Blue Ant Studios Hires for Production & Development Roles

Blue Ant Studios has tapped Aileen Gardner as head of production for Canada and Zachary Frank as VP of development.

Gardner will lead the operations for the studio’s slate of productions in Canada. She arrives with over 20 years of experience in broadcast media production, having worked on a variety of projects from one-off documentaries to lifestyle series.

Gardner has worked with companies such as Mentorn, Endemol, Cineflix and Scott Brother’s Entertainment. Since arriving in Canada, she has overseen shows such as Nazi Hunters (Discovery), American Pickers (A&E) and the reboot of Brother vs. Brother (HGTV), among others.

Frank, who will be working with the studio’s team in Los Angeles to further expand its development slate of limited and returnable series with an emphasis on the Canadian, U.K. and American markets, joins from Cream Productions. There, he was senior director and developed projects for networks such as CNN (History of the Sitcom), Discovery ID (If I Should Die), Bell Networks (Fear thy Roommate), Corus (The World Without), Travel Channel (A Ghost Ruined My Life) and more.

In her new role, Gardner will report to Laura Michalchyshyn, CCO and co-president of global production at Blue Ant Media, and Sam Sniderman, co-president of global production at Blue Ant Media. Frank will report to Jennifer Harkness, senior VP of unscripted at Blue Ant Studios. He will work closely with Gardner.

“Blue Ant Studios is always looking to collaborate with best-in-class creatives and development executives to grow an exciting slate filled with original stories, premium talent and returnable series,” said Michalchyshyn, CCO. “With Aileen’s incredible experience in producing content across multiple genres for global markets and Zach’s deep network in the development space across the U.S., Canada and U.K., we’re excited to continue Blue Ant Studios’ expansion and debut a fresh lineup of projects and voices to be shared with the world.”