‘Drive To Survive’ Producer Box To Box Races Into New Genres Following Sports Success, Eyes Scripted Push & Investment
20.09.2023 - 15:53
/ deadline.com
Box to Box, the production company behind Netflix’s Formula 1: Drive To Survive, has cornered the sports docuseries market with its breakout docuseries and similar projects in the world of golf, tennis, cycling and rugby.
The company, founded by Amy and Senna producer James Gay-Rees and Paul Martin, who produced HBO’s Maradona, has also made a number of music documentaries including Apple’s 1971: The Year That Music Changed Everything.
But it has also been dabbling in new areas including corporate true-crime series with Apple’s Wanted: The Escape of Carlos Ghosn and is looking at other weird and wonderful stories for its documentary slate as well as a new push into scripted and a potential investment drive.
“We looked at sport as an area, particularly in the premium space, that felt underserved,” Martin told Deadline. “You had ESPN, which did 30 for 30 and HBO doing Hard Knocks once a year. But we felt there was a ton of opportunity for really well done, premium storytelling in the sports space. I don’t think we expected Drive to Survive to suddenly become this thing that was bigger than just a just a TV show. But we definitely sensed that there was an opportunity in that space. Then Drive To Survive became the right show at the right time and probably fast tracked where we are.”
Gay-Rees added that after the success of Drive to Survive, many other sports leagues “wanted that uplift”. “It’s not hard for us because we’re both big, big sports fans. We’re not dealing in sort of lifestyle programming, although there’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s just a sweet spot for us and we’ve had enormous fun making more of them,” he said.
DRIVE TO SURVIVE
Formula 1: Drive to Survive is heading into its sixth season. The show,