All3’s Tower Productions hires Imago TV’s creative chief as MD

Kirstin Benthaus-Gebauer

All3Media-owned Tower Productions has named Imago TV Film’s creative director Kirstin Benthaus-Gebauer as MD of the German firm.

Benthaus-Gebauer will join at the beginning of April and will oversee all operations at Tower, which is behind format remakes such as Undercover Boss for RTL and Das Große Backen (The Great Bake Off) for Sat.1, as well as docs including ZDF’s Unforgettable – Our Choir For People With Dementia.

The company also has exclusive access to the international format catalogue of All3Media International, which took sole ownership of tower last year after BBC Studios launched its own venture in the country.

Benthaus-Gebauer spent a decade at Imago, developing and producing formats for all major broadcasters, and before that was chief executive producer at Storyhouse for reality, people and fact ent. She has also had stints at German prodco South&Browse.

Taco Rijssemus, CEO at All3Media Deutschland, said: “Her first-class expertise and experience combined with brilliant creativity and a real passion for engaging and entertaining content will be invaluable to the future growth and success of Tower as she leads the company into its exciting next phase.”

Benthaus-Gebauer added: “Tower is already very well positioned – a premium label in the market, with an excellent format catalogue that is continuously growing. And, of course, we want to contribute to this from Germany. Thinking globally and acting locally very much applies to our business.”

BBCS’s Germany Productions launched in January and is led by former Tower exec Philipp Schmid, who left the company for BBCS in 2018. Fellow Tower alum Markus Templin was also named head of entertainment.