Continuity at the helm of LEONINE Studios, part of the Mediawan Group, ensured for coming years
- Contract extension for CEO Fred Kogel
- Chief Creative- and Co-Chief Production Officer Fiction Quirin Berg to be appointed Deputy Chairman of the Management Board on April 1
- Jochen Köstler joins the Management Board as Chief Production Officer Non-Fiction on April 1 and will be responsible for the entire non-fiction production division of LEONINE Studios
Munich/Paris, March 25, 2026 – Fred Kogel and the Mediawan Group have agreed to extend Fred Kogel's contract as Chief Executive Officer of LEONINE Studios until 2028. Since 2019 Kogel has been CEO of the group, which he founded in the same year together with KKR. LEONINE Studios joined the Mediawan Group in 2024, following a strategic partnership initiated in 2020, further strengthening its development within the leading European independent studio. Fred Kogel is one of the most recognized managers and producers in his industry. Under his leadership LEONINE Studios has evolved into the leading independent production and distribution group in German-speaking Europe over the past seven years.
Under Fred Kogel’s direction:
Quirin Berg, who has been responsible for the content strategy of the entire fiction division of LEONINE Studios as Chief Creative- and Co-Chief Production Officer Fiction since January 2020, will also be appointed Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of LEONINE Holding GmbH on April 1, 2026.
Jochen Köstler, who has been Executive Vice President Non-Fiction and Managing Director of i&u Studios within the LEONINE Group since January 2024, will join the Management Board of LEONINE Holding GmbH as Chief Production Officer Non-Fiction on April 1, 2026 and will be responsible for the entire non-fiction production division.
The Management Board of LEONINE Holding GmbH is completed by Sarah Fischer, who continues in her role as Chief People & Sustainability Officer; Max Wiedemann maintains his responsibilities as Business Development- and Co-Chief Production Officer Fiction of LEONINE Studios as well as Head of AI Mediawan Group; and Bernhard zu Castell remains Chief Distribution Officer, overseeing theatrical-, home entertainment- and audio-distribution, the licensing segment as well as channels.
CEO Fred Kogel says: "I am delighted that we will be continuing on the highly successful path of LEONINE Studios, the production and distribution group I co-founded. At the same time, I am looking forward to building on LEONINE's success in the future with Quirin and Jochen in their expanded roles, as well as Sarah, Max, Bernhard and our regional CFO Jens Mezger – my entire management team. In recent years, we have successfully tapped into additional potential thanks to our intensive collaboration with Pierre-Antoine Capton and the Mediawan Group. We will systematically continue to pursue this internationally successful course.”
Pierre-Antoine Capton, co-founder and CEO of the Mediawan Group: “Our collaboration with Fred Kogel and LEONINE Studios is truly strategic for Mediawan. At a time when our industry is consolidating, it perfectly illustrates what we have built: a global independent champion, driven by top-tier talent and a strong European vision. We are delighted to continue working closely with Fred and his teams and to further accelerate synergies across the group, such as “Weekend Warriors”, Plan B’s movie adaptation of the film "Weekend Rebels" developed by LEONINE Studios’ production banner Wiedemann & Berg Film – to develop more international projects and strengthen our growth together”.
About LEONINE Studios
LEONINE Studios is Germany’s leading independent media company – the one-stop shop for premium content. Together, the LEONINE Studios companies produce, co-produce, distribute and license premium content – covering the entire value chain of the content business across all formats and genres: films, series and content for social media – from entertainment to infotainment, fiction and non-fiction.
LEONINE Studios’ production brands are led by award-winning producers and creative partners – including the premium production brands beetz brothers film production | hyperbole | i&u Studios | LEONINE Documentaries | Madame Zheng Production | Odeon Fiction | SEO Entertainment | W&B Television | Wiedemann & Berg Film | Toon2Tango.
As the leading independent distributor in Germany, LEONINE Studios holds an outstanding position in the German market. The carefully curated annual program of around 25 to 30 cinema films is a commitment to quality and diversity at the highest level. The portfolio covers all genres and ranges from major international cinema blockbusters like THE HOUSEMAID, JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 4, THE HUNGER GAMES – THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS AND SNAKES, to acclaimed German productions like SCHOOL OF MAGICAL ANIMALS, WEEKEND REBELS, LASSIE and OLD WHITE MAN, to Oscar®-winning arthouse highlights like EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE, THE ZONE OF INTEREST and CONCLAVE. LEONINE Studios’ market-leading license library includes more than 4,000 titles in all formats and genres.
LEONINE Studios is part of the Mediawan Group. For more information, please visit www.leoninestudios.com
About MEDIAWAN
Created in late 2015 in France by Pierre-Antoine Capton, Xavier Niel, and Matthieu Pigasse, Mediawan is one of Europe’s leading independent studios producing audiovisual content. The Group brings together top talent in audiovisual creation and operates across the entire value chain, notably producing more than 400 titles each year across drama, unscripted, documentary, cinema and animated original content - including major successes such as ‘F1’ (Plan B), the multi-Emmy Award-winning series ‘Adolescence’ (Plan B), ‘Slow Horses’ (See-Saw Films), ‘Miraculous’, and one of the most adapted series worldwide ‘Call My Agent!’ - thanks to over 80 production labels operating in 13 countries, including award-winning Plan B Entertainment (US/UK), Miraculous Corp (US/France), See-Saw Films (UK/Australia), Drama Republic and Misfits (UK), Palomar and Our Films (Italy), LEONINE Studios (Germany), Boomerang and Good Mood (Spain), Submarine (Netherlands/US), Chapter 2 and Chi-Fou-Mi (France). Mediawan is also a major player in the distribution of audiovisual content, with a catalogue of over 30,000 hours of programming across all genres (Mediawan Rights), as well as publishing channels and digital services (Mediawan Thematics), and developing and producing digital content (Mediawan Digital).
Press contact
Henriette Gutmann
SVP Corporate Communication, LEONINE Studios
E-Mail communication@leoninestudios.com
Tel. +49 89 999 513 0
