Blue Ant Media restructures studios business following acquisitions spree
Mark Bishop, left, and Matt Hornburg
Canada’s Blue Ant Media is restructuring its studios business following its recent acquisition of Thunderbird Entertainment and certain Boat Rocker assets, leading to the closures of Great Pacific Media and ProperTV.
Blue Ant Studios will now operate under a genre-based model, under the continued leadership of co-presidents Mark Bishop and Matt Hornburg, with Bishop leading content monetisation, rights and commercial strategy, and Hornburg overseeing content strategy, development and production.
The kids, family and YA division will be led by Jennifer Twiner McCarron, president, reporting to Hornburg. McCarron’s portfolio will encompass scripted, animation and youth-focused content. Atomic Cartoons and Jam Filled Entertainment will continue to operate under their established brands within this pillar.
McCarron’s direct reports will include Atomic president Joel Bradley, Jam Filled president Lori McIndoe and Jam Filled exec VP of production Tori Coulthart. Lindsay MacAdam will continue to lead and grow the scripted business on behalf of Blue Ant.
The unscripted division will combine the company’s factual and lifestyle content into a single, unified group.
The consolidated division is “designed to provide a more streamlined approach to engaging with buyers, financing content and supporting long-running and returning series” across factual, lifestyle and documentary programming, according to Blue Ant.
The unscripted team will be led by Cathie James, who has taken on an expanded role as executive VP of content, alongside Lesia Capone, who is growing her remit as exec VP of production. Both will report to Hornburg.
As part of the changes, Great Pacific Media and ProperTV will close down, with Great Pacific CEO David Way leaving the organisation to take on advisory and consulting work.
It comes after Blue Ant last month finalised a deal worth roughly C$89m (US$65m) to acquire fellow Canadian studio Thunderbird Entertainment, shortly after it completed its reverse takeover of Boat Rocker, a transaction that saw it gain a public listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
At the same time, Boat Rocker principals Ivan Schneeberg, David Fortier and John Young executed a management buyout and took Boat Rocker’s studio business private once again.
Blue Ant Studios’ third unit will be anchored by Insight Productions, with John Brunton continuing as CEO and reporting to Hornburg. Insight will continue to focus on premium entertainment, including large scale franchises and reality competition series.
Hornburg said: “This new structure sets Blue Ant Studios up for the next phase of growth. Organising around genre-based creative leadership allows us to develop and produce more ambitious slates, move more efficiently and better support creators and partners as we build shows and franchises designed to travel globally.”
Meanwhile, distribution arm Blue Ant Rights is expanding, adding two new members to the team.
Richard Goldsmith joins as exec VP of kids and family sales and brands, while Vienna Downes joins as director of consumer products and licensing. Both will report to Bishop.
The hires come after Blue Ant Rights added 1,100 hours to its catalogue following the acquisition of Thunderbird, taking its total to more than 9,000 hours.
Bishop said: “As the scale and diversity of our portfolio continues to grow, so does the opportunity to expand how we monetise our IP. Expanding our rights, licensing and consumer products capabilities allows us to capture more value from our IP and accelerate commercial growth internationally.”
