Emmy-Award Winning Director and Producer Ben Simms signed an official deal with WME, the production company behind Oprah’s The Life You Want Weekend in 2014 and recipient of the Agency of Year Award from the Billboard Live Music Festival in 2019. Ben Simms is likely best-known for his work on You vs. Wild: Out Cold, an interactive program that premiered on Netflix in 2021 and follows the viewer-controlled character through the after-effects of a plane crash that causes survival expert Bear Grylls to lose his memory.
Simms recently won an Emmy Award in Outstanding Interactive Media for a Daytime Program for his work on the show, which has a 5.4 out of 10 rating on IMDb. Aside from his work on You vs. Wild: Out Cold, Ben Simms is currently in production for season 7 of Running Wild with Bear Grylls with National Geographic and Disney+, according to Deadline. Simms’ past works have also earned him Primetime Emmy nominations for You vs. Wild (2019) – nominated for Outstanding Original Interactive Program 2019 – and Running Wild with Bear Grylls, nominated for Outstanding Structured Reality Program 2021.
The History Behind Ben Simms and WME
WME, or William Morris Endeavor, markets itself as “the longest-running talent agency,” and given that the original agency was founded in 1898, they aren’t wrong. The William Morris Agency (WMA) was founded in New York City in 1898 and featured talents like Charlie Chaplin, Marilyn Monroe, and Elvis Presley. In 2009, the WMA merged with Endeavor, a boutique agency founded in 1995, to form WME in the form we know it today.
Since its merging, WME has promoted and partnered with TV personalities like Oprah Winfrey and bands like The Killers, Pearl Jam, and The Foo Fighters, along with producers and directors like Ben Simms. The company has been named one of Fortune’s “25 Most Important Private Companies” and Fast Company’s “50 Most Innovative Companies”.
Regarding his new deal with WME, Ben Simms told Deadline, “I’m super excited to be joining WME. The team has incredible global reach and I look forward to doing big things with them.”
You vs. Wild: Out Cold, directed by Ben Simms, is currently available on Netflix, as is the series You vs. Wild. Running Wild with Bear Grylls is currently available on Disney+.
