Soviet Spy Satellite Series & Caviar Heist Examination Set As Part Of Podcast Partnership Between Imperative Entertainment & Vespucci

Peter White
·2 min read
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EXCLUSIVE: Imperative Entertainment and Vespucci are doubling down on their podcast partnership.

The two companies have signed a slate deal that includes three series – Operation Morning Light, The Paddlefish Caviar Heist and The Cost of Happiness.

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It comes after they previously partnered on true-crime audio series Bonaparte, which launched last year.

Operation Morning Light tells the story of how on a January night in 1978, a white light burned through the sub-Arctic sky. Cosmos 954, a nuclear-powered Soviet espionage satellite that had malfunctioned and fallen to earth. As the satellite disintegrated, it scattered dangerously radioactive debris across the vast traditional lands of the Dene, Métis, and Inuit in the Northwest Territories of Canada. Operation Morning Light explores the disaster, its impact on the land, and the resilience of the communities in the debris field.

The series is hosted by Dëneze Nakehk’o, a Denesuline and Dehcho Dene father from Denendeh.

The Paddlefish Caviar Heist is set in Warsaw, Missouri, a small, rural town of just over 2,000 people in the American Midwest. Locally, it’s known for its retro Sonic Drive-In burger joint. Very few realize that it’s the paddlefish capital of the world. But when a new group arrived driving flashy, imported cars and dropping hundreds of dollars on bait and tackle, the town became the setting for an undercover FBI operation tasked with bringing down a suspected international caviar poaching ring.

The series is hosted by Thrillist Editor-in-Chief Helen Hollyman, who is a former cook and truffle dealer.

Finally, The Cost of Happiness tells the story of billionaire Zappos founder and tech CEO Tony Hsieh, who was obsessed with happiness and helping people achieve it. After running “the world’s happiest company” for two decades, Hsieh created his experimental community — The Downtown Project — dedicated to pursuing happiness. But what do Tony’s life and death reveal about Silicon Valley’s obsession with re-imagining how society functions?

The series is hosted by Nastaran Tavakoli-Far, who created, investigated and produced the BBC’s critically-acclaimed The Orgasm Cult.

Imperative Entertainment is behind podcasts such as In the Land of Lies, Standoff, The Comeback featuring Sylvester Stallone andThe Agent. On the film and TV side, it is behind Apple’s Black Bird, starring Taron Egerton and Killers of the Flower Moon, directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

Vespucci is behind podcasts such as Spotify’s Revelations and Showtime doc 2nd Chance. It has worked with the likes of Hillary and Chelsea Clinton’s HiddenLight, Elle and Dakota Fanning’s Lewellen Pictures, and Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal’s La Corriente del Golfo.

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