Later today (tomorrow in Taiwan), “free solo” mountaineer Alex Honnold will begin his ascent of the 1,677-foot Taipei 101 skyscraper by carefully ascending the tower’s slab base without ropes. But it’s simple. From there he must climb onto the central section of the building, which is designed like an eight-story “bamboo box,” and quickly climb up these overhangs.
In the corner of those boxes is a dragon figure, which Honnold rides to advance to the next level. This is the most visually dramatic method of ascent, but leaves you fully exposed with a waterfall directly below. Additionally, there is an overhang at the top of Taipei 101 where Honnold’s legs dangle, requiring him to use his upper body strength to scale up.
“There’s this huge steel ring section that we call the crown jewel of Taipei 101. He says you might hang your butt in there,” says James Smith, head of adventure at Plimsoll Prods. “It’s like putting your knees in a hole, and just leaning back and resting and stretching your arms gets the blood circulating.”
Are you still nervous? If not, just wait until Mr. Honnold gets to the small 4-foot-tall platform at the top of Taipei 101. “It’s natural for climbers to want to summit properly,” Smith says. “You want to be the best person by miles.”
oh yeah. A lot can go wrong, and a lot can go right, but clearly Netflix and Plimsoll executives are hoping for the latter, since “Skyscraper Live” kicks off Friday night at 8pm ET (9am Saturday in Taipei). “There’s a big focus on how to ensure this is interesting, but obviously the other element is safety,” Plimsoll-Prods says. CEO Grant Mansfield. “I’ve chaired as many safety meetings as creative meetings.”
The climbing date in January was chosen because Taiwan is currently in the dry season, but there is still a chance of rain, with current forecasts calling for a 30% chance of rain the morning Honnold begins his climb.
“The main thing in our contingency plan is to probably delay the broadcast by an hour, maybe a little bit longer,” Smith said. “If we get a light rain and the building is dry, the temperatures here are pretty good and we often have a breeze, so the building will dry relatively quickly. If it’s deemed too wet and there’s too much moisture in the building, we’ll probably postpone it to the next day. We can delay it another day if we need to. Obviously, Alex has to be 100% comfortable with himself and the situation. And our safety team has to do that as well.”
Jeff Gaspin, vice president of unscripted series at Netflix, likens the live broadcast slot to “a space shuttle launch. If for some reason we’re not there that day, we’re still going to be there for several days afterward.” “But then there will probably be a bigger schedule change. April to September is the rainy season, so there are only a limited number of times of the year when you can actually climb the tower.”
Those who watched Nat Geo’s Oscar-winning documentary “Free Solo” in 2019 saw Honnold call off his groundbreaking climb to El Capitan, feeling unprepared at first. Similarly, Smith, Mansfield and Gaspan have repeatedly told players there is no shame in deferring if they don’t feel like it.
“We have a two-tick system,” Mansfield said. “First and foremost, he has to be happy with this climb. And we told him over and over again, even though it’s live and there’s a lot of TV people there, if you don’t feel good, there’s no pressure to do this climb.” The second check is that he says, “Yes, I’ll try,” but if something bothers us and we get into a situation, we have the right to say “no.” He won’t be in that building unless we all get comfortable. But there was a huge amount of planning behind this. He said he was the healthiest he had ever been. He’s really trained for this. I have a good feeling at the moment. ”
Joe DeMaio will direct Skyscraper Live, and Al Berman will serve as showrunner and executive producer. Mansfield also acknowledged that risk management firm Secret Compass is a big part of Plimsoll’s strategy in mitigating potential problems. “They are recognized experts in this field,” he says.
“As you can imagine, every scenario is carefully planned,” Mansfield added. “The main focus was on keeping Alex safe. This is a building he knows well. It’s a very good building to climb. If we decide he’s too tired when he’s on top of the building, we can also take him down from there. But Alex really knows what he’s doing. He’s an extraordinary kind of athlete.”
If the unthinkable happens, then yes, Netflix is planning for the worst-case scenario. “That’s obviously a conversation that everyone is having,” Gaspin says. “Imagine what we would do. It’s no big deal. We disconnect. There’s a 10-second delay. No one expects something like that to happen, no one wants to see it. But we disconnect. It’s that simple.”
Of course, no one expected that. Observers believe Taipei 101 will be a no-brainer for Honnold, given the complexity of some of his past free solo climbs.
