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Former eOne TV head John Morayniss returns with Endeavor-backed studio

John Morayniss, the former head of Entertainment One (eOne)’s television business, and three other former eOne execs have co-founded a new studio venture backed by Endeavor Content.

John Morayniss

Blink Studios, a Canadian entity headquartered in Toronto and with offices in LA, will focus on developing and producing scripted and unscripted programming for the international market.

Morayniss, who left eOne three years ago, will lead Blink Studios as CEO, with former eOne colleagues Patrice Theroux as executive vice chair, Nelson Kuo-Lee as chief financial officer (CFO) and Jeff Lynas as chief operating officer (COO). Further additions to the creative and production team will be announced in the coming weeks.

The company said it will deploy a “significant portion” of its capital to make investments in Canadian production companies focusing on both scripted and unscripted programming across all genres and formats.

Blink Studios also said it plans to secure strategic deals with emerging and established writers, creators and producers and “aggressively pursue IP in Canada and throughout the world.”

Kirstine Stewart, who is the former head of TV for Canadian pubcaster CBC and former VP of North American media for Twitter, has been appointed as a non-executive board chair. Stewart is currently the chief revenue officer at Pex, a digital rights technology company based in LA.

Endeavor Content, the studio division of US talent agency Endeavor, is the anchor investor and lead strategic partner in the new company, as well as the “priority distribution partner on a worldwide basis.”

Chris Rice, co-president of Endeavor Content, is also a Blink Studios board member.

“When we first began our discussions with Chris [Rice] and [Endeavor Content co-president Graham Taylor], we felt that there was an immediate understanding and alignment as to why we were so passionate about building a world-class Canadian indie and how we were going to achieve success with a new and improved creative-first approach and strategy,” said Morayniss in a statement.

“And, with Kirstine and Chris joining our board, we have some of the best strategic minds in the business.”

The launch of Blink Studios comes almost two decades after Morayniss co-founded the Toronto-based prodco Blueprint Entertainment, which acquired several Canadian media companies before being acquired by eOne in 2008.

For the next decade, Morayniss led eOne’s television business, which produced scripted hits such as Designated Survivor (ABC, Netflix), The Rookie (ABC), Sharp Objects (HBO), Hell on Wheels (AMC) and Rookie Blue (Global), and unscripted shows Naked & Afraid (Discovery), Siesta Keys (MTV), LA Burning: The Riots 25 Years Later (A&E).

Under Morayniss, eOne also handled worldwide distribution of AMC’s The Walking Dead and spin-off Fear the Walking Dead.

He left the company in 2018 when eOne acquired the remainder of The Mark Gordon Company and Gordon assumed the role of president and chief content officer for film, TV and digital. He has since stepped away from that role and in 2020 set up a new production banner, Mark Gordon Pictures, backed by eOne.

Theroux was the president of film and television at eOne from 2007 to 2014 and before that was CEO of Canadian studio Alliance Films. During his tenure with eOne, Lynas’ roles included COO and later general manager of television. Kuo-Lee was CFO and executive VP of film and television until he left eOne in early 2020.

Endeavor Content serves as the studio for TV series including Apple TV+’s See and Truth Be Told and Hulu’s Nine Perfect Strangers and Life & Beth, as well as the upcoming workplace thriller Severance (Apple TV+) and Tokyo Vice (HBO Max). Endeavor Content also brokered Netflix’s recent deal to acquire The Roald Dahl Story Company, giving it the rights to characters including Matilda, The BFG, Fantastic Mr Fox, Willy Wonka and The Twits.

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