Thunderbird Entertainment
Jennifer Twiner Mccarron had no illusions about becoming an artist when she began her film and television career in 1999, as an office production assistant at a local animation house. “But I loved to be around creative people,” recalls the CEO of content production studio Thunderbird Entertainment. “I quickly found that my passion was trying to create an environment where people could feel safe and honoured, no one felt like a number, everyone was treated equally, and they could do their best work. So that's what's been driving me for over 20 years.”
Twiner Mccarron, who took charge of the Vancouver-based Thunderbird group in 2018, also strives to use storytelling as a force for good. As part of that mission, the company ensures that people from diverse backgrounds watching its work see themselves reflected onscreen. Shown on PBS Kids, Season 1 of Molly of Denali was the first animated series broadcast throughout the U.S. with a Native American lead; it also featured some 60 Indigenous actors, writers, producers and other contributors. CBC hit Kim's Convenience was the first Canadian sitcom led by actors of Asian heritage. Queen of the Oil Patch follows the life of two-spirited Massey Whiteknife, a Cree businessman who moonlights as female singer Iceis Rain.
Offscreen, Thunderbird has created opportunities for marginalized groups, including BIPOC and LGBTQ2S. Besides introducing a company-wide anti-racism policy, it helped launch a paid internship program on the set of Kim's Convenience for Black people aged 18-26. With the District of North Vancouver and Capilano University, Thunderbird created On the Rise, an independent digital filmmaking program aimed at Indigenous youth.
The company is also tackling underrepresentation of women and gendernonconforming (GNC) people in the film and TV industry's ranks. In Hollywood, women comprise just 15 percent of directors, about 17 percent of writers and 18 percent of studio heads, according to a recent UCLA report.
As well as striving for equity in its productions, Thunderbird has given women key leadership roles. Mccarron's fellow female executives include CFO Barb Harwood and Wendy Mckernan, COO of the Great Pacific Media arm. The group, which plans to achieve gender parity by 2025, has reached 40-percent female and 10-percent GNC representation in its kids and family division, which accounts for more than 800 of its 1,000 staff across North America.
As pandemic lockdowns created more demand for its content, Thunderbird has set up all of those employees to work remotely. “The bigger and more exciting challenge is in fully realizing the push to make sure everything we do is authentic and the stories we tell are diverse and inclusive,” says Twiner Mccarron, adding that the companny's partners are on board. “Netflix, Disney, you name it—everyone's really taken on this mission. I'm so excited to see what the next couple of years of change bring.”