{"id":20500,"date":"2023-12-06T08:50:45","date_gmt":"2023-12-06T13:50:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev2.worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/worldscreen.com\/"},"modified":"2024-01-19T12:42:51","modified_gmt":"2024-01-19T17:42:51","slug":"bbc-studios-nhus-jonny-keeling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/bbc-studios-nhus-jonny-keeling\/","title":{"rendered":"BBC Studios NHU\u2019s Jonny Keeling"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jonny Keeling had been making wildlife programming for BBC Studios\u2019 storied Natural History Unit (NHU) for more than 25 years when he was tapped to lead the unit in 2022. With a long list of credits that includes\u00a0Seven Worlds, One Planet<\/em>;\u00a0Plan<\/em>et Earth<\/em>; and\u00a0The Life of Mammals<\/em>, Keeling is ensuring the NHU slate\u2014which includes the recently launched\u00a0Planet Earth III<\/em>\u00a0and upcoming\u00a0Asia<\/em>\u2014continues to inspire a love of the natural world among audiences worldwide. He talks to\u00a0<\/strong>TV Real<\/em>\u00a0about the values instilled in all NHU productions, using CGI and other techniques to drive new forms of storytelling and the unit\u2019s \u00a31 million talent-development initiative.<\/p>\n

\"***Image***\"TV REAL:\u00a0<\/strong>Tell us about the mandate you wanted to put into place coming into the role of head of the NHU.
\nKEELING:<\/strong>\u00a0Our mission at the NHU is to inspire people across the globe to love and understand the natural world and want to protect it. We do that in three ways, through three important pillars of the NHU. One is factual integrity. That\u2019s the scientific rigor in which we do things. Emotional storytelling and impactful storytelling that has heart. And then the third thing would be that it\u2019s original. Whatever ideas we\u2019re doing, there\u2019s originality and innovation; something new and distinct about it. We\u2019re telling nice stories about the natural world with a healthy and happy team and inspiring the audience. That runs through everything we do.<\/p>\n

TV REAL:\u00a0<\/strong>You\u2019re still making wonderful productions for the BBC, but talk to me about how you\u2019re approaching third-party clients like Apple TV+.
\nKEELING:<\/strong>\u00a0We watch the content the streamers put out and, of course, adapt to ensure we\u2019re making content that will resonate with their audience and be fresh and new as well. If you are Apple, Discovery or Nat Geo, you\u2019re buying into our natural history values. We\u2019re tailoring them according to the client.<\/p>\n

TV REAL:\u00a0<\/strong>Your Apple TV+ slate includes\u00a0Prehistoric Planet<\/em>, featuring significant CGI use. What\u2019s the approach toward CGI and special effects in NHU productions?
\nKEELING:<\/strong>\u00a0It\u2019s all about storytelling. That\u2019s the most important thing. With CGI, we can show people things they\u2019ve never seen before, like in the prehistoric world. It\u2019s a tool for us to inspire awe and wonder, and it\u2019s getting better and better.<\/p>\n

TV REAL:\u00a0<\/strong>What other tech advancements allow you to tell stories in new ways?
\nKEELING:<\/strong>\u00a0In\u00a0The Green Planet<\/em>, we had a camera tech advancement that meant we could film plants like animals. It gave us a very different time frame. A tree, bush or flower has a very different time frame from a mouse or an elephant. To be able to capture that and speed things up and show a plant moving and behaving like an animal was an important advancement. On projects like\u00a0Springwatch<\/em>, we use AI with our cameras, camera traps and the footage coming in. It helps select when there\u2019s been an animal going through the frame and what animal that is.<\/p>\n

We also innovate in terms of on-screen talent.\u00a0Big Cats 24\/7<\/em>, which is coming out next year, has brand-new on-screen contributors and presenters.<\/p>\n

And new platforms; we\u2019re making podcasts and short-form content. That\u2019s what I love about the NHU. That unique range we get when we\u2019re making content for many clients is creatively challenging, and we\u2019re making them on very different platforms as well\u2014everything from a five-second clip through to a ten-part series.<\/p>\n

TV REAL:\u00a0<\/strong>You announced a \u00a31 million talent-development grant last year. Tell us about that initiative.
\nKEELING:<\/strong>\u00a0In the past, we were going to countries filming something, coming back and then showing it on different channels within Europe and North America. We want to train people in those countries to tell stories. And show that footage back. Project Songbird is for in-country training and in-country screenings. That\u2019s just one of the things we\u2019ve been doing regarding outreach. We have outreach for schools and colleges; students can come in, meet filmmakers and understand different skills and job titles. I grew up without television, so I didn\u2019t even know there were jobs in television. We also partner with Creative Access to improve our representation, off-screen and on. We do things like the Festival of Nature.<\/p>\n

