Blue Ant Media on Wednesday announced a strategic repositioning of Blue Ant Studios, including a new genre-based operating model, streamlined studio branding, and a strengthened senior leadership team, aimed at accelerating growth across development, production and global content monetization.
These changes follow Blue Ant’s recently completed acquisition of Thunderbird Entertainment and Boat Rocker Media, which Blue Ant said significantly expanded the company’s size and scope, adding new capabilities, talent and intellectual property.
Blue Ant Studios will continue to be led by co-presidents Mark Bishop and Matt Hornburg, with Hornburg overseeing content strategy, development and production, and Bishop leading content monetization, rights and commercial strategy. This structure aligns creative leadership and commercial execution more closely across the studio ecosystem, Blue Ant said in a press release.
Under its new structure, Blue Ant Studios will be organized around genre-based centres of expertise, reflecting how content is developed, financed and produced in the global market, Blue Ant said.
Former Thunderbird CEO Jennifer Twiner McCarron will lead Blue Ant Studios’ kids, family and young adult division as president, reporting to Hornburg. McCarron’s portfolio will encompass scripted, animation and youth-focused content. Atomic Cartoons and Jam Filled Entertainment (acquisitions from Thunderbird and Boat Rocker Media, respectively) will continue to operate under their established brands within this pillar, Blue Ant said.
McCarron’s direct reports will include: Joel Bradley, president of Atomic Cartoons; Lori McIndoe, president of Jam Filled Entertainment; Tori Coulthart, executive vice president of production for Jam Filled; and Lindsay MacAdam, who will continue to lead and grow the scripted business on behalf of Blue Ant. MacAdam was previously president of Thunderbird’s Great Pacific Media subsidiary.
Blue Ant Studios’ unscripted division will combine the company’s factual and lifestyle expertise into a consolidated division, designed to provide a more streamlined approach to engaging with buyers, financing content and supporting long-running and returning series across factual, lifestyle and documentary programming, Blue Ant said.
The unscripted team will be led by Cathie James, formerly co-president of Boat Rocker’s unscripted studio Proper Television, who has taken on an expanded role at Blue Ant Studios as executive vice president of unscripted content, alongside Lesia Capone, also formerly co-president of Proper Television, who is growing her remit as executive vice president of production for unscripted content at Blue Ant Studios. Both James and Capone will report to Hornburg.
As part of these changes, the Great Pacific Media and Proper Television brands will sunset. In addition, Great Pacific Media CEO David Way will be leaving the organization to take on advisory and consulting work, drawing on more than 30 years of experience leading creative businesses, Blue Ant said.
Blue Ant Studios’ third genre stream will be anchored by Insight Productions, formerly a Boat Rocker company, with John Brunton continuing on as CEO and reporting to Hornburg. Insight Productions will continue to focus on the premium entertainment work it is known for, including large-scale franchises and reality competition series, Blue Ant said.
“This new structure sets Blue Ant Studios up for the next phase of growth,” Hornburg said in a statement. “Organizing around genre-based creative leadership allows us to develop and produce more ambitious slates, move more efficiently, and better support creators and partners as we build shows and franchises designed to travel globally.”
Blue Ant Studios also announced an expansion of its distribution arm, Blue Ant Rights, adding to its capabilities in kids and family sales, licensing and consumer products across all genres. Joining the Blue Ant Rights team are Richard Goldsmith, executive vice president of kids and family sales and brands, and Vienna Downes, director of consumer products and licensing. Both join Blue Ant Rights from Thunderbird and will report to Bishop.
With the acquisition of Thunderbird, Blue Ant Studios has added an additional 1,100 owned hours to its catalogue, bringing it to a total of more than 9,000 hours of premium content, according to Blue Ant’s press release.
“As the scale and diversity of our portfolio continues to grow, so does the opportunity to expand how we monetize our IP,” Bishop said in the press release. “Expanding our rights, licensing, and consumer products capabilities allows us to capture more value from our IP and accelerate commercial growth internationally.”
