‘Orphan Black’ Production Company Launches Animation Division, Reorganizes

Temple Street Productions, the company behind BBC America’s popular Orphan Black series, on Tuesday said it has realigned its content production business into five business clusters, including a new animation division.

New parent company Boat Rocker Media, headquartered in Toronto and with offices in New York and Los Angeles, will oversee Boat Rocker Studios, Boat Rocker Rights, Boat Rocker Ventures, Boat Rocker Brands and Boat Rocker Animation.

The realignment allows Temple Street, which got its start in Canadian TV, as an expanded Boat Rocker Media to create and distribute content across a range of digital platforms for the world market. “Given the changes and where the business is moving and how fluid it is, we’re keen to have an eye on new business areas that are growing and the new technology out there,” John Young, CEO of Boat Rocker Media, told The Hollywood Reporter.

The reorganization follows Temple Street selling a little more than a 51 percent stake to Fairfax Financial, the investment entity of Prem Watsa, a billionaire sometimes called the “Canadian Warren Buffett.” Boat Rocker Studios will focus on creating original content for Temple Street divisions, which already has primetime hits in the Tatiana Maslany-starrer Orphan Black and Syfy’s Killjoys.

Ivan Schneeberg, who along with David Fortier is co-executive chairman of Boat Rocker Media, said content creation, especially TV, will continue to be the engine of the new business, “but we’ve expanded the umbrella to allow individual companies and brands to focus energies on what they produce.”

Elsewhere, Boat Rocker Animation will be anchored by a new 5,000-square-foot studio in Toronto to produce original 2D and 3D animation content. The upcoming animation slate includes Dot, produced in partnership with Toronto-based Industrial Brothers.

Boat Rocker Rights will manage the company’s distribution, sales and acquisition of worldwide multi-platform content, Boat Rocker Ventures will acquire and invest in entertainment IP and technology, while Boat Rocker Brands will develop global marketing plans for entertainment brands including Orphan Black and The Next Step.

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