Posted on November 28, 2012

Howard Hughes Medical Institute Announces New Production Company

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Chevy Chase, Maryland, has announced the creation of a new film and media production company that seeks to become a significant contributor in the science documentary space.

Launched as part of HHMI's $60 million television and film production initiative, Tangled Bank Studios — named after a passage in Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species — will produce films for broadcast, theatrical, and digital media covering all areas of science. Footage from Tangled Bank films and series also will be used to create classroom-ready short films for HHMI's educational media program.

As part of the launch, HHMI announced two inaugural Tangled Bank Studios productions: Your Inner Fish, a scientific adventure story based on Neil Shubin's bestselling book, and The Quest to Map the World, a three-part series produced in conjunction with National Geographic Television that tells the story of those who risked their lives to map the planet. Both films, like future Tangled Bank productions, invited an independent advisory board of scientists and experts to review program content.

"The scientific mysteries explored in these initial Tangled Bank productions possess drama that is sure to be universally appealing," said Michael Rosenfeld, the production company's executive producer. "Our goal at Tangled Bank Studios is to capture the adventure and excitement of science and share that with mass audiences via great entertainment anchored by great science."