Off The Fence appoints chief for new Canadian office

My Octopus Teacher

My Octopus Teacher firm Off The Fence (OTF) has opened a new office in Canada and named Imelda Wiebers to run it.

Wiebers, who is OTF’s director of commercial & business affairs, will manage and oversee the new arm, which is based out of Toronto. Her current role includes assessing the legal and commercial return on intellectual property opportunities.

The launch means the ZDF Enterprises-owned outfit, which was formed in 1994, now has a production office in Bristol, UK, as well as distribution offices in Amsterdam and London.

Bo Stehmeier

The expansion comes six weeks after OTF reorganised its operations to focus on three pillars of programming, while also appointing the MD of its production arm to a new creative role.

Bo Stehmeier, who rejoined OTF as CEO last year, said: “We are excited to have opened our first office in Canada and to be bringing our solid industry experience, unparalleled access to people and places, and fresh ideas to the Canadian market.

“We look forward to working even more closely with our Canadian partners to create and distribute compelling content across our core pillars of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.”

Stehmeier added that Wiebers’ “commercial acumen and intrinsic knowledge of Off the Fence’s ecosystem will help her realise the Canadians opportunities that we have already identified plus the many more we are envisioning.”

Wiebers said: “North America is a key territory in the factual content business and having a presence in this market will help bring even more opportunities for Off The Fence. The new Canadian office is yet another step to take the company to the next level and I’m thrilled to be part of that expansion.”

OTF’s catalogue runs to more than 6,000 hours of programming. It has created more than 500 hours of content for a broadcasters including Canada-based CBC, Société Radio Canada, Blue Ant Media, Bell Media and Knowledge Network.