Woodcut Media Expands into Distribution Business

The U.K.-based indie Woodcut Media has launched a new sales business, Woodcut International.

Woodcut International’s focus will be on the global sales of a program catalog that features approximately 100 hours from the producer. Among the new series on Woodcut’s slate are Sky Crime UK’s The Beverley Allitt Tapes and library titles that include The Ivy, Defenders of the Sky, Football: A Brief History by Alfie Allen and Murders That Shocked the Nation.

The newly created distribution operation also benefits from a substantial investment fund that has been created in order to co-finance new projects over the coming years. Woodcut Media will continue to work with existing and new third-party distributors on other in-house productions.

The launch of Woodcut International has been spearheaded by Koulla Anastasi, Woodcut Media’s director of business development, and supported by Anthology Group COO Polly Benton.

Kate Beal, co-founder and CEO at Woodcut Media, said: “We have been focused on cementing our international relationships with commissioners and buyers and securing pre-sales on productions for a while now, so this next phase is a logical progression. The creation of Woodcut International allows us to be even more commercially, as well as editorially, collaborative with our broadcast partners.”

Hilary Strong, chairman of Woodcut Media and CEO of the Anthology Group, added: “Woodcut Media has always been a very nimble business, pivoting to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the international market. Its diverse, out of London team, is particularly strong commercially and the Anthology Group has been delighted to be able to help support this new venture, which will enable Woodcut to partner commercially with its commissioners and fast track its large programme slate.”