I think that was a big barrier in the past-rightly so.”
One point they made in their pitch to potential cast members, Litzinger said, was that “there will be indigenous voices helping to tell the story. “His involvement was key,” Litzinger said, because he’s “been on a national television show for a long time, and can speak about his experiences, and can speak about the trust that he has in BBC and National Geographic.” While Life Below Zero’s cast includes Alaska Natives (the Hailstones and Ricko DeWilde), Litzinger said “it still felt that two things were missing which is more representation, an all-indigenous cast, and then a bigger focus and emphasis on indigenous behind the scenes.”Ĭasting Life Below Zero: First Alaskans took five months, and Life Below Zero’s Ricko DeWilde came aboard as consulting producer to help that process. “They wanted representation not only in the field, but behind the scenes as well,” she told me, “and asked if I’d be interested in learning a new skillset.” Monroe began as an associate story producer on season one last fall, having been recruited by a current editor, and was promoted to story producer for season two.
To learn more about how this new series was constructed, I interviewed both Litzinger and Jenna Monroe, a story producer for Life Below Zero: First Alaskans who is Diné and whose bio says she “has spent the past 20 years passing on the Native tradition of storytelling through dance, theater and now, television.” While season one of the new series takes place during winter, season two will cover winter through break-up, according to franchise showrunner Joe Litzinger. Last summer, National Geographic announced that its hit, Emmy-winning franchise Life Below Zero would expand again, and this time focus entirely on Alaska Natives, which is very different than its last spin-off, Life Below Zero: Next Generation.īefore it even premiered, Life Below Zero: First Alaskans (NatGeo, Tuesdays at 8) was renewed for a 16-episode second season, which is currently filming-and so, too, are new seasons of Life Below Zero: Next Generation and Life Below Zero: Port Protection.
0 kommentar(er)