“I think the important thing is that we trust Alex,” Mansfield says. “As he says in some packages, he doesn’t have anything like a death wish. He’s an incredibly talented climber and an elite athlete. It would be an insult to say he takes crazy risks. I don’t think he’s ever denied that he’s scared. But he found a way to handle it and manage it. What gives me peace of mind in that control room is knowing that the show is very well planned. And if he’s going to climb that building, Alex will be completely confident that he can climb it. And if he is completely confident, we are also completely confident. ”
This live event is the culmination of what Honnold has been aiming for for years. In fact, he had announced in 2013 that he would do a similar climb on Taipei 101 live, but the National Geographical Organization decided to cancel it due to concerns about its safety.
But in recent years, Plimsoll, which is part of ITV Studios, has developed a close relationship with Honnold, collaborating on series such as ‘The Devil’s Climb’ and ‘Arctic Rise with Alex Honnold’ for both Disney+ and National Geographic. Plimsoll is also a big force in the live arena, with shows such as Earth Live and Yellowstone Live, both on Nat Geo. So when Mr. Honnold told Mr. Smith that he was still itching to make the Taipei 101 dream a reality, the people of Plimsoll got to work.
“We had the right idea at the right time,” Mansfield says. “The point is, if you’re not doing live coverage of a sporting event, you’ve got to create something of considerable scale. I mean, a guy who climbs a really tall building without ropes is a pretty compelling proposition, right? When you have a guy who’s probably the greatest mountaineer of all time, and a guy we’ve built a really close relationship with over the last four years, all the stars aligned.”
Knowing how obsessed Honnold was with Taipei 101, Smith knew it had to be the skyscraper. Additionally, the more I researched this tower, the more I realized it was perfect for events like this. “It feels like it was made for free solo climbing,” he says. There are many complexities. Some skyscrapers can be very uniform and boring. But this has had its twists and turns, and small challenges at almost every level. As Alex himself says, this is a world-class climbing goal and well worth the climb. ”
However, securing Taipei 101 for the special performance was not easy. “Taipei 101 was always our first choice, but we started looking at other buildings around the world in case we couldn’t find this one. It took us a while to get into the room and actually convince ourselves that this was a great idea,” Smith says.
Meanwhile, at Netflix, even before Mr. Honnold and Mr. Plimsoll proposed the idea for “Skyscraper Live,” the streamer was looking for live stunt events that resembled classic TV moments, like Evel Knievel’s 1974 attempt to cross the Snake River Canyon on a motorcycle.
“All of this sounds scary and scary, but these guys are experts and this is what they do for a living,” Gaspin says. “We heard a lot of different voices, and then Alex’s voice came in. I was a fan of the movie Free Solo, and the idea of him climbing this building was terrifying to me, but thrilling at the same time. This one really stood out to me as I was choosing among the several ideas that came up.”
Of course, it had to be live. Netflix has been trying to corner this space in recent years with WWE, the NFL on Christmas Day, boxing events, a roast of Tom Brady, and now even a reboot of “Star Search.” “If you don’t do it live, it’s just part of the news,” Gaspin says. “That’s not what Netflix needs. One of the reasons you want to go live is that there’s some risk involved. It just makes for a more engaging viewing experience.”
Live TV is such a priority for Netflix that the company hired ESPN’s Elle Duncan as its first sports anchor. Her first gig will be hosting “Skyscraper Live,” where she’s “watching someone do something that could potentially kill someone, and at the same time trying to entertain people,” she recently told Variety.
It’s also a logistical feat for producers, who say Taipei 101 is well-suited for production because the dragon-like structure’s features create good camera angles. It’s going to be a marathon for the special’s four main cameramen, too. When photographing Honnold, as he passes them, the cameraman sprints to the elevator and climbs back up on him to resume filming. “They’re going to jump over each other,” Smith says. “It looks great on paper, but the next challenge is to see if it actually works.”The creators are also using helicopters with remote cameras, drones and stabilizing cameras on the upper floors.
“I love the process of live television,” says Smith. “I love the careful planning where everything comes together in the moment. It’s more like putting on a play or a live concert. I love the fact that you have to spend months getting into every detail and thinking of all the different scenarios. But when you’re on the air, it’s all about being in the moment, reacting, and making decisions very quickly.”
Meanwhile, for Netflix viewers who can’t watch “Skyscraper Live,” the streamer has asked Plimsoll to quickly put together a shortened version of the broadcast featuring highlights. And in fact, a short post-game version of “Skyscraper Live” might even come in handy for Gaspin himself. Gaspin himself admits he was a little scared of the stunt.
“I feel a little dizzy, so just hearing that idea scared me,” he says. “To be honest, I don’t know how much to watch. It doesn’t really make me anxious, but it really does!”
