Effective today (May 29), Toronto-based Insight Productions’ Erin Brock, Lindsay Cox and Mark Lysakowski have been promoted to co-chief content officer roles, where they will continue reporting to CEO John Brunton.

All three, who previously held EVP roles, have long tenures with Insight, with Brock starting over 20 years ago and Cox (pictured centre) and Lysakowski (pictured right) upwards of 10 years ago. During that period, Brock (pictured left) was in charge of Global’s Big Brother Canada and with Lysakowski, CBC’s Canada’s Ultimate Challenge. Cox’s responsibilities include the Juno Awards, while Lysakowski’s showrunner duties include CTV’s The Amazing Race Canada.

The new promotions are positioned to send a message as the company’s ownership is set to change hands from Boat Rocker to Blue Ant Media, Brunton tells Playback Daily. “I wanted our [series] to honour the creative process of showrunning versus [being] business first,” he says.

Brunton also expressed excitement at working with Blue Ant, noting that out of the gate they’ll be doing “a deep dive into scripted.”

He says the promotions also reflect work on Insight’s upcoming slate. In April, Paramount+ announced development on the Jersey Shore spinoff with the working title of Canada Shore, from Insight. Earlier in March, Insight partnered with Montreal-based Groupe Fair-Play to produce English and French-language formats and series across multiple unscripted sub-genres.

“We pivoted to some extent, to the U.K. and to Europe and to Asia,” says Brunton. “We’re developing projects specifically for broader distribution.” The aim is also to set the table for the prodco’s upcoming move to the Blue Ant portfolio, where he says Insight also hopes to take advantage of Blue Ant’s knowledge and relationships internationally.

Insight’s executive assistant Alison Popowich has also been upped to director of corporate affairs.

Images courtesy of Insight Productions