101 Studios has partnered up with Grain Media (two-time Academy Award winner) and the Miami Herald (23-time Pulitzer Prize-winning Miami Herald) to produce the feature documentary. Surfside Survival, which promises to tell the definitive story of the Surfside, Florida condo collapse and the crucial journalistic mission to search for the truth behind it, via unique access and never-seen-before perspectives.
The Champlain Towers South building, Surfside, Florida, collapsed in the early hours of June 24, 2021. This was one of the most tragic building disasters of modern history. A fortunate few would be extricated alive, but 98 victims—including children as young as one—were pulled lifeless from the ruins.
The Herald’s coverage of the disaster—recently awarded the Pulitzer Prize in the Breaking News category—will serve as the basis for the doc, which will go to the visceral heart of the disaster—sitting alongside survivors, first-responders and desperate relatives; reliving journalists’ and engineers’ frantic quest for answers; revealing the turbulent history of Miami—the riots, the drugs, the bribes and the condo boom; and forensically examining all the prime suspects that may have contributed to the condo collapse. As the twists and turns of the investigation play out, one of the most striking tragedies uncovered is that this crisis might have been averted—and the reasons why it wasn’t exposes profound truths about how profit so easily trumps human life.
“As a newsroom, we poured our hearts into the breaking news and the ongoing daily coverage, and subsequent investigative coverage, of the Champlain Towers South condominium collapse story,”Monica Richardson, Executive Editor of Miami Herald “It was our story to tell because the people and the families in Surfside who were impacted by this unthinkable tragedy are a part of our community.”
“This story is obviously about an unthinkable tragedy, but it is also one that is a testament to the power of the human spirit and the importance of tenacious journalism fighting for the truth,” said 101 Studios COO David Hutkin. “We are so proud to be partnering with the Herald and Grain Media to bring this high-stakes mystery to audiences in a way that has never been seen before.”
“It’s always a huge responsibility to tell stories of painful human tragedies like Surfside,” added Grain Media’s co-founder Orlando von Einsiedel. “For us, the Herald’s unwavering search for answers and the survivors and relatives’ battle for justice makes this a powerful story of resilience and the real value we place on life.”
101 Studios was founded in 2019 and produces Emmy-nominated series, including Yellowstone, Mayor of Kingstown, 1883And the future George & Tammy, Tulsa Kings, LionessAnd Bass Reeves. It also oversees the management of Sports Illustrated Studios. The platform showcases the most engaging stories, characters, moments, and moments from sports past, present, and future. Upcoming projects include Paradise FoundBased on the true story Rick Prinz (high school football coach)and a documentary about the sexual abuse and cover-up at Ohio State University, produced with George Clooney and Grant Heslov’s Smokehouse Pictures.
Grain Media is a London-based production company which has been recognized since its 2006 founding with two Academy Awards, an Emmy, a BAFTA, a Peabody and a duPont-Columbia Award for outstanding journalism, among other accolades. Its achievements include the Academy Award-winning and BAFTA award-winning Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re A Girl) for A&E Networks; Academy Award winner The White HelmetsNetflix: Emmy-winning, Academy Award-nominated and Emmy-winning Netflix VirungaNetflix: The Emmy-nominated two-time nominee Lost and FoundNational Geographic’s BIFA-winning feature doc EvelynEmmy-nominated for Netflix India’s Forbidden LoveAl Jazeera English, BIFA-nominated Seahorse – The Dad Who Gave Life to His DaughterBBC Sundance short Skateistan: To live and skate in Kabul; award-winning feature doc Bruce Lee and The Lost BoysMubi; Grierson-nominated Tigers: Hunting for the TraffickersBBC: Hit true crime series Bollywood’s DeathBBC True Crime feature DocThe PhantomNetflix; IDA Award-shortlisted feature doc Convergence – Courage in a CrisisNetflix; and the SIMA award-winning docu-short From Devil’s BreathProduced for Time Studios by Leonardo DiCaprio and MSNBC by Leonardo DiCaprio
The Miami Herald is a award-winning journalist serving South Florida, Latin America, and the Florida Keys since 1903. The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald are published in print and online in English and Spanish. They also publish via social media using multimedia storytelling, including video, podcasts, live community events, and multimedia storytelling. While the Herald’s websites reach an average of 18.5 million unique visitors monthly and hundreds of thousands of visitors via social platforms, boasting journalism that has won hundreds of awards, the outlet is most proud of its efforts to make South Florida a better place to live by revealing corruption, holding the powerful accountable, giving voice to residents and revealing potential solutions to community problems.