Renowned factual indie Nutopia has launched Youtopia, the working name for a new digital-first studio taking premium factual entertainment direct to consumers through YouTube, backed by partnerships with A-list stars and blue-chip brands.
The venture will see talent share creative control over their projects, with a stake in what their shows earn.
Nutopia founder and CEO Jane Root (pictured) set out the ambition at Edinburgh TV Festival today. “We love working for Disney and we love working for Netflix,” she said. “But everybody wants some skin in the game now, and that includes the stars. These are people who’ve spent their careers being hired to make other people’s things. The feeling that they don’t get to do quite what they want to do is a big deal for them, and that’s what we’re answering.”
Root announced that Youtopia’s slate includes Trevor Noah’s World Tour, a travelogue made in partnership with Noah and Day Zero Productions. The series was the centrepiece of YouTube’s “YouTube is TV Now” Brandcast presentation earlier this year, hosted by Noah himself.
Root also named Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum among the stars Youtopia is working with, with further series to be announced.
Simon Willgoss, Nutopia’s Chief Creative Officer, said: “The people we work with have enormous reach, but they also have real passions and stories they’ve never found the right home for. Meanwhile the audiences we know well are increasingly moving to YouTube, and watching in new ways, including on TV screens. We’re not trying to replicate what already works there, we’re building for its next stage, and putting those two things together feels like the obvious next move for us.”
Nutopia is known for premium factual series including Welcome to Earth with Will Smith for Disney+ and One Strange Rock for National Geographic. Root founded the company in 2008 after roles as president of Discovery Networks and Controller of BBC Two.
