Blue Ant Studios, an international production studio and rights company, is pleased to announce that Diane Rankin’s position has been promoted to executive vice president of content development and business strategy. She will now be responsible for development strategy at Blue Ant Studios, with a focus on the creation and financing of scripted and unscripted originals across multiple genres. His role also includes establishing strategic pathways across the studios’ development and distribution business units to inform creative and commercial opportunities for the roster, all aimed at supporting and accelerating the company’s ambitious growth. To support the collective commercial strategy, Diane will also oversee marketing and initiatives to generate brand awareness for the studio’s original production slate.
Blue Ant Studios‘ development and marketing teams will now report to Diane, who will continue to work from Blue Ant Studios’ London (UK) office and report directly to co-presidents Matthew Hornburg and Mark Bishop.
Matthew Hornburg, co-president of Blue Ant Studios, said: ‘Diane possesses a rare combination of creative and commercial vision, along with an extensive international network and deep respect from her colleagues and industry peers. Her new focus at the studio will amplify the team’s efforts to develop world-class content for the market and to further develop relationships with the best possible partners.’
Diane joined Blue Ant Media in August 2023 following the company’s acquisition of marblemedia, where she served as international executive vice president and executive producer, leading the company’s content marketing strategy, which involved establishing partnerships, pre-sales and co-production opportunities for its unscripted, scripted and kids and family categories. Diane also spearheaded the growth of marblemedia’s distribution efforts through its international sales operation, Distribution360, and served as executive producer on several studio projects. In previous roles, Diane was Senior Vice President of Acquisitions at DRG and Director of Acquisitions at Cineflix Rights; and spent over 13 years at Brunico Communications launching and directing many of its market-leading events, including Realscreen Summit and Kidscreen Summit, and overseeing leading print titles such as Realscreen, Kidscreen, Playback, Strategy and Boards.
