Keshet Building (photo by Magma Images)
Alon Strausman, who served as the CEO of Keshet International (KI), the international arm of the Keshet Group that develops, produces and distributes content outside of Israel, announced his retirement from the position at the end of the year.
Keshet’s activities outside the borders of Israel began in the early 2000s, when it sold through Keshet Formats a series of Israeli formats around the world. The ties between Keshet’s people and Hollywood became tighter and tighter, especially in the field of drama, with the turning point being the “Kidnapped” series that became “Homeland” and picked up Emmy and Golden Globe awards.
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As part of Keshet’s self-definition as an Israeli and international content company, and the belief in the power and uniqueness of Israeli creation and the Israeli story, KI was established in 2012. Alon Straussman headed the company from its inception, and during his 10 years as CEO, established a global distribution and production infrastructure that made KI an influential player in the international content market with series and formats on television networks such as HBO, NBC and ABC and streaming giants such as Netflix, Apple TV, Disney + and Amazon.
During the last decade the company expanded and today, it owns production companies and studios in the USA, England and Germany. In 2012 the British Keshet UK studios were established and in 2015 the production house Keshet Studios was established in Los Angeles. Under the leadership of Strausman, KI expanded its international footprint Through the acquisition of the German production company Tresor in 2017 and the group of British production companies Greenbird in 2018, through them the company produced hundreds of hours of content in England and Europe.
In the past two years, KI has experienced a significant boom in activity and achieved many successes, including two huge productions for Apple TV – an international version of “Doubles” that premiered this year starring Uma Thurman and a Hollywood adaptation of “For Her Heroes Fly” that is expected to be released soon. Also launching in the coming months will be an American television adaptation of the “missing case” in Pikkok, a drama about the Righteous Among the Nations Mip Hiss on Disney+ and a second season of the American series La Brea on NBC, with which Keshet Studios has a strategic content agreement with its production arm Universal. Alongside the production business, KI has also established itself as a leading international distribution body, with sold formats such as “Boom!”, “Get Out of It”, “The next star” and more.
Avi Nir, CEO of Keshet Group: “Probably for many years to come there will be talk around the campfire and buzz in London, Los Angeles, New York, Munich and Tel Aviv about Alon Straussman’s ten years at KI. Perhaps the historians will rightly call it “the glorious decade”, I had the privilege of accompanying Alon and the KI people during these years and seeing up close how this dream was realized with the help of his tireless leadership and faith. I had the pleasure of meeting with Alon all over the globe, at all hours of the day and in all media and learning about energy, humanity and hopeless optimism. A hug, thank you very much and good luck Alon.”
Alon Strausman, CEO of KI himself said: “The 10 years that have passed since we founded KI have been an amazing experience for me and the fulfillment of more than one dream. After more than a decade, and thousands of hours of broadcasting around the world, it’s time to move on to the next adventure. I express my gratitude to Keshet and Abi Nir for their trust and support, to the management team and KI employees for whom no challenge is too great, and to all the creators who were part of this exciting journey in which, with joint forces, we turned Israel into an international content powerhouse.”
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