When we start a project, I always say to the teams, you\u2019ve got two jobs; you\u2019re delivering your series\u2014something that\u2019s high-quality, high ambition, will make the audience happy, made by a healthy and happy team\u2014but also you are growing someone\u2019s career. You\u2019re helping to support their career development. They have a responsibility to grow their careers, but we have a responsibility to support them.<\/p>\n

TV REAL:\u00a0<\/strong>You also make a lot of kids\u2019 content at the NHU. Tell us about what\u2019s guiding the strategy there.
\nKEELING:<\/strong>\u00a0There are similarities\u2014factual integrity, emotional storytelling, original and new. We\u2019re doing a lot with Andy Day; he\u2019s super creative. We\u2019re working with Steve Backshall on\u00a0Deadly Mission Shark<\/em>. It takes kids from the U.K. to meet up with kids in the Caribbean. They\u2019re learning to dive with sharks. I don\u2019t know another company that could have managed that: kids traveling overseas, working on boats, working with sharks, all the health and safety. To deliver that series was exciting. We\u2019ve been doing\u00a0Steve and Aneeshwar Go Wild<\/em>. Aneeshwar Kunchala was on\u00a0Britain\u2019s Got Talent<\/em>. We teamed him up with Steve Backshall. Steve is typically on CBBC but is now stepping onto CBeebies. It\u2019s such a heartwarming show.<\/p>\n

TV REAL:\u00a0<\/strong>You\u2019ve done follow-ups to several of your landmark productions. What\u2019s the decision-making process behind making a\u00a0Frozen Planet II<\/em>?
\nKEELING:<\/strong>\u00a0It was 16 years between\u00a0Blue Planet<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Blue Planet\u00a0<\/em>II<\/em>. There have been so many species discovered and advancements, both in technology and science, in the oceans and our understanding of the ocean. We have\u00a0Planet Earth III<\/em>. I worked on that series for three years. I\u2019m watching as it goes through those final processes. The stories we found are new and original. How the world has changed even in ten years is quite dramatic. Those stories are important to tell. So it isn\u2019t, Hey, we should just do\u00a0Planet Earth III<\/em>\u00a0because we feel like it. Is there good momentum there? Are there stories we need to tell? Is there a new way of telling them?<\/p>\n

TV REAL:\u00a0<\/strong>What other projects are you working on now that you\u2019re particularly excited about?
\nKEELING:<\/strong>\u00a0We have\u00a0Mammals<\/em>. I worked on the original series of that 20 years ago. There are mammals in there I\u2019ve never heard of. And I did a PhD in wildlife! And there\u2019s behavior I\u2019ve never seen! We also have\u00a0Asia<\/em>\u00a0next year. We\u2019ve focused on Africa a couple of times. We\u2019ve done South America. We\u2019ve never made one about Asia, yet it\u2019s the biggest continent, with more wildlife and more superlatives in terms of the highest mountains, the biggest sand deserts and the deepest oceans. There are so many incredible animal stories. And it\u2019s a continent that is changing fast. We have\u00a0The Americas<\/em>\u00a0for NBCUniversal, with Tom Hanks narrating.<\/p>\n

We have some non-landmark series, like\u00a0Big Little Jour<\/em>neys<\/em>, which is a wonderful, innovative way of telling stories. We have two characters we follow through on their amazing journeys. They are characters that you don\u2019t usually get to see, like chameleons and pangolins. It\u2019s following their journeys as they\u2019re on a mission to do something, like mate or find food. They\u2019re lovely, well-told stories.<\/p>\n

TV REAL:\u00a0<\/strong>You mentioned traveling less and tapping into local film crews as part of your talent-development initiatives. Is that also helping to reduce your carbon footprint so you can make these shows more sustainable?
\nKEELING:<\/strong>\u00a0It completely has. We made\u00a0Seven Worlds, One Planet<\/em>\u00a0a few years back. We had met some up-and-coming camera people from Australia. We took a chance on them and bought them a camera and lens, and they ended up filming two-thirds of that episode. We didn\u2019t fly them and the cameras or our crews and cameras back and forth to Australia. But we have to take a chance on those people. It\u2019s worth it. We\u2019re not using helicopters as much. We\u2019re using drones, which are brilliant. There are lots of ways in which we\u2019ve mitigated our carbon use. We\u2019re incredibly conscious of that.<\/p>\n

TV REAL:\u00a0<\/strong>Is there anything else you want to share about NHU\u2019s priorities?
\nKEELING:<\/strong>\u00a0I\u2019ve worked here for 27 years. The creative mix, in terms of the sorts of programs that are made and the different clients we make for, is really exciting. The people are really lovely. And it has a sense of purpose. That\u2019s why I love working here. And the chance to reach hundreds of millions of people around the globe. The\u00a0Planet Earth<\/em>s and\u00a0Blue Planet<\/em>s reach about a billion people. That\u2019s incredible. For us to be trusted makers of those shows, we\u2019re honored to be able to do that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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