BecomingX, a personal development company co-founded by Bear Grylls, has partnered with family edutainment powerhouse Da Vinci to Become extraordinarya biographical series featuring inspiring life stories and insights into success, including from Hollywood stars such as Julia Roberts, Channing Tatum and Courteney Cox.
Interviewees also include sports legends such as Roger Federer; politicians; astronaut Tim Peake; explorer Ranulph Fiennes; well-known figures from other fields and lesser-known people with inspiring success stories.
Grylls will lead the program and introduce the “ambitious, real-life series that demonstrates the skills, character and resilience it takes to succeed,” the partners said Thursday.
“Become extraordinary will encourage young people to dream big and learn what it really takes to realize their potential,” said the partners. “The studio-style biographical entertainment series will present interview-driven stories featuring some of the world’s most iconic people, as well as lesser-known, but equally powerful stories to tell. From Olympic gold medalists and Oscar winners to presidents, Nobel Peace Prize winners, scientists and adventurers — Become extraordinary promises to be a healthy dose of real-life inspiration.”
The collaboration agreement includes three seasons of 10 24-minute episodes, with pre-production starting this month. Each episode of the show features two interviews, with commentary and discussion from in-studio presenters such as Blue Peter host Mwaka “Mwaksy” Mudenda.
“There are no shortcuts to success, but there are some secrets,” Grylls said in a statement. “We wanted to create a series where kids and families around the world can hear firsthand from some of the world’s greatest achievers and realize that they, too, can achieve extraordinary things.”
The show is planned to premiere on Da Vinci channels in the spring or summer. Da Vinci’s mission is to deliver content including factual entertainment, animation, and scripted dramas “that create a smarter, friendlier world”. The company has more than 550 distribution partners for its SVOD and free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channels, mobile apps for kids and other services in more than 100 countries and says it has more than 70 million millennial and generation Z families reached. Da Vinci recently signed a US deal with Sling TV and TCL.
“Our big goal for BecomingX is to help people understand what it is real needs to succeed and to give them the confidence and skills to follow their dreams, whatever they may be. We share the real stories of the world’s most inspiring and iconic people – the hard truth about how they got to where they are today and how they overcame the challenges along the way,” Grylls shared. The Hollywood Reporter by email. “Become extraordinary is about helping young people learn the life lessons of those who have gone down the path before them and unraveling what it really takes to realize your potential.
He added: “Our message is very simple. It is that everyone has the potential to achieve extraordinary things. We really believe the world should move beyond the message that ‘anyone can do anything’ and focus instead on equipping people with the real skills and attitudes to succeed. We want people to watch Become extraordinary and realize that what really matters are ambition, hard work, determination, resilience, relationships, collaboration, creativity, kindness… personal traits that we don’t really see education systems helping people learn. Not everyone will become an Olympic champion, Hollywood star or CEO, nor should we try to set these as goals in life, but everyone can dream big, get better at what they do and help others do it. We want to help young people see ‘success’ as living a fulfilled and happy life doing the things they love, whatever that means for them.”
When asked about the Hollywood stars appearing in the series, Grylls said, “I’ve been so lucky to have worked with so many great people over the years, some of whom we’ve already filmed with BecomingX. We have a long list of inspiring people that we’re filming — Hollywood stars, presidents, Olympic gold medalists, top scientists… are with passion, dedication and humility. Julia, Courteney and Chan are good examples of this. They are such incredible, genuine and caring people, and we are proud to be able to share their stories with so many other inspiring people from around the world.”
Da Vinci’s Luca Fiore
Thanks to da Vinci
Da Vinci COO Estelle Lloyd emphasized the hunger for this kind of programming. “There is a huge gap in the market for real-life, inspirational content that families can enjoy together and learn what it takes to be successful,” said the director. “We are super excited to join forces with BecomingX to bring this masterclass-style entertainment series exclusively to our Da Vinci channels and streaming app.”
Luca Fiore, content director at Da Vinci, explains THR that the company will also make the full interviews with personalities Become extraordinary available to its viewers. “We really want to focus on these great stories and these great people and the qualities that have made them who they are.”
But it’s not just about the biggest and most famous names. “A big element we want to show is that diversity in realizing one’s potential,” he explains. “It’s not just about certain types of personalities or certain points of view, or coming from certain industries. Yes, there are the A-listers that everyone recognizes, but there will also be a lot of people that young people have never heard of.”
BecomingX co-founder and CEO Paul Gurney also emphasizes the importance of a wide variety of stories and personalities. “A lot of young people still look at the big screen stars and movie stars and say ‘wow, these people are amazing’, but we almost want to go against the stereotype of what success actually looks like and have a range of people from completely different backgrounds ”, he says THR. “Obviously it’s hugely helpful for us to have some of these big stars. It’s a great pleasure to work with brilliant people and of course it brings extra excitement to the show. But this was about deliberately showing people from much of society and saying, ‘Look, whatever you want to do, here are some things that can help you get where you want’. So it’s not just the big names, but also the former military veteran who lost three limbs and has devoted his life to fundraising and helping others. It is the current fire chief in the UK who used to be homeless as a teenager.”
BecomingX has filmed over 60 interviews to date, which are also on its website, “and we plan to film many, many more,” he adds. But by collaborating with Da Vinci, a presentation with improved production is possible. For example, Gurney tells THR that the series “will see young presenters interact with the audience” by summarizing and discussing some of their conclusions from interviews taken from the show, while “Bear’s role almost introduces this as an inspirational father figure.”
Paul Gurney of BecomingX
Thanks to BecomingX
Inspiration has been at the heart of BecomingX’s vision from day 1. “There are a lot of negative, difficult things in the world,” Gurney explains. “After the pandemic, that hasn’t really changed. You only have to look at the newspaper to see some of the challenges young people face. So our work is about providing that positivity, that inspiration or energy to young people to say, ‘I sort of trust these people, I know what they’ve done, and I admire them and I want to do the same.’ And it’s about getting away from all the negativity that’s out there on social media and all the negative influences.”
Fiore agrees. “What I love about the interviews is that you see everyone confront their down times and adversity. But it’s the determination and the kind of ‘glass half full’ perseverance that emerges from the stories that is really important and should be emphasized,” he says. THR. “There will be adversity for all of us, but turning that around and really using those qualities and those things that we love to make sure we get out of that is what we need to do. That’s what I want families to see.”
