‘Queer Eye’ Producer Scout & Bloomberg Team On Docuseries About Airbnb’s Secretive Safety Team:

EXCLUSIVE: Airbnb’s damage control strategy when things go wrong during a vacation stay is to be explored in a docuseries from Queer Eye producer Scout Productions and Bloomberg Media.

The two companies have teamed up to produce the series, which is based on Bloomberg Businessweek’s recent cover story – Airbnb is Spending Millions of Dollars to Make Nightmares Go Away, written by Olivia Carville.

The series will look at the company’s overall operational procedures regarding safety incidents and criminal activity at some of its six million plus rentals around the world and will uncover the high-stakes workload of Airbnb’s secretive trust-and-safety team.

Through interviews with several former safety team agents and more than 20 Airbnb guests and hosts who have experienced incidents at listed properties, the series explores how a brand known for hospitality and comfort has developed an elite rapid response team to handle vacations that turn into nightmares. Safety agents quietly expose con artists, de-escalate user disputes, support survivors of sexual assault and help hosts clean up after violent crimes or deaths occur during a stay.

It will focus on cases from hidden video cameras in bedrooms to sexual assaults that have resulted in million-dollar payouts by Airbnb.

Michael Williams, David Collins, Rob Eric and Joel Chiodi serve as executive producers for Scout Productions.

Scout is best known for reality series including Netflix’s Queer Eye, HBO Max’s Legendary and The Hype as well as upcoming fantasy competition series The Quest for Disney+. But it has also built up a growing documentary business with Fog of War, Errol Morris’ look at Robert McNamara’s role in Vietnam, HBO Max’s Equal, chronicling early LGBTQ heroes and Title IX: 37 Words that Changed America, which explores the cultural impact of the Title IX legislation through NBA and NCAA analyst Candace Parker. It is currently working on docs around Barney the Dinosaur for Peacock and an investigation on the Hillsong Church, in partnership with Vanity Fair.

“We were immediately enthralled by Olivia Carville’s story, investigating one of the most globally recognized hospitality brands, and this partnership with Bloomberg Media will allow us to uncover the truths behind Airbnb’s process for addressing crimes,” said Joel Chiodi, Head of Documentaries and SVP of Strategic Development at Scout Productions. “This series is a perfect fit for Scout’s documentary slate, focused on captivating, authentic and relatable real-life stories.”

“Scout Productions has a strong track record of producing quality documentaries,” said Travis Winkler, Head of Growth and Business Development, Bloomberg Media. “We look forward to working with them to tell this important story as a docuseries.”

Scout Productions and Bloomberg Media are represented by WME.

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