Aileen Gardner has been appointed Head of Production, Canada; Zachary Frank is VP, Development
(Toronto, Canada) September 14, 2022 – Award-winning production company, Blue Ant Studios, announced at Content Canada today two newly created leadership roles within its production and development divisions. Aileen Gardner has been appointed Head of Production, Canada, Blue Ant Studios and is charged with leading the operations for the studio’s slate of productions in Canada. Gardner will report to Laura Michalchyshyn, CCO + co-president, Global Production, Blue Ant Media and Sam Sniderman, co-president, Global Production, Blue Ant Media. Zachary Frank is VP, Development, Blue Ant Studios. In this role, Zachary will be working with the studio’s team in Los Angeles to further expand its development slate of limited and returnable series with an emphasis on the Canadian, UK and American markets. Zachary will report to Jennifer Harkness, SVP, Unscripted, Blue Ant Studios while working closely with Aileen Gardner in Toronto.
“Blue Ant Studios is always looking to collaborate with best-in-class creatives and development executives to grow an exciting slate filled with original stories, premium talent and returnable series,” said Laura Michalchyshyn, CCO and co-president of Global Production, Blue Ant Media. “With Aileen’s incredible experience in producing content across multiple genres for global markets; and Zach’s deep network in the development space across the US, Canada and UK, we’re excited to continue Blue Ant Studios’ expansion and debut a fresh lineup of projects and voices to be shared with the world.”
Aileen Gardner arrives at Blue Ant Studios with over 20 years experience in broadcast media production across the UK, US, and Canada in genres from one-off documentary to lifestyle series with companies such as Mentorn, Endemol, Cineflix and Scott Brother’s Entertainment. Since arriving in Canada she has overseen shows such as the award winning Nazi Hunters (Discovery), the launch of internationally successful American Pickers (A&E) and the reboot of Brother vs Brother (HGTV) among many others.
With over a decade of experience in development and production, Zachary Frank has worked with partners across Canada, The US and UK. Prior to joining Blue Ant, Zachary was Senior Director at Cream Productions, where he developed projects for networks including CNN (History of the Sitcom), Discovery ID (If I Should Die), Bell Networks (Fear thy Roommate), Corus (The World Without) Travel Channel (A Ghost Ruined My Life), and more.
Blue Ant Studios is a leading studio and award-winning production business with offices in Los Angeles, New York and Toronto. The company’s premium slate of programming spans documentaries and docuseries, scripted, unscripted, and reality competition, with recent hits including the Hollywood Critics Association TV Award-nominated docuseries The Kids in the Hall: Comedy Punks (Prime Video); breakout investigative docuseries Epstein’s Shadow: Ghislaine Maxwell (Peacock and SKY) and Evil by Design: Exposing Peter Nygård (Starz and CBC); the multi-award-winning Canada’s Drag Race seasons 1-3 (Crave for Bell Media); the Daytime Emmy Award-winning scripted series The Healing Powers of Dude (Netflix); and the upcoming Canada Vs. the World (Crave for Bell Media) and Prince Andrew: Banished (Peacock).
The company works with best-in-class creatives and major international streaming, cable and broadcasting companies, as well as regional players in the markets in which it operates. Blue Ant Studios is a subsidiary of global media company, Blue Ant Media.