Woodcut Media & Spark TV Merge

Woodcut Media has merged with Spark TV to launch Woodcut West, which will be dedicated to the development and production of natural-history and specialist-factual programming.

Woodcut West will be based out of Bristol and be led by award-winning executive producer Paul Wooding. Wooding’s credits include T. Rex Autopsy, Blitz Street, Black Files Declassified, Hive Alive, Last War Heroes, Smash Lab and Wild Tube.

Woodcut Media, co-founded by Kate Beal, and Spark TV, founded by Paul Wooding, form part of the Anthology Group.

Beal, co-founder and CEO of Woodcut Media, said: “We are proud to unveil this new partnership with Paul to create Woodcut West. Bristol is recognized worldwide as the U.K.’s creative hub for natural history and wildlife documentaries and we have known and respected Paul’s work for many years now; he breaks the mold when it comes to producing bold, innovative and immersive programming. This alliance will allow us to expand our mutual specialist factual horizons and branch out into new genres, which is a very exciting next stage in Woodcut’s growth.”

Wooding, managing director of Woodcut West, said: “Woodcut shares the same vision and work ethos as I do when it comes to factual production. In the lead up to this launch, we have been brainstorming numerous ideas, and have a number of projects in development that we will be announcing over the coming months. Our combination of editorial expertise and talent base will provide a broad and exciting range of great projects for the broadcasters we all love to work with worldwide.”

Hilary Strong, chairman of Woodcut Media and CEO of the Anthology Group, added: “The Anthology Group is delighted to announce this merger between its two factual production companies, bringing creative synergies and scale to both. Paul’s impressive track record for bold and innovative production, combined with Woodcut’s creativity, scale and unparalleled track record make for a formidable team.”