With a career that spans more than 20 years, Kate Beal is an internationally recognised producer of unscripted premium content and her company Woodcut Media is also one of the UK’s leading True Crime documentary producers.
Kate is Founder and CEO of Woodcut Media (established in 2014), a female led operation with a diverse team at its core, whose main ethos is to provide an honest and trusted voice – creating programming that tells incredible stories with creativity, authenticity and care.
Woodcut specialises in a broad range of standout unscripted content covering True Crime, factual entertainment, specialist factual, and premium/talent led programming. Key titles include Confessions of a Psycho Killer and The Murder of Meredith (for Amazon’s Prime Video), long-running series World’s Most Evil Killers/Britain’s Most Evil Killers, as well as Fiennes: Return to the Wild and Fiennes: Return to the Nile (for Nat Geo) with Joseph and Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Cut from a Different Cloth, Mandela, My Dad and Me, both featuring Idris Elba, Titanic in Colour (Nat Geo), Queens that Changed the World, Hitler: A Life in Pictures, and Paranormal Captured, to name just a few. In 2020, Woodcut also launched distribution company Woodcut International.
Woodcut also focuses on mentoring young talent via the Woodcut Post-Production Award Scheme and Woodcut Production Management Award, working closely with Solent University (UK) to provide paid internships and training.
In addition to running the Woodcut group of companies and executive producing, Kate also paved the way for the creation in 2023 of the Association of True Crime Producers (ATCP), a non-profit association of which she is Chair, and whose members are committed to the continued development of the highest professional standards in True Crime production.
Kate was appointed Export Champion by the Department for Business & Trade 2023/2024, is a published author by Penguin Random House, Chair of the Association of True Crime Producers, a member of the British Screen Forum, a member of Pact Council, Judge at CrimeCon UK and a former Advisory Board member for Realscreen Summit.
Entering the TV industry at just 15 years old starting at ITV, she worked her way up the ladder learning all aspects of the production business (from runner to researcher, to producer and director). In 2005 she established KMB Productions a niche factual specialist which following extraordinary growth was acquired by Talent Group PLC and rebranded as Talent TV South, producing hits such as Fred Dinenage: Murder Casebook. With Kate at the helm, Talent TV later rebranded as Woodcut Media.