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Friday, March 29, 2024

UF alumni to film series for National Geographic

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Three UF alumni are getting paid to live out their dreams filming a new digital series for National Geographic.

The series, “Untamed,” is set to premier in March on Nat Geo Wild’s YouTube channel. It will feature 10 five-minute episodes, capturing the trio’s cross-country journey visiting diverse and iconic wildlife in the U.S.

UF alumnus Filipe DeAndrade said the goal of the series is to inspire viewers to appreciate the country’s natural wonders.

“When you really start to look at what we have here in America, it completely rivals anything else in the natural world,” the 30-year-old said. He has traveled to Australia, Africa and New Zealand in the past year.

DeAndrade, who graduated from UF in 2012 with a degree in telecommunication and a specialization in production, was first discovered by National Geographic after winning their “Wild to Inspire” short-film competition in 2014.

This summer, DeAndrade, along with friends McKenzie Barney and Brian Moghari, pitched the idea for “Untamed” at the National Geographic headquarters in Washington, D.C. The series was immediately approved.

Meghan Cassin, the executive producer of “Untamed,” said the series is proof that a career as a National Geographic filmmaker isn’t an unattainable dream.

“Filipe chased his goals and landed his dream job as a Nat Geo WILD filmmaker,” Cassin wrote in an email. “Filipe’s infectious enthusiasm for wildlife is the perfect fit for Nat Geo WILD’s digital portfolio.”

The three filmmakers became close friends at UF after constantly seeing each other in Weimer Hall’s editing labs.

“Friday and Saturday nights were spent in the lab editing, making goofy videos or falling asleep — waking up to a professor coming in at 7 a.m.,” DeAndrade said.

The crew travels by an ambulance-turned-camper, called “Florence the Manbulance, which they live out of when they’re on the road.

“It’s crazy to think that somebody is paying us to live our dream,” he said.

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