Senior Vice President, Production - Sony Pictures Television | Nonfiction

Reports to: EVP of Production, SPT Nonfiction

Position Overview

Sony Pictures Television (SPT) Nonfiction is seeking an accomplished Senior Vice President of Production to provide strategic leadership and executive oversight across a high-volume portfolio of unscripted programming, including large-scale competition and social experiment formats, game shows, reality, and emerging media produced domestically and internationally.

Reporting to the EVP of Production at SPT Nonfiction, the SVP will oversee the financial, operational, and logistical execution of assigned productions from development budgeting and preproduction through physical production, post-production, and final delivery. This executive will ensure programming meets creative objectives, financial targets, production schedules, and corporate standards while maintaining strong relationships with production company leadership, creative teams, and network and platform partners.

The ideal candidate combines extensive hands-on production experience with sophisticated financial judgment, strategic leadership, and the ability to manage complex production operations within a major global entertainment organization.

Key Responsibilities

Production Strategy & Portfolio Oversight

• Provide executive oversight of multiple concurrent unscripted productions, ensuring alignment with creative objectives, approved budgets, schedules, and divisional business priorities.

• Lead production planning and execution across development, preproduction, principal photography, post-production, and delivery, including complex domestic and international productions and co-productions. 

• Partner with production company executives, showrunners, Executive Producers, and creative leadership to evaluate production feasibility, anticipate operational requirements, and develop effective execution strategies. 

• Oversee complex production environments, including large-scale competition formats, multicamera productions, studio and location operations, contestant logistics, and specialized technical requirements. 

• Serve as a senior escalation resource for production challenges, balancing creative ambitions with financial, operational, contractual, and scheduling considerations. 

Financial Management & Operational Accountability 

• Direct the development and evaluation of production budgets, schedules, and financial assumptions for development projects, new series, and returning productions. 

• Partner with Production Finance and Production Accounting to monitor cost reports, forecasts, estimated final costs, and overall financial performance across assigned productions. 

• Proactively identify financial risks, budget variances, and cost-saving opportunities; recommend corrective actions and communicate material issues to divisional leadership. 

• Evaluate the financial and operational impact of creative changes, staffing decisions, production modifications, and scheduling adjustments. 

• Support production economics through effective resource allocation, vendor management, contract negotiations, and evaluation of domestic and international tax incentives. 

• Establish clear production reporting, financial accountability, and operational controls consistent with corporate standards. 

Executive Leadership & Production Management 

• Recruit, hire, supervise, and develop senior production personnel, including Executives in Charge of Production, Line Producers, and other key production management staff. 

• Establish clear performance expectations and accountability for budgets, schedules, production quality, compliance, and delivery. 

• Provide executive guidance to production teams, proactively addressing staffing, logistical, creative, and operational challenges. 

• Evaluate production staffing structures and resource requirements to ensure appropriate management capacity across concurrent projects. 

• Foster a collaborative, solutions-oriented production culture emphasizing transparency, sound judgment, operational discipline, and effective communication. 

Creative, Network & Corporate Partnerships 

• Serve as a senior production liaison to network and streaming partners, maintaining strong relationships and clear communication regarding production progress, budgets, schedules, and deliverables. 

• Collaborate with creative executives, showrunners, and production leadership to translate creative concepts into practical, financially responsible production plans. 

• Partner with Legal, Business Affairs, Labor Relations, Human Resources, Risk Management, Safety, Insurance, and other corporate functions to address production-related contractual, personnel, financial, and regulatory matters. 

• Provide production expertise in negotiations involving production services, staffing agreements, vendor contracts, licensing, rights and clearances, and international production arrangements. 

• Ensure productions comply with applicable corporate policies, labor agreements, safety protocols, insurance requirements, and contractual obligations, escalating material risks appropriately. 

• Coordinate with post-production leadership to ensure timely delivery, completion of contractual obligations, financial reconciliation, and production closeout. 

Operational Excellence 

• Identify opportunities to strengthen production practices, improve cost efficiency, streamline workflows, and leverage corporate resources across the assigned portfolio. 

• Implement consistent standards for production planning, budgeting, reporting, documentation, and risk management. 

• Contribute to divisional resource planning and operational strategy, supporting scalable production capabilities and continuous improvement. 

Qualifications & Experience 

• Minimum 15 years of progressively responsible television production experience, including significant senior-level leadership overseeing multiple concurrent unscripted series. 

• Extensive experience with large-scale competition formats, social experiment programming, reality series, and game shows, including union and nonunion productions. 

• Demonstrated success managing complex domestic and international productions, co-productions, multicamera environments, and large-scale studio and location operations. 

• Proven expertise in production budgeting, cost reporting, financial forecasting, scheduling, and management of substantial production expenditures. 

• Strong understanding of production economics, labor agreements, production contracts, licensing, rights and clearances, insurance, safety requirements, and domestic and international tax incentives. 

• Established relationships with broadcast networks, streaming platforms, production companies, Executive Producers, showrunners, and senior industry stakeholders. 

• Demonstrated ability to lead, mentor, and manage senior production personnel while maintaining accountability across multiple projects. 

• Experience working within a major studio, network, or complex entertainment organization, with the ability to collaborate effectively across corporate and divisional functions. 

• Exceptional leadership, negotiation, communication, and problem-solving skills, with strong financial judgment, executive presence, and the ability to navigate competing priorities. 

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent professional experience preferred. 

Leadership Expectations 

The successful candidate will demonstrate the strategic perspective, financial discipline, and executive judgment required to oversee a substantial production portfolio within a global entertainment company. Success will be measured by consistent delivery against creative, financial, and scheduling objectives; proactive management of production risks; strong relationships with internal and external partners; and the development of effective, accountable production teams. 

Sony Pictures Entertainment is an equal opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, veteran status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, or other protected characteristics.

SPE will consider qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records in accordance with applicable law.

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