Boat Rocker cooks up first-look deal with Chopped creators Klever, Noll

Chopped first aired in 2009

Cleve Keller and Dave Noll, the creators and producers behind the popular Chopped franchise, have agreed a first-look deal with Canada-based producer and distributor Boat Rocker.

Under the agreement, Keller and Noll, who have worked as creative producers on more than 50 TV series since they began collaborating in 2007, will develop and produce unscripted content for Boat Rocker through their Keller/Noll production banner.

In Chopped, which has been airing on Discovery-owned Food Network since 2009, four chefs compete against each other to win US$10,000. The format has been adapted in countries including Canada and South Africa.

In addition to Chopped, Keller and Noll have created series such as America Says (Game Show Network), Punchline (Fox), Face the Truth (CBS) and Rocco’s Dinner Party (Bravo), as well as HGTV’s Don’t Sweat It and Beat the House. The pair were previously under a first-look deal with Entertainment One.

Boat Rocker has recently unveiled a slew of talent deals across both its unscripted and scripted divisions, including an overall deal with producer-director Scott Weintrob and his LA-based production outfit Large Eyes, a first-look deal with US producer Stephanie Langhoff’s High Tide Productions and a multi-genre development deal with Dr Ibram X Kendi. It also has first-look deals in place with Lena Headey’s Peephole Productions and Dakota Johnson and Ro Donnelly’s TeaTime Pictures.

The deal with Keller and Noll comes as Boat Rocker looks to grow its US content operation. Its unscripted slate includes Go-Big Show (TBS), docuseries Dear… (Apple TV+) and the space travel competition series Who Wants to Be an Astronaut? (Discovery+).

In a joint statement, Jay Peterson, president of Boat Rocker Studios unscripted, and Todd Lubin, president of Boat Rocker unscripted label Matador Content, said: “Cleve and Dave’s long-standing track record of creating and producing compelling content is unmatched and we’re thrilled to welcome them to the Boat Rocker family.”