Kelly Will Bolster Blue Ant’s Rapidly Expanding Unscripted Slate; Previously Developed Priority Unscripted Series for Networks Including Discovery, Bravo, and National Geographic
(Los Angeles, CA) October 5, 2021 — Award-winning production company Blue Ant Studios, the producer behind series including Ghislaine Maxwell: Epstein’s Shadow and Canada’s Drag Race, has brought on development executive Casey Kelly to serve as Vice President of Unscripted Development. In this newly created role, Kelly will be based in Los Angeles and oversee all aspects of Blue Ant’s unscripted development pipeline and produce current series through production and network delivery.
Kelly will report to Jennifer Harkness, Senior Vice President of Unscripted Content Production, and also work closely with Chief Creative Officer and Co-President, Content Production Laura Michalchyshyn and Co-President Content Production, Sam Sniderman to bolster Blue Ant’s dynamic unscripted slate. Prior to joining the team full time, Kelly worked as a consulting development producer for Blue Ant Studios and is already embedded in the efforts for several upcoming priority projects, focusing on premium documentary series for both the U.S. and Canadian markets.
The addition of Kelly points to Blue Ant’s rapidly scaling and diversifying production business in the U.S. and globally, and comes on the heels of several recently-announced development partnerships in the unscripted space. These upcoming initiatives include a multi-project deal with Emmy-nominated executive producer Tamra Simmons, as well as a development partnership with Julie Bristow’s Content Catalyst Fund, in which the two companies will join forces to develop, produce, and distribute female-led unscripted programming for international markets.
“I am excited to join Blue Ant Studios, an innovative and collaborative company dedicated to producing unique and compelling content worldwide,” said Kelly. “With their commitment to global storytelling and ambitious top-level strategy, I could not ask for a better team to work with.”
“Casey brings passion, a sharp creative eye, and innovation to all of her projects, and the range of content she has developed is dynamic and impressive,” said Jennifer Harkness, SVP of Unscripted Content Production for Blue Ant Studios. “We have been fortunate enough to work with Casey over the past six months in a consulting role, during which her insight has been invaluable. We couldn’t be more excited to make her addition to the team official.”
Prior to joining Blue Ant Studios, Kelly was Senior Director of Development at Pilgrim Media Group where she developed and launched series and pilots for Discovery, Bravo, National Geographic, TLC, E!, HGTV and ABC. Before Pilgrim, Kelly served as Director of Development at IM Global Television where she focused on international formats for the global unscripted landscape and worked on series such CBC’s Fridge Wars. Over the last 10 years, she has held various titles and positions at The Gurin Company, Gurney Productions, BBC Worldwide, and MTV after transitioning from production on TLC’s What Not To Wear, MTV’s Are You The One? season one, and BCC One’s live event series Stargazing Live.
About Blue Ant Studios
Blue Ant Studios is a leading international studio and production business, based in Los Angeles with offices in New York. Blue Ant Studios includes production companies in the US, Canada, Singapore and Japan, which produces content in multiple genres including Scripted, Documentary, Kids, Adult Animation, Factual Entertainment and Natural History. Current series and documentaries include Epstein’s Shadow: Ghislaine Maxwell (Peacock, Sky), Canada’s Drag Race (Crave for Bell Media), Daylight (FOX), The Healing Powers of Dude (Netflix), Neopets, produced in partnership with JumpStart Games Inc., and Hotel Paranormal (Travel Channel and T+E). Blue Ant Studios works with all major international streaming, cable and broadcasting companies as well as regional players in the markets it operates in. Blue Ant Studios is a subsidiary of Blue Ant Media.