Black Birch EntertainmentBlack Birch Entertainment is the first of its kind—a boutique Hollywood production company that connects the best stories about the Middle East and Muslim communities with top Hollywood talent to develop and produce world-class television and film for regional and global audiences.
The Human King tells the untold story of King Hussein of Jordan, one of the most influential leaders of the modern Middle East. Rising to the throne at seventeen, he guided his fragile nation through wars, assassination attempts, and political upheaval while forging historic peace and living a life marked by romance, adventure, and personal struggle. Spanning nearly five decades of reign, the series—akin to The Crown—reveals a charismatic, conflicted monarch whose choices still shape global politics today. Hussein’s story is urgent, human, and deeply compelling.
Written by Ali Selim and Laith Majali.
THE HUMAN KING
DISCOVERY! THE SEARCH FOR ARABIAN OIL
More than 90 years ago, King Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia made the strategic decision to grant a concession to the American company SOCAL to search for oil in the barren desert of Eastern Saudi Arabia, at that time a remote and austere region where few foreigners had ventured. A small group of adventurous American engineers, geologists and oilmen rose to the challenge, undertaking a complex, risky multi-year effort that seemed on the verge of failure at many points. Based on the manuscript DISCOVERY! from Pulitzer Prize winning author Wallace Stegner, this scripted television series tells the dramatic story of how Americans and Saudis —two peoples with different religions, cultures and experiences —worked together to make a discovery that would transform Saudi Arabia, establish the largest company in human history, and change the world.
Produced in partnership with Propagate Content.
Born and raised in poverty in a rural village, Anwar Sadat became a nationalist hero among Egyptians imprisoned for fighting against British rule and working with Nasser to overthrow the unpopular King Farouk. Jehan Sadat was born to an upper middle class family in Cairo, the daughter of a British mother and Egyptian father, an interfaith marriage. Her unlikely relationship with Anwar Sadat, which began when she was 15 years old and he was 30, would have a huge impact on Egypt’s future. Based on the respective memoirs of Jehan and Anwar Sadat, this series profiles the Sadats’ complex legacy —from Jehan’s efforts to advance women’s rights, to Anwar’s decision for war in 1973 and his assassination eight years later — and their personal relationship which is central to this dramatic story of love, trauma and tragedy.