with both Balboa Productions and Natural Studios.”

Stallone said, “My goal has always been to push the envelope not only in life but in all of my creative endeavors. Nothing is more satisfying than mixing the improbable with the incredible and creating the unforgettable. What we have planned is epic, beautiful and game-changing, and I can’t wait for everyone to experience it.”

Taj, head of unscripted at Balboa, added, “We couldn’t be more thrilled to be on this journey with the sensational Bear Grylls and his team at The Natural Studios, along with Sharon Levy and the powerhouse crew at Endemol Shine North America. It’s going to be a wild ride!”

Grylls commented, “It’s a complete honor to be working with the whole team at Balboa Productions. As possibly the most iconic face in the action space, Sly has long brought an injection of adrenaline to his roles, and we envisage that energy being channeled into our development.”

“I couldn’t be more excited to see these two iconic personalities come together and redefine the unscripted adventure space,” continued The Natural Studios’ Shoopman.  “And joining forces with Endemol Shine North America, which is behind many of the top unscripted series in the States, will make for a truly powerful production team!”