RMC Découverte (France) commissions Stuck In The Suez — Dredging a Supersize Cargo Ship

London, April 15th 2021

BossaNova, the new content creation, funding and distribution company, has announced its latest investment and partnership on a quick turnaround hour-long doc from specialist factual indie, Factual Factory, part of the Satisfaction Group in France.

Stuck In The Suez, Dredging a Supersize Cargo Ship was ordered by RMC Networks, and is exec produced by Rodolphe Guignard with BossaNova taking worldwide distribution rights.

The documentary investigates the origins of the chaos that ensued when the Ever Given, one of the world’s largest cargo ships transporting 20,000 containers through one of the most critical waterways on the planet, was hit by a mighty sandstorm. Stuck in the mud and sand, the four-hundred-meter-long vessel instantly brought much of the world’s global trade to a halt with hundreds of ships backed up on either side, creating a catastrophic logjam with a daily price tag of $10 billion dollars.

The film chronicles every step of the dramatic rescue weaving together dramatic archival footage, CGI, and key interviews with those who were on the front lines and how an innovative combination of technology and brute force ultimately saved the day.

Rodolphe Guignard, global head of factual documentaries at Factual Factory said:

Being reactive to current affairs and providing viewers with a profound insight into major events is an essential value. The relationship of trust built with Paul over the years and the expertise of his team at BossaNova allow us to be ambitious and to deliver premium quality content in record time.

Paul Heaney, co-founder and CEO of BossaNova said: ‘Stuck in the Suez is exactly the type of project BossaNova was created for - to be able to tell the important stories of our time to global audiences in a way that is flexible, creative and collaborative. Rodolphe has huge editorial and business expertise in facilitating co-productions from his time at RMC and has always been integral to our Development Day initiatives ;in fact RMC were the first channel to take part . We are able to work closely together to tell this historically crucial tale to the rest of the world’.

This news follows quickly on the recent announcement from BossaNova of its first volume catalogue acquisition in the form of a 600+ hours deal with two of Australia and New Zealand’s largest independently owned factual producers, CJZ and Greenstone.

Factual Factory is new documentary division of Satisfaction Group, France’s leading independent television production company. Factual Factory’s output is geared towards science, history, technology and ancient civilizations. Founded in 2010 by Arthur Essebag - co-founder and former President of Endemol France - Satisfaction Group produces 1,000 hours of programming annually, ranging from game shows and magazine formats, to documentaries and reality TV. In July 2020, Satisfaction Group partnered with Sony Pictures Television to benefit from exclusive access to its catalogue of non-scripted formats in France.

RMC Découverte is a factual entertainment channel with unique positioning in the French audiovisual sector. Stéphane Sallé de Chou, CEO said: ‘Due to the strength of our DNA devoted to documentaries, RMC Découverte alongside RMC Story are the channels which invest the most in volume and growth in this area.The interest in this kind of program, which bounces on the news, was immediately approved.’