Hey guys, Jana here,
Some celebrities use their status to get the best dinner reservations, vacations and all the clothes it would take at least 4 lifetimes to wear. Most of Hollywood’s elite find their own ways to give back to the society that made them household names, Leonardo DiCaprio has found his own way as a philanthropist, by giving a voice to the otherwise voiceless with his riveting and sobering documentaries. This is not the only way Leo gives back though, he serves on the boards of World Wildlife Fund, Natural Resources Defense Council, and International Fund for Animal Welfare, along with spearheading numerous public awareness campaigns and launching The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation. This is clearly a man on a mission that is making his celebrity work for him, not the other way around.
DiCaprio’s Appian Way banner has produced ‘The 11th Hour‘ and most recently ‘Virunga‘ which was nominated for a Best Documentary Oscar. His conservation themed docs will appear at festivals to excited fanfare, but once those venues are gone, there aren’t that many chances for these projects to reach the masses. Enter a little streaming service called ‘Netflix‘. The SVOD and Leo’s brand have entered a multi-year first-look deal for nonfiction projects to be aired exclusively on the service that can reach 57 million subscribers in 50 countries which will bring massive awareness to current and environmental or conservation issues.
DiCaprio will produce or exec produce all the films under the agreement, this brings another big star into the Netflix family that has the hope of bringing a mainstream component in the future. Said DiCaprio: “Working with Netflix on Virunga has sparked a shared vision about projects that we want to develop and bring to viewers. There’s never been a more critical time for our planet or more of a need for gifted storytellers to help us all make sense of the issues we face. Through this partnership with Netflix, I hope to give documentary filmmakers doing urgent and important work the chance to have their films seen immediately by audiences all around the world.”