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Boat Rocker makes Proper acquisition

Canada’s Boat Rocker Media has increased its presence in the unscripted space by acquiring the principal assets of prodco Proper Television and distributor Proper Rights.

Cathie James

Unscripted firm Proper will continue to run as an independent business, under the Boat Rocker Media umbrella. Lesia Capone, formerly Proper’s VP of production, and Cathie James, VP and creative director, will be co-presidents of Proper, reporting to Michel Pratte, Boat Rocker’s chief revenue officer.

As part of the deal, Boat Rocker has purchased Proper’s 35,000-square-foot facility, expanding its infrastructure as well as its distribution library.

Proper Rights will be subsumed into Boat Rocker’s global distribution arm, Boat Rocker Rights, adding more than 1,100 hours of content from Proper’s catalogue. The parent company will continue to provide capital investment and business support to Proper.

The acquisition comes five months after the sudden death of Proper founder and president Guy O’Sullivan.

O’Sullivan launched the company in 2004 and led it to success with original shows such as Don’t Drive Here and Vegas Rat Rods, plus Canadian versions of major international formats including MasterChef Canada, Come Dine with Me Canada, Canada’s Worst Driver and Storage Wars Canada.

John Young, CEO of Boat Rocker Media, said: “Continuing the legacy of what Guy O’Sullivan built over the last decade and supporting the incredible work of the entire Proper team is at the heart of Boat Rocker’s approach to this new relationship.

“As premium unscripted original content and formats find new business models in a multiplatform world, we are excited about working with the Proper team and their global broadcast and creative partners in the years to come.”

Boat Rocker has begun to increase its activity in the unscripted arena, which recently saw it launch Crooked Horse Productions (CHP) to replace its factual and unscripted division, Temple Street Productions.

CHP, which has offices in Toronto, New York and LA, focuses on the lifestyle, documentary, reality and factual entertainment genres.

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