Last September, Van Zeller moved on to a new chapter in her career following the award-winning Nat Geo screening of Trafficked With Mariana van Zeller. The Emmy, Peabody, and DuPont Award-winning journalist has launched a new independent production company, The Hidden Third.
The news was announced by Van Zeller and Mac Media, a Los Angeles and Lisbon-based production company founded by filmmakers Darren Foster, Jeff Plunkett, Alex Simmons, Christina Costantini and Van Zeller.
The Hidden Third shares the same name as a podcast about true crime and underground finance that Van Zeller launched in October 2025. The idea for the new company was born out of a desire to keep the production team from “Trafficked” together for a new venture.
“Trafficked” ended its final season on a high note, receiving 25 nominations at the News & Documentary Emmy Awards. Overall, the show has won nine Emmy Awards and received a total of 88 Emmy nominations.
“I am more convinced than ever that we have only scratched the surface of the stories we can tell over five incredible seasons of Trafficked,” Van Zeller said. “Now, with The Hidden Third, we have the freedom to build on our success as we launch an independent media company and continue our efforts to tell these incredibly complex and difficult stories through journalism, video, podcasting, books and live programming.”
The storytelling now focuses on “the multitrillion-dollar black and white market, which accounts for up to a third of the global economy, and is one of the most significant and under-reported forces shaping modern life.” Season 2 of the podcast is already available, and a new “The Hidden Third” Patreon subscription launches next week. (According to The Hidden Third, the name comes from what economists call the shadow economy, in which about 35% of the world’s economic activity takes place in black or black markets.)
The idea was to partner with Muck Media to launch The Hidden Third. The idea is that the new company (including Pateron) will function as a company that engages directly with its audience. Meanwhile, Muck Media will continue to focus on premium documents and scripts across a variety of themes, including science, music, sports, comedy, art, and pop culture, and will stick to traditional development and distribution mediums.
“The two companies share DNA, and the relationship is designed to be generative. The stories that surface through The Hidden Third’s journalism and podcasts will naturally feed into Muck’s production plans, creating a pipeline from original reporting to premium screen storytelling,” Van Zeller said.
In addition to 25 News & Doc Emmy nominations, this year’s “Trafficked” was nominated for a Peabody Award.
“Through ‘Trafficked,’ our Muck Media team has built an incredible infrastructure and a deep network of talent that continues to produce groundbreaking stories, and the team will continue to work on exciting new stories through The Hidden Third,” said Darren Foster, Muck Media partner and executive producer of ‘Trafficked.’ “Some of Mack’s most successful projects started by betting on himself, and The Hidden Third gives us the freedom to do just that.”
