Temple Street Productions was founded in 1996 by Patrick Whitley and Sheila Hockin. The Whitley and Hockin era saw production of Showtime co-production
Queer as Folk and children's comedy
Darcy’s Wild Life, as well as the first seasons of
Canada’s Next Top Model and
Billable Hours. In 2003, entertainment lawyers Ivan Schneeberg and David Fortier left Toronto law firm
Goodmans LLP to enter the TV production business. Despite their lack of practical experience in television, they found employment with Temple Street, a former client of Goodmans, and used their legal expertise to produce the law office sitcom
Billable Hours, written by another former Goodmans lawyer, Adam Till. In July 2006 three years after Ivan Schneeberg and David Fortier joined Temple Street Productions as heads of its drama department, Temple Street Productions founders Patrick Whitley and Sheila Hockin sold their production outfit to its co-presidents & head of Temple Street Productions' scripted department arm Ivan Schneeberg and David Fortier, as Patrick Whitley retired from production, while Shelia Hockin became a freelance producer and continued to work with Temple Street Productions in a limited capacity. In Whitley and Hockin's last year, the company generated $32 million from production, making it the 13th-most profitable independent Canadian production company. Schneeberg and Fortier are joined by managing director John Young, who has been instrumental in the company's move to increase the output of digital media and branded content. In 2009 and 2010, Temple Street was a key partner in The Remix Project, a social program to offer film and television production training to aspiring young filmmakers. In June 2008,
BBC Worldwide announced that they had acquired a 25% minority stake in Temple Street Productions for an undisclosed sum; as part of the agreement, BBC Worldwide received a
first-look deal for international distribution rights to Temple Street's productions, while Temple Street received a first-look deal for developing Canadian adaptations of
formats owned by BBC Worldwide, or whose Canadian rights are held by BBC Worldwide. In February 2011, Temple Street and BBC Worldwide America announced a development deal focused on
factual television. In June 2013, the company established a
digital media division known as Temple Street Media Ventures, and a digital content studio known as Boat Rocker Studios. In July 2013, the company announced that it would open a new production office in
Los Angeles, led by VP of factual entertainment Gerry McKean, and Tayfun King as U.S. head of factual entertainment marking Temple Street's first American production office outside of their Toronto-based studio. In July 2015,
Fairfax Financial made an investment in Temple Street, taking a majority stake. A month later in August of that year, the company entered the distribution operation by launching its distribution division named Temple Street Distribution with veteran producer Jon Rutherford leading the company's new distribution division as president with the new division signed a deal with
Netflix to broadcast Temple Street's series
Lost & Found Music Studios outside of Canada. In December 2015, Temple Street entered the animation production genre for the first time with the acquisition of a stake in Toronto-based animation studio Industrial Brothers, giving Temple Street their own animation studio whilst its distribution arm Temple Street Distribution will handle distribution to Industrial Brothers' projects. In February 2016, Temple Street announced a reorganization, forming a new parent company known as
Boat Rocker Media. Temple Street would become a unit of Boat Rocker Studios. Fortier and Schneeberg remained as co-executive chairman, and Temple Street managing director John Young was promoted to CEO. Schneeberg stated that the reorganization was meant to "bring clarity to the brand" as Boat Rocker expands into multi-platform operations. In December 2020, Temple Street was closed and folded into Boat Rocker Studios' Los Angeles-based scripted division. ==Productions==