Boat Rocker to develop bestselling children’s books ‘Bad Kitty’ into animated TV series

Boat Rocker, an independent, integrated global entertainment company, has secured the rights to develop an animated television series based on The New York Times best-selling children’s book series Bad Kitty from author Nick Bruel. Since debuting in 2005, the award-winning children’s book series has been published in 23 languages in dozens of territories worldwide and has sold more than 20 million copies.

“I’m horribly allergic to cats, but turns out what Nick created with Bad Kitty, a book series that is beloved by millions of fans around the world for its humor and accessible storytelling, is the perfect remedy,” said Boat Rocker Studios kids and family EVP content Bob Higgins. “We feel incredibly fortunate to be working with Nick to bring this character to the screen and continue building our growing slate of engaging and original kids and family content,” added Boat Rocker Studios kids and family president Jon Rutherford.

Bad Kitty centers on a house cat named Kitty, who often wreaks havoc around her owner’s home. Whether she is trying to be good or be quiet and behave, it seems that trouble finds a way to her. 

Bad Kitty author Nick Bruel said, “I asked Kitty how excited she was to have a series produced by Boat Rocker. She yawned and reminded me to clean her litter box before slipping into her late morning, pre-afternoon nap. I, on the other hand, am delighted to be working with Boat Rocker on turning Bad Kitty into an animated series. This company has the right kind of creative energy and entertainment bonafides perfect for my ornery pussycat. I honestly can’t wait to see what our future together holds.”

The book series is repped by Jennie Dunham at Dunham Literary and Brendan Deneen.

Boat Rocker is behind a growing number of high-profile kids and family series, including Dino Ranch for Disney, the upcoming Daniel Spellbound for Netflix, The Next Step for CBBC/iPlayer, YTV, and HBO Max, and Amber Brown for Apple TV+.