Boat Rocker Greenlights Nano Runners as First Fully Financed Animated Series

Boat Rocker Studios has greenlit the animated action-adventure series Nano Runners as its first internally fully financed animated project, expanding on a financing strategy previously reserved for select unscripted titles. Created by Industrial Brothers co-founder Matthew Fernandes, the 26-episode series will consist of 11-minute episodes aimed at children ages six and older, with the project’s development being reported ahead of its MIPCOM presentation.

Boat Rocker Refocuses on Intellectual Property Ownership

The greenlight arrives a little over a year after Boat Rocker returned to private ownership and refocused its corporate strategy on intellectual property development and ownership. Boat Rocker previously held a minority stake in Industrial Brothers for nearly a decade before increasing that holding to a majority stake last summer as it transitioned off public markets.

It’s been a little over a year since Boat Rocker Studios returned to private ownership and refocused our strategy on IP development and ownership. This project, from the immensely talented mind of Matt Fernandes, is exactly the type of project we want to be investing in.Jon Rutherford, President, Global Content & Rights, Boat Rocker Studios

Rutherford added that the company looks forward to combining Fernandes’s creativity with Boat Rocker’s production, distribution, and franchise management infrastructure.

Premise and Production Team Behind Nano Runners

The series follows teenage fugitives Kai and Jade as they flee their home planet following its destruction by machines. After crash-landing on Earth, the characters discover they have been reduced to the size of insects, where ordinary raindrops hit like heavy projectiles and beetles loom like giant kaiju. Their central mission involves tracking down a lost colony of their people while avoiding the arriving machines that seek to strip Earth bare of its resources.

Nano Runners has served as a long-standing passion project for Fernandes and the Industrial Brothers team. Craig Martin, known for Sonic Prime, serves as the writer and story editor. Executive producers include Boat Rocker co-founders Ivan Schneeberg and David Fortier, Jon Rutherford, and Industrial Brothers representatives Fernandes and Tammy Semen.

Boat Rocker Holds Worldwide Distribution Rights for Nano Runners

Boat Rocker Studios holds worldwide distribution rights for Nano Runners alongside global franchise development and consumer products oversight. The completed series is scheduled to become available for international buyers and licensing in late 2027. Boat Rocker will formally present the series to the marketplace at MIPCOM alongside its recent unscripted slate.