As WaterBear, the free interactive video and digital platform dedicated to supporting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, kicks off its “new era of action” on February 15, company founder Ellen Windemuth talks to Business Doc Europe about change and conservation, Tiger King – and octopuses.
“We made the choice to dedicate our careers to making constructive, telling stories to people who want to know about climate change, about poverty and inequality, about LGBTQ, about biodiversity. It’s a career choice. You can choose to make reality shows or you can choose to make WaterBear documentaries,” outlines Ellen Windemuth, CEO of WaterBear and CEO/founder of production company Off The Fence.
The WaterBear network, launched in 2020, is free to users and is dedicated, says the company, both “to the future of the planet” and to engagement. What’s more, it is live in eight countries around the world; the Netherlands, US, Canada, UK, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.
Windemuth’s output has been driven by environmental concerns for a long time but she has always been aware how, at least until recently, her concerns weren’t shared wholesale across the industry. “When you work with national broadcasters and cable satellite broadcasters, you are beholden to what advertisers would like to see, and people for many years have held back on things that I think really needed to be said. And it’s only now that we have our own network that we can finally, in our constructive way, say them.”
“WaterBear is not a Doomsday app but an app that features inspirational stories which invite people to become part of the movement,” she adds.
The company’s “new era of action” commences Monday 15 February. Windemuth and her team has hooked up with the Aegean Film Festival on ‘Rescript The Future 2021’. Described as a chance for the next generation of filmmakers, storytellers and environmentalists to rewrite the rules and be the voice of tomorrow, the objective is to unearth environmental stories through a new lens by engaging a younger generation and giving them a platform to explore these ideas, increase awareness for environmental issues and innovative solutions within Gen Z audiences, as this often has a huge influence on their parents/families.
Not a Pet is a WaterBear original series exploring the illegal wildlife pet trade, and the role social media plays in the parading and trading of exotic animals online. Episode subjects include cheetahs, tigers, birds, apes, reptiles and amphibians. It will launch on WaterBear on 5th March and will be supported by an impact campaign on TikTok.
“We really want to call to people’s attention that the illegal pet trade, the illegal wildlife trade, not only brings viruses like Covid but also creates absolute havoc in these animals’ lives,” says Windemuth. “So they put things on television like Tiger King, and in fact Tiger King is exactly the most irresponsible way of pretending you’re doing something for conservation reasons.”
“I never regret that a documentary gets made but I regret that people omitted to say that this man [Joe Exotic] killed five tigers,” she adds. “There is omission in the series… in no way should this type of private zoo be condoned, and this is a rampantly active business all over the United states. So yeah, I wish the tone [of the series] had been different.”
Five further impact productions are launching on the WaterBear platform in 2021 as part of the ‘Year of Action’ campaign including The Anti-poaching Dog Squad, The Queen of Ecuador’s Canopy, Hero Rats, Building Europe’s Yellowstone and Beaver Man.
Windemuth is partnered with around 80 NGOs, and is in the process of boarding 30 more, she points out. “I am chair of the Jackson Wild Film Festival board so I know a lot of very good people that run NGOs or communications for NGOs. In part they come to us or in part we go to them… it’s becoming an equally interactive process. We hear of a great NGO that’s doing great work. We’ll call them [or] they already know about us so they’ll sign on.”
The company has also partnered with the likes of the Redford Center and Sunny Side of the Doc. “There is a number of these industry festivals whom we are partnering with as strategic partners so that we help get each other’s messages out.”
One of the huge international successes of 2020 was the Netflix production My Octopus Teacher, which Windemuth exec-produced. Directed by Pippa Ehrlich and James Reed, the film chronicles the emotional relationship between diver and filmmaker Craig Foster and an octopus he encounters in the kelp forests off the coast of Cape Town. The doc is shortlisted for Best Documentary Feature Oscar in 2021.
Windemuth has known Foster for a long time (back in 2000 she produced his first film The Great Dance: A Hunter’s Story) and had followed the story of My Octopus Teacher very closely. The problem was that broadcasters weren’t at all interested. The story of a man who undergoes profound psychological and emotional change because of his relationship with an octopus seemed altogether too fanciful.
So the producer took it to Netflix “on a hunch”, and sent it to commissioning editor Sarah Eddleson who watched a rough cut of the film on a plane, wearing earphones. Sitting beside her was her nine-year-old son who was increasingly mesmerised by the underwater images on his mum’s computer screen.
“Sarah phoned me afterwards and she said, “Ellen I’m going to take a punt on this because my son loved it’. That’s how it became a Netflix Original.”
After a hatful of international awards and now a shortlisting for the Academy Award for Best Doc, how do Windemuth and her colleagues feel about the experience. “It’s such a joy,” she responds. “We all wake up every day with smiles on our faces.”
