Invasion and Mix Tape firm Boat Rocker restructures

Canada’s Boat Rocker Studios has restructured its operations following a management buy-out (MBO) of the company last year.

Ivan Schneeberg, David Fortier and John Young completed the MBO after fellow Toronto-based producer Blue Ant Media wrapped up its reverse takeover of Boat Rocker Media in August to become a publicly listed company.

The now privately held Boat Rocker Studios has unveiled new roles and reporting structures, with an unspecified number of positions being cut.

Changes include Jon Rutherford being promoted to president of global content and rights, overseeing all creative affairs and production within the studio across scripted, unscripted and kids & family. He retains his responsibilities overseeing global rights, franchise and content strategy.

Rutherford, alongside chief financial officer Hameed Ahmad, head of business & legal affairs and general counsel Samantha Traub, and head of human resources Julia Dorfman, form the new executive leadership team, reporting directly to the partners.

Elsewhere, Mellany Welsh is now senior vice president and head of distribution and brands, with a remit across sales and the global monetisation of Boat Rocker’s owned and acquired assets.

Welsh will continue to lead brand strategy and partnerships, consumer products, content marketing, and communications as part of her expanded portfolio, reporting into Rutherford.

Also reporting to Rutherford will be a newly constituted content team led by current Boat Rocker executive Nick Nantell, as exec vice president and head of creative affairs for scripted (which includes live-action kids & family content).

Senior vice presidents of global sales and content Gia Delaney (kids & family) and Natalie Vinet (unscripted) have been promoted to lead pre-sales and the creative affairs teams for owned originals across animation and unscripted, respectively.

These new remits will be in addition to their existing sales roles in distribution, for which they will now report to Welsh.

The MBO struck last year included Boat Rocker Studio’s content investment business, all current projects, all library titles, and the company’s production, distribution, and brand assets and operations, aside from Insight, Jam Filled and Proper TV.

Boat Rocker’s projects have ranged from Apple TV dramas Invasion and Palm Royale to Mix Tape for the BBC, Binge and RTE. It is also behind This Is the Tom Green Documentary for Prime Video and Beacon 23 for MGM+, and kids show Dino Ranch for Disney+, Disney Junior and CBC. 

The company’s partners said in a statement that they were ”thrilled to have Boat Rocker back in our own hands” and added they were focused on “investing in best-in-class owned IP, either developed and produced in-house, or acquired from third parties.”

They added: “With the realignment of our focus, we’ve also had to say goodbye to some outstanding colleagues. We sincerely thank everyone who was impacted by this decision, and we’re grateful for their many contributions to Boat Rocker.

“While we don’t take these decisions lightly, we believe our new strategy and structure provide us with the flexibility required to excel in today’s ever evolving and highly competitive marketplace.”