Boston-based public broadcaster GBH has recruited kids media veteran Julius Harper to join its team as an executive producer focused on creating multiplatform content.

An experienced writer/producer, Harper started with GBH Kids late last month and reports to creative director Dorothea Gillim. The first project he’s shepherding is a music-driven adaptation of author Kwame Alexander’s 2011 book Acoustic Rooster and his Barnyard Band. 

Published by Sleeping Bear Press, it’s about a jazz-loving rooster who is determined to win a barnyard talent show. GBH Kids inked a development deal for the book with Alexander in 2021.

Harper is well-positioned to steer GBH Kids into more multiplatform content that goes well beyond traditional TV. His impressive resumé runs the gamut from series, to gaming, to interactive content. He’s coming off a recent stint as an executive producer at Nickelodeon’s Noggin, and has also consulted with DreamWorks Animation on its interactive Jurassic Park: Camp Cretaceous special. And he has just been nominated for a 2023 Emmy Award for his work as a writer on Star Wars preschool series Young Jedi Adventures.

Harper began his career at Disney, where he worked for more than a decade in online games and websites. In 2018, he joined Netflix and spent a year overseeing interactive toons for kids, such as Captain Underpants’ Epic Choice-o-Rama. 

His expertise in managing content that spans traditional storytelling and emerging platforms is “critically important in today’s multiplatform environment,” says Terry Fitzpatrick, VP of children’s media and education at GBH, which is looking to expand its business in digital content, games, apps and podcasts.