ITVS & Polter add Bavaria execs to scripted prodco

Moritz Polter

ITV Studios (ITVS) and former Bavaria Fiction exec Moritz Polter have revealed the name of their new German scripted label, which has also hired three execs – including two from his former company.

The firm, first revealed in April, is called Windlight Pictures and says it will focus on German drama that resonates globally.

Bavaria additions

Polter has hired Simone Ruff and Cosima Degler as development executives, while Georg Höss has been brought onboard as head of legal & business affairs.

Ruff comes from Bavaria Fiction, where she had worked with Polter for the last two years. She has been behind shows including Freud for Netflix and local broadcaster ORF, as well as NSU: German History X.

She is joined by fellow Bavaria alum Höss, where he was head of legal & business affairs. He has overseen hundreds of TV and feature film productions, having joined Bavaria Film in 2001.

Degler, meanwhile, has been part of the Hager Moss Film team, an affiliated company of Constantin Television, since 2018. Her credits include Two Mothers and Millennials.

Das Boot

The appointments come two months since Polter and ITVS revealed their new venture. The exec has worked on shows including Das Boot for Sky, and Arctic Circle for ZDF in Germany and Finnish duo Elisa Viihde and YLE.

He was most recently executive producer for international TV series at Bavaria Fiction and left following former chief creative officer Oliver Vogel’s move to Leonine-owned Wiedemann & Berg TV in September.

Nina Maag was promoted following Polter’s exit, with Bavaria recently hiring Sky Deutschland alum Marcus Ammon as MD of content, as part of a reorganisation of the Munich-based firm’s top leadership.

Polter’s recently launched German label joins fellow ITVS-owned scripted firms, including ZeroZeroZero prodco Cattleya, Piv Bernth’s Apple Tree Productions in Denmark, Tetra Media Studios in France, Line Of Duty firm World Productions and fellow UK outfit Mammoth Screen.