EXCLUSIVE: Pocket.watch is moving into creator-led features and has boarded wildlife filmmaker Mark Vins’ Reef to Ridge after its premiere at this year’s Toronto Film Festival.
Creator-focused studio Pocket.watch, which has shows on a wide range of streaming services and digital platforms, has teamed with Vins’ label Brave Wilderness to take on distribution on Reef to Ridge.
Brave Wilderness’ YouTube channel has over 21.6 million subs and has garnered over 6BN views. Its series Brave Wilderness: Creator Essentials, which features Vins and Coyote Peterson’s up-close wildlife encounters, is on Hulu and Paramount+ in the U.S.
Reef to Ridge is Vins’ first feature and follows an expedition across the Galápagos, from beneath the ocean to the islands’ volcanic peaks. Vins was given unprecedented access to some of the most protected areas in the Galápagos, including the summit of its tallest volcano, giving audiences an immersive look at the islands.
The film premiered at TIFF as part of the event’s first-ever Creator Festival. It will be on YouTube, with Pocket.watch across distribution elsewhere and looking for an SVOD home for the film.
“We made Reef to Ridge to take audiences into places they may never see for themselves and give them a reason to care about the wildlife that lives there,” Vins said. “Seeing audiences respond in Toronto was a powerful reminder of what these stories can do on a bigger canvas. Pocket.watch understands the community we’ve built through Brave Wilderness and shares our ambition to bring this film to new audiences.”
Pocket.watch, meanwhile, said more deals for creator-led features are in the works.
“Creators have built extraordinary relationships with their audiences, and there is a real opportunity to bring that connection to feature films,” said Chris M. Williams, Founder and CEO of Pocket.watch.
“Mark Vins and his team have made a visually striking, cinematic film with the ambition and scale to reach well beyond their established fanbase. We’re bringing our distribution expertise and platform partnerships to that opportunity, with more creator-led film announcements to come.”
