Senior Vice President, Production - Sony Pictures Television | Nonfiction

Sony Pictures Entertainment•Culver City, CA

18d

About The Position

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 oversees the financial, operational, and logistical execution of assigned productions from development budgeting and preproduction through physical production, post-production, and final delivery. The role ensures 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 position requires extensive hands-on production experience, sophisticated financial judgment, strategic leadership, and the ability to manage complex production operations within a major global entertainment organization. The successful candidate will oversee a substantial production portfolio, deliver against creative, financial, and scheduling objectives, proactively manage production risks, maintain strong internal and external partnerships, and develop effective, accountable production teams.

Requirements

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 and collaborating 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.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor's degree or equivalent professional experience preferred.

Responsibilities

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 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.
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.
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 resource allocation, vendor management, contract negotiations, and evaluation of domestic and international tax incentives.
Establish production reporting, financial accountability, and operational controls consistent with corporate standards.
Recruit, hire, supervise, and develop senior production personnel, including Executives in Charge of Production, Line Producers, and other key production management staff.
Set performance expectations and accountability for budgets, schedules, production quality, compliance, and delivery.
Provide executive guidance to production teams and address staffing, logistical, creative, and operational challenges.
Evaluate production staffing structures and resource requirements across concurrent projects.
Foster a collaborative, solutions-oriented production culture emphasizing transparency, sound judgment, operational discipline, and effective communication.
Serve as a senior production liaison to network and streaming partners, communicating about 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 on production-related 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 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.
Identify opportunities to strengthen production practices, improve cost efficiency, streamline workflows, and leverage corporate resources.
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.