p122-123 - LSB Boat Rocker.qxp_NEW LSB 2008 GRID 17/09/2018 08:04 Page 122
IN CONVERSATION WITH… BOAT ROCKER MEDIA
Earlier this year Boat Rocker Media acquired FremantleMedia’s Kids & Family Entertainment division, bringing the relatively unknown name squarely into the spotlight of the UK licensing industry. So, what are the plans for this new giant keen to make strides into the European and UK markets? LSB finds out.
Giant Steps Inset: Caroline High. Left: Jon Rutherford. Below left: Fremantle’s Bitz & Bob is now being managed by Boat Rocker.
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f course, the UK licensing industry will be more than familiar with FremantleMedia’s brands and programming with 45+ brands consisting of over 150 series and 1,600 half hours of programming for children from preschool to tweens/teens including favourites such as Danger Mouse. However, the industry may be slightly less familiar with the name of Boat Rocker which has since the
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acquisition integrated FremantleMedia’s current Kids & Family Entertainment division into Boat Rocker Media’s global distribution arm. Boat Rocker Media was born from Temple Street Productions, a globally recognised independent production company best known for international successes Orphan Black, X Company, The Next Step and Killjoys. “Boat Rocker Media and its various divisions are renowned within the content world as an award-winning company with a strong reputation borne out of the quality and diversity of the programming it produces,” outlines president Jon Rutherford. Prior to the acquisition of FremantleMedia’s Kids & Family division, Boat Rocker’s licensing programme was represented through agents such as Striker Entertainment, Segal Licensing and Brands With Influence, with a heavy focus on its two most globally recongnised brands – Orphan Black and The Next Step. However, the acquisition represents a seismic shift for the company, as Jon explains: “With robust production and distribution capabilities already in place, the next logical step for Boat Rocker Media was for further vertical integration. The acquisition of FMK gave us the ability to fully exploit the ancillary potential of our content, primarily for our kids and family content but also for other genres.”