This policy was written before the first shoot and audited after each one. Any crew member can stop a shot under it. Three shots were stopped.
Filming rules we do not break
Written before the first shoot and audited after each one. Any crew member can stop a shot under them, and three shots were stopped.
Distance before footage
Minimum approach distances are set by the resident biologist, not the director. If an animal changes what it is doing because of us, the camera stops and we withdraw.
No bait, no call playback
We do not feed, lure, or draw animals with recorded calls. Every behaviour in the series happened whether or not a camera was present.
Local crew on every shoot
Twenty-two of our thirty-one field roles were filled by people living inside the areas we filmed. Fixers are credited on screen as crew, not as service providers.
Locations withheld
Coordinates for denning, nesting, and rhino sequences are stripped from all published material. We will not trade an animal's safety for a location tag.
A fixed share of every licensing fee goes back to the ranger units and community trusts that made the filming possible — committed at contract stage, not decided afterwards.
Read the policyWhat the policy cost us
Every figure below is taken from the production log, not from the press pack.
Across nine field trips, the longest running 71 consecutive days without resupply.
Roughly 297 hours of footage shot for every hour that made the final cut.
Every permit secured through resident partners, with local crew on each shoot day.
Nine sequences reviewed by external biologists and confirmed as first-of-kind footage.
What reviewers said after the festival cut
It refuses the usual triumphant score and lets you sit in the silence of an animal deciding what to do next. That restraint is the whole achievement.Marisol Vane The Evening Review
The episode notes tell you exactly what was not filmed and why. I cannot think of another natural history series willing to do that.Dr Ingrid Solberg Field Ecology Quarterly
Eleven weeks with one herd, and you feel every one of them. By the final crossing you know the animals well enough to be frightened for them.Callum Reyes Northbank Film Journal
A season that trusts its audience to wait. The Arctic episode alone justifies the three years it took to make.Hana Delacroix Continental Broadcast
One letter a month, sent from wherever the crew is
Shoot notes, unpublished stills, and next season's schedule before it goes public. No sponsorship, no forwarding, one click to stop it.
Roughly 11 letters a year. We have never sent two in a week.