UK indie Woodcut Media opens distribution arm, plans co-financing

L-R; Kate Beal, Hilary Strong, Koulla Anastasi

UK indie prodco Woodcut Media is expanding into distribution, with the launch of a new sales business, Woodcut International.

Its launch was spearheaded by Woodcut Media’s director of business development, Koulla Anastasi, who will lead a team of international sales agents, with support from Polly Benton, COO of the Anthology Group, of which Woodcut Media is a member.

The new distribution division will focus on global sales of a programme catalogue that currently consists of approximately 100 hours from Woodcut’s production slate, encompassing select new series such as Sky Crime UK’s The Beverley Allitt Tapes and library titles such as The Ivy, Defenders Of The Sky, Football: A Brief History By Alfie Allen, and Murders That Shocked The Nation.

The London-based company has however said that it will not be distributing its titles exclusively and confirmed that it will also continue to work with existing and new third-party distributors on other in-house productions.

Woodcut added that the new division will also benefit from a “substantial” investment fund that has been created in order to co-finance new projects over the coming years.  

Kate Beal, co-Founder & CEO of 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.”

“Woodcut Media has always been a very nimble business, pivoting to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the international market,” added Hilary Strong, Woodcut Media chairman and CEO of the Anthology Group. “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.”