Blue Ant restructures kids, family and YA division, Jam Filled’s Lori McIndoe to exit

Canada’s Blue Ant Media is reorganising its kids, family and young-adult (YA) division into three separate verticals, with several execs taking on new roles and Jam Filled Entertainment president Lori McIndoe leaving the company.

Lindsay Macadam

The kids, family and YA division, which is led by president Jennifer Twiner McCarron, is being structured in three “integrated” pillars: content development and commercial strategy; scripted and live-action; and animation.

The former is led by Diane Rankin, executive VP of content development and commercial strategy, tasked with driving the division’s originals and coproductions, and working closely with the scripted and live-action team.

The leadership team under Rankin includes Hillary Zwick Turner, senior VP of scripted live-action content, and AJ Trauth, who has been elevated to senior VP of scripted, animation and live-action content.

Lindsay Macadam is the exec VP of scripted and live-action for Blue Ant Studios, responsible for overseeing all live-action scripted production from development to delivery. Her team will collaborate with Zwick Turner, Trauth and the development team.

The animation operation is led by Joel Bradley, exec VP of animation. The exec, who was previously the president at Atomic Cartoons, is charged with leading the animation division across 2D and 3D production services, coproductions and animated originals from preschool to adult.

The leadership team under Bradley includes senior VP of animation Tori Coulthart, who will lead Jam Filled Entertainment, and Steve Grover, senior VP of animation, who will head Atomic Cartoons.

Blue Ant said all of the teams will work closely alongside Blue Ant Rights, including executive VP of kids and family brands Richard Goldsmith, head of the consumer products division.

McIndoe, who had served as Jam Filled Entertainment’s president since early 2024, is leaving the company as part of the reorganisation.

Blue Ant Media praised McIndoe for her “skillful leadership and contributions as president of Jam Filled Entertainment, where she was integral to the studio’s growth and success.”

Blue Ant said the changes will see it “refining its studio and production model to enhance efficiency and global competitiveness,” while maintaining the Atomic Cartoons and Jam Filled Entertainment brands for the time being.

The implementation of the new structure, it said, will bring together its “creative and commercial capabilities into a more integrated and scalable model, designed to unlock new opportunities across its kids, family and YA business.”

It added that the changes will “accelerate decision-making, increase creative output, and allow for greater agility in responding to global demand for premium content, while building a stronger pipeline of high-value, globally relevant IP.”

Twiner McCarron said the reorganisation “brings together the full strength of our creative and commercial capabilities in a more unified and focused way.”

She added: “By aligning our development, production and animation teams, we are better positioned to scale efficiently, respond to global demand for premium content, and drive long-term growth, while expanding our creative ambition and building a stronger slate of globally relevant IP for partners and audiences around the world.”