Blue Ant Studios Restructures Around Genres

Blue Ant Media has introduced a genre-based operating model, streamlined studio branding and a strengthened senior leadership team for Blue Ant Studios following its acquisition of Thunderbird Entertainment.

Blue Ant Studios will continue to be led by Mark Bishop and Matt Hornburg, co-presidents. Hornburg will continue overseeing content strategy, development and production, while content monetization, rights and commercial strategy will remain under Bishop’s purview.

Under the new structure, Blue Ant Studios will have three main divisions: one for kids, family and YA, one for unscripted and one anchored by Insight Productions.

The kids, family and YA division will be led by Jennifer Twiner McCarron, president, whose portfolio will encompass scripted, animation and youth-focused content. Atomic Cartoons and Jam Filled Entertainment will continue to operate under their established brands within this pillar. Reporting to Twiner McCarron will be Joel Bradley, president of Atomic; Lori McIndoe, president of Jam Filled; and Tori Coulthart, executive VP of production at Jam Filled. Lindsay MacAdam will continue to lead and grow the scripted business.

The unscripted division will combine the company’s factual and lifestyle expertise into a single unified group, which will be led by Cathie James. James is taking on an expanded role as executive VP of content, alongside Lesia Capone, who is growing her remit as executive VP of production. Both will report to Hornburg. As part of these changes, the Great Pacific Media brand and ProperTV brand will close. Great Pacific CEO David Way will be leaving the organization to take on advisory and consulting work.

The third stream of the new structure will be anchored by Insight Productions, with John Brunton continuing as CEO and reporting to Hornburg. Insight will continue to be focused on the premium entertainment work it is known for.

“This new structure sets Blue Ant Studios up for the next phase of growth,” Hornburg said. “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 Rights has also added to its capabilities in kids and family sales, as well as licensing and consumer products across all genres. Joining the team are Richard Goldsmith as executive VP of kids and family sales and brand, and Vienna Downes, director of consumer products and licensing. Both will report to Bishop.

With the acquisition of Thunderbird, Blue Ant Rights has an additional 1,100 owned hours to the catalog, bringing it to a total of more than 9,000.

“As the scale and diversity of our portfolio continues to grow, so does the opportunity to expand how we monetize our IP,” added Bishop. “Expanding our rights, licensing and consumer products capabilities allows us to capture more value from our IP and accelerate commercial growth internationally.”