NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC ORDERS "THE HOT ZONE" TO SERIES WITH PRODUCTION TO START LATER THIS YEAR

From Lynda Obst Productions, Fox 21 Television Studios, Kelly Souders, Brian Peterson, Jeff Vintar and Scott Free Productions

NEW SCRIPTED DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS:

TEN BORDERS

From Paramount Television and Scott Free Productions; Oscar-Winning Director Tom McCarthy ("Spotlight," "13 Reasons Why") to Executive Produce; Greg Walker ("Without a Trace") to Write and Executive Produce

THE WHITE HOUSE DETAIL

From Writer and Executive Producer Chuck Hogan ("13 Hours," "The Strain"); Executive Producers Michael Bay, Brad Fuller and Andrew Form Through Platinum Dunes ("A Quiet Place," "Black Sails"); and Executive Producer Elyse Klaits

HIDDEN FIGURES

From Oscar-Nominated Producers of the Feature Film, Peter Chernin and Jenno Topping ("The Greatest Showman," "War for the Planet of the Apes); and Grammy Winner Pharrell Williams

(WASHINGTON, D.C. / NEW YORK - APRIL 18, 2018) - On the heels of the success of its first original scripted series, GENIUS, which garnered 10 Emmy nominations, a Screen Actors Guild nomination and a Golden Globe nomination, National Geographic today announced a series greenlight as well as three new projects in development.

From the deadly Ebola virus to unsung pioneers of the internet, from behind the scenes at the Kennedy White House to ground zero of the Syrian refugee crisis, these diverse projects represent an ambitious step forward in the network's scripted programming strategy and seek to satisfy its audience's growing demand for programs that take storytelling further.

"The incredible audience response to our scripted programming, including award nominations for GENIUS and the overwhelming critical praise - and Critics Choice Award nomination - for THE LONG ROAD HOME have emboldened our scripted strategy," says Courteney Monroe, CEO of National Geographic Global Networks. "We've proved we can make noise in a crowded marketplace by utilizing the premium power of the National Geographic brand and working with the right talent."

"The projects we're announcing today are proof of how far we've come in such a short time," says Carolyn Bernstein, executive vice president, global scripted development and production. "Though the subjects and narratives we're announcing are diverse, they all share our organic brand DNA, bringing our audience fact-based, globally relevant stories that are enthralling, engaging and, above all else, entertaining.

Series Pick-Up

THE HOT ZONE (From Lynda Obst Productions, Fox 21 Television Studios, Kelly Souders, Brian Peterson, Jeff Vintar and Scott Free Productions)

From executive producer Ridley Scott, The Hot Zone, based on the eponymous international best-seller by Richard Preston, recounts the terrifying true story of the origins of the Ebola virus, a highly infectious deadly virus from the central African rain forest, and its first arrival on U.S. soil. In 1989, when this killer suddenly appeared in chimpanzees in a scientific lab in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., there was no known cure. A heroic U.S. Army veterinarian working with a secret military SWAT team put herself in mortal peril when she tried to head off the outbreak before it spread to the human population. The Hot Zone is a dramatic, hair-raising account of a rare and lethal virus and its impact on the human race.

New Scripted Development Slate:

*All working titles

HIDDEN FIGURES (From Chernin Entertainment and Pharrell Williams)

Inspired by the Oscar-nominated hit movie, the anthology series HIDDEN FIGURES will tell the stories of people whose contributions to science, technology and innovation have been overlooked by history. In the same way the feature film centered on a group of women who were the unsung heroes of the space program, each season of the anthology series will shine a light on someone whose important contributions have been unjustly marginalized.

THE WHITE HOUSE DETAIL (From Platinum Dunes, Chuck Hogan, Elyse Klaits and Consultants/Co-Authors Clint Hill and Lisa McCubbin)

THE WHITE HOUSE DETAIL is an unprecedented insider's look at the personal and professional lives of the U.S. Secret Service agents assigned to protect the president and the first family beginning with the 1960 election of John F. Kennedy. Based on the firsthand account of the Secret Service's most iconic agent, Clint Hill, who served under five U.S. presidents and who is best known for leaping onto the back of JFK's limousine during the assassination in Dallas, THE WHITE HOUSE DETAIL is an authentic, behind-the-scenes look at the days and nights of the unsung heroes trusted with protecting the most powerful man in the world. The project is based on Clint Hill and Lisa McCubbin's New York Times best-seller, Five Presidents.

TEN BORDERS (From Paramount Television, Scott Free Productions, Tom McCarthy and Greg Walker)

TEN BORDERS is a six-part limited series centered on five unrelated individuals who are inexorably pulled into one another's lives through the mass exodus of humanity from wartorn Syria to the safe refuge of Sweden. Through multiple points of view we will embark on an emotional journey with everyday characters who become part of the greatest human migration in the past thousand years. They are not partisans, revolutionaries, soldiers or spies; they are ordinary people thrust into urgent and extraordinary circumstances whose paths cross in surprising and unexpected ways as they make the perilous trek to freedom, their lives overturned and changed forever.

Additionally, next week the second season of National Geographic's Emmy-nominated series GENIUS returns to showcase the tumultuous life and artistic brilliance of artist Pablo Picasso. Starring Antonio Banderas in the titular role, the new season is again produced by Fox 21 Television Studios with returning executive producers Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Francie Calfo of Imagine Television as well as executive producer and showrunner Ken Biller. Over 10 episodes, GENIUS: PICASSO explores the complicated man and ferocious artist behind the masterpieces.

This fall, another Imagine Television project, MARS, will return for its second genre-busting season. Tracing the thrilling quest to make Mars home, the series, which earned a nomination for Outstanding Limited Series from the International Documentary Association, blends cinema-quality scripted drama set in the future with documentary sequences that feature the most pioneering names in space technology today.

And finally, after taking audiences into the future, National Geographic will look back at the early days of technological innovation with VALLEY OF THE BOOM. Produced by STXtv and with executive producers Matthew Carnahan and Ariana Huffington, the six-part limited series takes an adrenaline-fueled ride through the culture of speculation, innovation and debauchery that led to the rapid inflation and burst of the 1990s tech bubble. The series stars Bradley Whitford, Steve Zahn and Lamorne Morris.

For more information, visit www.natgeotv.com or our press site www.natgeotvpressroom.com, or follow us on Twitter using @NGC_PR.

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About National Geographic Partners LLC

National Geographic Partners LLC (NGP), a joint venture between National Geographic and 21st Century Fox, is committed to bringing the world premium science, adventure and exploration content across an unrivaled portfolio of media assets. NGP combines the global National Geographic television channels (National Geographic Channel, Nat Geo WILD, Nat Geo MUNDO, Nat Geo PEOPLE) with National Geographic's media and consumer-oriented assets, including National Geographic magazines; National Geographic studios; related digital and social media platforms; books; maps; children's media; and ancillary activities that include travel, global experiences and events, archival sales, licensing and e-commerce businesses. Furthering knowledge and understanding of our world has been the core purpose of National Geographic for 130 years, and now we are committed to going deeper, pushing boundaries, going further for our consumers ... and reaching millions of people around the world in 172 countries and 43 languages every month as we do it. NGP returns 27 percent of our proceeds to the nonprofit National Geographic Society to fund work in the areas of science, exploration, conservation and education. For more information, visit natgeotv.com or nationalgeographic.com, or find us on Facebook, Twitter , Instagram, YouTube , LinkedIn and Pinterest.