EXCLUSIVE: Warrior Cats outfit Coolabi has appointed kids industry veteran Neil Court as its Chairman.
Court is a seasoned kids and family exec. He was Executive Chairman of 9 Story Media until its sale to Scholastic in 2024, Founder of Tin Roof Media, and Co-Founder of Decode Entertainment.
Court will work alongside CEO Jeremy Banks and the Coolabi management team, offering strategic advice as the company looks to grow and weighs M&A opportunities.
Coolabi’s TV shows include Clangers, Scream Street and Poppy Cat, but it is not a pure-play producer. It creates publishing properties and that IP is then exploited across platforms. It works across books, games and apps, as well as TV. Its biggest hit is Warrior Cats, which has notched 77M book sales and over 600M plays on the Roblox gaming platform.
Neil Court
Coolabi
Court told Deadline that the kids content business has undergone a fundamental shift. “It has absolutely changed. Where you want to be as a kid’s IP owner is in a B2C business, which is what Roblox is, and YouTube is, and that’s where Coolabi is, especially with this big key property, Warrior Cats. That insulates the company from the vagaries of what’s happening with the kids television business now, which is so precarious.”
He added that in that landscape, and amid the industry disruption, there will be M&A openings. “There will be some opportunities, I think, to pick up some interesting assets over the coming years. And that’s something that Jeremy and I, and our backers, are very keen on.”
Banks added that owning IP is key to success in the modern-day kids biz. “We took a view that we love TV but we couldn’t have the commissioning broadcasters being the gatekeepers to our future success, so we subscribe to the mantra, own and control your own IP, and the relationship with your end consumer. Build fandoms and engage with your end consumer.”
The company is owned by private equity outfit Kartesia. In TV, it is working on a Warrior Cats animation project with China’s Tencent and, separately, on animated series based on its Beast Quest and The Secret Explorers books. There is also a live-action drama based on its The Lady Grace Mysteries book series in the works with Cottonwood and the BBC, ZDF, and France Televisions.
Court has consulted for The Jim Henson Company and Film Roman among others. He will continue to be Chairman of the Toronto-based label Peacock Alley Entertainment.
