Barna-Alper Productions and webcaster iThentic have restructured their mobile and video joint venture, which will now be managed by Toronto-based producer Smiley Guy Studios.

Barna-Alper, recently acquired by Entertainment One, initially invested in iThentic in April 2007 as an online venue for its content, and to diversify into the production and aggregation of mobile and online video content.

The joint venture was originally to be run from New York City and Toronto by former Salter Street Films executive Catherine Tait as CEO.

But iThentic has since shifted its focus from a pure online distribution model to content incubation — so iThentic will now be run out of Toronto by Smiley Guy, producer of the animated comedy series Odd Job Jack, with Jonas Diamond as CEO.

Terms of the latest deal were not disclosed, but Tait becomes chairman of the board, while Diamond and Denny Silverthorne, also from Smiley Guy, will serve as creative directors.

The restructuring enables Barna-Alper to focus on TV production, with Laszlo Barna as head of Entertainment One’s TV division, while maintaining a strategic relationship with iThentic.

Smiley Guy, which launched Odd Job Jack online before migrating the series to The Comedy Network, will stick-handle the multi-platform play. Diamond and Silverthorne have already produced online content for iThentic, which includes a 100-episode mobile series based on the online short Ascent of Man by artist Bruce McCall.

‘This transaction will allow us to more fully immerse our company in the business of online and mobile production and distribution,’ Smiley Guy’s Diamond explained in a statement.