In the latest entry of our ongoing series, Screen Rant’s Ryan George reveals what (probably) happened in the pitch meeting for Netflix’s wild documentary series Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness. The series focuses on zoo owner Joe Maldonado-Passage, better known as Joe Exotic, who collected hundreds of big cats at the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park in Oklahoma.
While some of Netflix’s docuseries can feel like the story is being stretched to fill the episodes’ running time, the details about the life of Joe Exotic and his various associates are so insane that Tiger King barely has time to cover them all. The series doesn’t even get around to mentioning, for example, the fact that Joe Exotic attempted to create a sabertooth tiger by cross-breeding tigers, lions, tigers and tiligers until he ended up with hybrids that weighed more than 1000 pounds. And the employee who got their arm ripped off and returned to work five days later is barely more than a footnote in the story.
Principally, Tiger King is about the rivalry between Joe Exotic and his greatest nemesis, Big Cat Rescue owner Carole Baskin. Though both of them keep big cats and make money off visitors to their animal parks, Baskin takes issue with Joe Exotic breeding cubs for petting and sale. Joe Exotic’s hatred of Carole Baskin escalates from violently executing effigies of her on his YouTube show to actually hiring someone to kill her, which is what ultimately landed him in prison. So, how would you go about pitching a story as crazy as this?
Tiger King landed on Netflix just as countries worldwide were being put into lockdown and many people were no longer able to go into work, which means that it’s become the second-most talked about phenomenon of recent weeks – just behind the coronavirus pandemic itself. As the stars of Tiger King have each given their take on the docuseries the hype has been kept alive, and now there’s another episode on the way.
From Making a Murderer to Cheer, Netflix has seen huge success with its long-form documentaries in the past. Tiger King, however, may be unrivalled in its cast of colorful characters, the controversy attached, and the intensity of discussion among viewers. Another show based on the story, called Joe Exotic and starring Kate McKinnon as Carole Baskin, was announced as being in development last fall, and this massive boost in interest is sure to get it picked up quickly.
