Jill Keenleyside

TV Kids
Weekly, April 8, 2008

Executive VP
of Distribution

CCI
Entertainment

Although Jill
Keenleyside had been interested in a career in television, she looks back at
her start in the business as somewhat of a “fluke.” She was working at a temp
agency after college and received a call early one morning to take a week-long
stint at the Canadian broadcaster CBC.

“Considering
they woke me up, I nearly turned it down,” jokes Keenleyside. However, she
wound up taking the job and went on to serve 12 years in publicity at CBC
before moving to Producers Group International, where she began working in
television distribution. “All because of one phone call!” she quips.

Now, as the
executive VP of distribution at CCI Entertainment, she handles all worldwide
sales of the company’s library, which includes best-selling animated titles
like the 2-D digital comedy Frankenstein’s Cat and the preschool hit Harry and His
Bucket Full of Dinosaurs.
“Harry is huge for us,” says Keenleyside. “It’s in every major territory
worldwide except Japan—that’s a goal.” The series follows a boy named
Harry and six toy dinosaurs that come to life. Meanwhile, Frankenstein’s Cat continues to expand its global reach.
The series is now on CBBC in the U.K. and will soon launch on Nickelodeon in
Spain, Latin America, Benelux and Asia, as well as on ABC Australia, RTP Portugal
and HBO Asia. Keenleyside is also pleased about the success of the live-action
kids’ reality series Ghost Trackers, which rolled out on HBO Family in the U.S. in January and is
also performing well on YTV in Canada. Ghost Trackers “really works for YTV,” enthuses
Keenleyside. There are “over 3 million hits on the website and there’s a huge
fan base. It’s exciting to see a reality show for kids working—it’s still
a pretty new concept.”

CCI
Entertainment will be bringing all three properties to MIPTV this year.
According to Keenleyside, certain ingredients to succeeding in the kids’-television
market will never change. “It’s always going to be about quality, the stories
and being unique,” she notes. Having “friends all over the globe,” is one of
the perks of being in the distribution business, but Keenleyside is also drawn
to the idea that television programming can have a positive impact. “Let’s face
it, this isn’t brain surgery—I’m not saving lives or rescuing people from
burning buildings—but I can sell TV shows, and if we reach people,
especially children, with shows that uplift or engage, then that works for me.”

—By
Irene Lew