LONDON, U.K. — TV content creator and distributor Blue Ant International announced today it has hired Gerbrig Blanksma (pictured) as its new senior vice-president of international sales and partnerships. Blanksma joins Blue Ant from Discovery Inc., where she was director of international sales and licensing for the U.K. and EMEA regions.
In her new role at Blue Ant, Blanksma will oversee global sales across the U.K. and Italy, as well as grow the division’s extensive library with additional third-party content across documentaries, factual entertainment, specialist factual, scripted, and kids and family genres, says the news release. Based in London, Blanksma will also lead sales and partnership opportunities for U.K.-based, pan-regional buyers across all linear and non-linear platforms. She reports to Solange Attwood, executive vice-president at Blue Ant International, who is currently on maternity leave.
“Gerbrig’s strong relationships within the international sales community is a huge win for Blue Ant International,” said Attwood, in the release. “She also brings extensive experience building partnerships with buyers to help fuel their regional broadcasting needs around the world, which makes her a perfect fit for our team.”
Blanksma has more than 13 years of experience in senior international distribution roles. Prior to her role as director of international sales and licensing for the U.K. and EMEA at Discovery, she held the same position at Scripps Networks Interactive, before it was acquired in 2018 by Discovery. Previous to that, Blanksma spent almost 10 years at Netherlands-based distributor Off the Fence.
