Boat Rocker Media

History

Boat Rocker Studios was first established by Temple Street Productions in June 2013 as its digital studio.

In February 2016, after Fairfax Financial made a majority investment in Temple Street, the company announced a restructuring that would establish a new publicly traded parent company known as Boat Rocker Media. Temple Street's co-presidents David Fortier and Ivan Schneeberg would serve as co-CEOs of the company, which would consist of five main divisions: Boat Rocker Studios, Boat Rocker Rights (distribution; which was a rebranding of Temple Street Distribution), Boat Rocker Animation, Boat Rocker Brands (intellectual property), and Boat Rocker Ventures. Fortier explained that the restructuring would allow the company to pursue new investments and multi-platform ventures, while Fortier and Scheeberg stated that they aimed to "build a platform for the creation and distribution of world-class content of all kinds, with the same core business and creative philosophies we've had from the start but on a much greater scale."

In March 2016, Boat Rocker Media announced its acquisition of Toronto-based studio Radical Sheep Productions, producer of series such as The Big Comfy Couch and The Next Step.

In August 2016, Boat Rocker Media acquired the Ottawa-based animation studio Jam Filled Entertainment; the company would operate as a subsidiary studio under Boat Rocker's children's and family unit, with its existing management (including president Kyle Mac Dougall, and creative directors Jamie Leclaire and Phil Lafrance) reporting to CEO John Young. Later that month, Boat Rocker acquired the library and distribution arm of unscripted producer Peace Point Entertainment Group, while Jam Filled acquired the assets of Toronto-based 3D animation studio Arc Productions (which had entered receivership the previous month).

In April 2017, Boat Rocker Ventures made a US$8.5 million Series A investment in New York-based edutainment software company MarcoPolo Learning. The investment also included a strategic partnership with Boat Rocker Studios to co-develop television and digital content based on MarcoPolo's characters. In May 2017, Boat Rocker Studios announced that it would merge its factual and unscripted operations into a new unit known as Crooked Horse Productions; the Temple Street Productions label would focus solely on scripted productions from then on.