Bennetts enters Ringside Studios

Ringside Studios, the UK production company led by former Channel 4 head of drama Gub Neal and backed by France’s Newen, has hired a finance director.

Kate Bennetts

Kate Bennetts has joined Ringside to lead and guide all aspects of finance, business development and strategy at the company, which was founded earlier this year.

Bennetts joins from Ingenious Media, where she has managed TV strategy for the last eight years, helping to finance Marcella, White House Farm, Britannia and Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. She previously worked in investment management and is a qualified accountant.

Ringside Studios was established by producer Neal, who was drama head at C4 from 1999 to 2001, as a joint venture with Newen, the French production and distribution group owned by broadcasting group TF1.

The company, which is focused on creating content for the UK and international markets, said it is currently in advanced development and pre-production with some of the UK’s most prestigious writers and directors.

Neal, who is best known for award-winning and critically acclaimed dramas including The Fall and The Last Enemy, described Bennetts’ hire as “a key part in our plan to make strategic investments into experienced and exciting UK drama talent.”

He added: “There is a real appetite in the market for this type of creative-led, European-orientated structure, and throughout lockdown we have been having many interesting conversations with a broad spectrum of talent.”

Bennetts said: “Ringside have an impressive and ambitious slate that I am looking forward to helping them get into production. In addition to Ringside’s own productions, a key part of the company’s strategy is identifying exciting UK drama talent and supporting them throughout their content generation journey. I am passionate about building a network of companies producing drama at the highest quality, with one foot firmly in Europe.”