Keshet plots crime move with Woodcut deal

Israel’s Keshet International is getting into unscripted crime programming distribution following a deal with UK producer Woodcut Media.

KI, the global sales arm of Keshet Media Group, will have exclusive rights to Woodcut’s new non-scripted factual crime programmes internationally.

“This deal is another step towards our ambition to grow a larger finished English language programming catalogue,” said Sebastian Burkhardt, KI’s head of business development and acquisitions.

Woodcut is a UK crime production specialist, having been behind shows such as Discovery Channel’s The Krays: the Prison Years, and Crime + Investigation’s Broadmoor: A History of the Criminally Insane and long-running series Fred Dineage: Murder Casebook.

The firm hired A+E Networks UK commissioner Jinal Patel as executive producer last year in a bid to ramp up its programming activities.

“A number of our titles in development are already being sought after by broadcasters, and the genre itself just goes from strength to strength,” said Kate Beal, CEO, Woodcut. “We very much look forward to making further announcements over the coming months.”