NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL ANNOUNCES DEVELOPMENT DEAL WITH DNA FILMS AND FX PRODUCTIONS FOR SCRIPTED SERIES "BLOOD IVORY" (WT)

Edge-of-Your-Seat Thriller Traces the Massive Global Ivory Trade and Its Connection to a Complex Web of Contraband, Traffickers and Terrorists

(PASADENA, C.A. - Jan. 6, 2016) National Geographic Channel (NGC) today announced a development deal with DNA Films & TV (28 Days Later, The Last King of Scotland and Ex Machina) and FX Productions (Louie, The Strain) for what will be the network's first scripted series, Blood Ivory (wt). Prolific television writer Joshua Brand (The Americans) has been tapped to write the pilot script.

Blood Ivory (wt), an edge-of-your-seat thriller, traces the massive global web of contraband animals and ivory, and its connection to the trafficking of narcotics, people and weapons. The series exposes a shocking underworld that rewards greed and bloodshed while helping to fund the madness of terrorist regimes.

"National Geographic has strived to bring the horrors of the ivory trade to the forefront of the global conversation in recent years," said Courteney Monroe, CEO of the National Geographic Global Networks. "With Blood Ivory (wt), we are hoping to craft a smart, relevant and riveting drama series that will not only be entertaining under the guidance of some of the best storytellers working today, but also drive home the importance of ending a senseless war on the animal kingdom."

National Geographic Fellow and National Geographic magazine contributor Bryan Christy - a veteran reporter of wildlife trafficking wars and chief correspondent for the magazine's new Special Investigations Unit - will consult on the project. Christy's latest undercover ivory investigation was featured on the cover of the September issue of National Geographic magazine and in an episode of the critically acclaimed National Geographic Channel series Explorer, titled Warlords of Ivory.