Blue Ant Media is phasing out the Great Pacific Media and Proper TV brands—two unscripted-focused labels that have produced kids & family titles in the past—as part of a streamlining and genre-focused restructure. The two companies are being absorbed by Blue Ant Studios.

But animation prodcos Jam Filled Entertainment and Atomic Cartoons, which both have deep roots in the kids & family market, will continue to operate as usual. 

In the wake of its acquisition of Thunderbird Entertainment closing last week, Blue Ant is reorganizing the company to center around three genre-based divisions: Kids, Family & YA; Unscripted; and Insight Productions, which will focus on premium entertainment.

Blue Ant’s co-presidents Mark Bishop and Matt Hornburg will continue to run the company. Hornburg is focused on content strategy, development and production, and Bishop oversees monetization, rights and commercial strategy. 

As previously reported, former Thunderbird CEO Jennifer Twiner McCarron will lead Blue Ant’s new Kids, Family & YA division. She oversees scripted, animation and youth-skewing productions, and will report to Hornburg. 

Lindsay MacAdam, who was the president of Great Pacific Media, will remain at the company and focus on Blue Ant’s scripted and YA business, reporting to McCarron. Atomic Cartoons president Joel Bradley and Jam Filled president Lori McIndoe and EVP of productionTori Coulthart will do the same.  

Kids media veteran Richard Goldsmith, who was previously in charge of distribution and consumer products for Thunderbird, is now EVP of kids & family sales and brands, working with Vienna Downes as director of consumer products and licensing. Both execs now report to Bishop. 

There were some layoffs at both Blue Ant and Thunderbird, but mostly in areas where there was overlap and a duplication of roles, like in the IT and finance departments. Blue Ant will go through a “period of evaluation” as its teams get sorted into the corporate structure. There could be more layoffs and staffing changes in the future, according to a company spokesperson, but right now the focus is on setting up the business for stability and growth.  

Jam Filled and Atomic both made the cut because they have unique specialties that don’t overlap much with each other, the spokesperson adds: “They currently have very distinct customers, creative focuses and production capabilities, which allows each studio to continue delivering strong value in its respective space. As the teams move forward, Jennifer and her leadership group will be taking the time to look thoughtfully at how talent, assets and capabilities across the studios can be best leveraged to support partners and clients.”

All of the big changes affected the unscripted side of this newly merged company. Great Pacific Media, probably best-known for its Highway Thru Hell series, had a growing YA-focused scripted slate. The studio made Tubi original films How to Lose a Popularity Contest, Sidelined: The QB and Me and its sequel Intercepted. 

It also got a Netflix commission in September for a new live-action teen series called Crew Girl. 

This project is still in the works, but it will now debut under Blue Ant Studios’ umbrella, the spokesperson notes.  

Great Pacific Media CEO David Way, who has been with the company since 2015, is leaving to pursue work as a consultant. 

Proper TV was the studio behind Canada’s Worst Driver and Iron Chef Canada, but also kids & family-skewing series Junior Chef Showdown, which aired on Food Network Canada, StackTV and Hulu. 

Its co-presidents Cathie James and Lesia Capone will run Blue Ant’s unscripted team as EVP of content and EVP of production, respectively. Both now report to Hornburg.

Clarification: This story has been updated to clarify that Blue Ant is phasing out the Great Pacific Media and Proper TV brands and that the companies are being incorporated into Blue Ant.

Images courtesy of Blue Ant.