Jochen Koestler joins Leonine Studios as EVP of Non-Fiction

As of January 1, 2024, Jochen Koestler will take up the position of Executive Vice President of Non-Fiction of media company Leonine Studios in Munich. Together with the CEO, Fred Kogel, he will manage the entire group’s non-fiction production division, which includes production banners Gebrueder Beetz Filmproduktion, Hyperbole Medien, i&u TV, Madame Zheng Production, and SEO Entertainment. From January 2025, he will assume sole overall responsibility for this area.

In addition, Koestler will join the management board of Cologne-based i&u TV, one of the leading production companies for information and entertainment formats, on January 1, 2024, where he will be responsible for the entire entertainment division. As Chief Digital Officer of Leonine Studios and as Managing Director of i&u TV and Hyperbole Medien, Meinberger will continue to lead the digital units of the production companies that produce branded entertainment and YouTube formats, among other things.

“It is a great pleasure to welcome Jochen Koestler, one of Germany’s most accomplished and successful non-fiction producers, to our team. He is one of the few who combines impressive expertise in both entertainment and documentary production. I am convinced that Jochen, who brings a wealth of experience, will successfully keep the i&u TV entertainment production business on our growth path and also position it for further expansion in the future with genres such as reality. He will also support me in a significant capacity in the management of the entire Leonine non-fiction division in the coming year, and will be solely responsible for this division from 2025 onwards,”  Kogel said.

“It is a great privilege to take on these new tasks and goals, and I am going to embrace this responsibility with great pleasure and passion. I am very much looking forward to working with my new colleagues and especially with the great team at i&u TV in Cologne. Together, we want to build on great successes with our high-rated shows like ‘Small Vs. Tall’ and ‘They Don’t Know What Will Happen,’ while creating sustainable structures for a scalable entertainment business,”  Koestler commented.

Koestler joins Leonine Studios from Constantin Entertainment, where he has been Managing Director since 2017, and had already worked as a producer for more than ten years. In addition to building the business with streaming platforms and successful formats such as the Amazon Original “Last One Laughing” – whose first season he co-produced –, and the reality series “Germany Shore,” Koestler produced series such as “K11 – Die Neuen Fälle” for Sat.1, “Darf Er Das? – Die Chris Tall Show” for RTL, and “Der RTL Comedy Grand Prix.”