Katherine Pope has been affirmed as the new President Of Sony Pictures TV Studios. Pope, who has filled in as Head of Original Content at Charter Communications’ Spectrum Originals for over four and a half years, is currently joining Sony Pictures Television to direct all homegrown scripted productions.
Pope is in an uncommon organization of only two or three other women who have held a top post at the non mainstream TV studio, including Barbara Corday, who was President of Columbia Pictures Television during the 1980s, and Helene Michaels, who did a concise stretch as President of Network Production for Columbia TriStar TV in 1999-2000.
Katherine Pope, who starts her work in August 22, will succeed Jeff Frost, who announced last month that he would step down after five years in the gig.
Pope, Pope, who has extensive studio, network and production company experience and ran NBC Universal TV Studios (now Universal Television) 15 years ago, emerged as an early frontrunner for the Sony TV Studios job around the time of Frost’s exit announcement in early June.
The search went through multiple rounds, and other seasoned executives were considered — with Pope remaining at or close to the top of the list of candidates the entire time.
In her new role, Pope will report to Ravi Ahuja, Chairman, Global Television Studios and Sony Pictures Entertainment Corporate Development.
She is joining the studio just as it hit an all-time high of over 50 series in production, including such hits as Better Call Saul, The Good Doctor, The Boys, Cobra Kai, The Blacklist, The Goldbergs, Outlander, The Afterparty and The Wheel of Time, but is also facing challenges, along with opportunities, as an independent studio not affiliated with a linear network or a streamer.
Katherine has proven herself as a powerful leader with faultless taste and the capacity to effectively create and produce contents that resounds with crowds.
Answering to Pope will be Sony TV’s top development leader, Jason Clodfelter, Co-President, SPT Studios who recently reestablished his agreement to go on in his job. Pope and Clodfelter have known one another for quite a while and are expected to have a solid working relationship.
Originally developed for NBC, the Sony TV-produced drama starring Jessica Alba and Gabrielle Union marked the first series ordered by Pope for Spectrum Originals and helped establish a business template for other studios to sell to the new original programming player.
In addition to L.A.’s Finest, which ran for two seasons, Sony TV also produced the Mad About You revival for the channel and is behind the high-profile upcoming Spectrum Originals limited series A Spy Among Friends, starring Damian Lewis and Guy Pearce and Panhandle, starring Luke Kirby.
Other original series Pope has commissioned at Spectrum include Joe Pickett, which became Spectrum Originals’ most-watched show ever, Angela Black as well as the upcoming Beacon 23, starring Lena Headey and Stephan James, and George & Tammy, starring Jessica Chastain and Michael Shannon.
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Prior to joining Charter, Pope ran the TV division of Jeff Robinov’s Studio 8, which was based at Sony. Before that, Pope launched the television division at Peter Chernin’s 20th Century Fox-based production company and oversaw all creative development and production and executive produced such series as New Girl, which ran on Fox for seven seasons.
Alongside the executive jobs she has held, Pope has served as an executive producer on every Liz Meriwether series since New Girl, most recently Hulu’s The Dropout, which just earned six Emmy nominations, including for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series.
Earlier in her career, Pope spent 10 years at NBC Universal. She joined NBC Studios as a primetime series associate and then rose through the ranks to EVP at NBC and President of NBC Universal Television Studios, a post she held for a year and a half.
Among the shows she shepherded at NBC and NBC Uni TV Studios were Heroes, Friday Night Lights, House, The Office and 30 Rock. Pope began her career in network news at CBS and ABC News, producing documentaries and specials.
She has the vast experience with global production capabilities at the studio. At Sony TV, Pope will reunite with such top TV writer-producers that she has worked with in the past like House creator David Shore, now developer/executive producer of Sony TV’s hit medical drama The Good Doctor, Amy Lippman and Alex Cary.
“I am thrilled to be joining the incredibly talented team Tony and Ravi have assembled at SPT — a studio with the strength, expertise and independence to lead amidst the challenges of a rapidly evolving marketplace,” said Pope. “I have long admired the creativity and high-quality work SPT consistently produces and can’t wait to explore all the opportunities that lie ahead. I am excited to step onto the lot and get started!”
