MGM Television Group's Mark Burnett today announced that Barry Poznick, a 25-year veteran of unscripted television and a leading producer in the industry, is joining the company as president, Unscripted Television. Reporting directly to Burnett, MGM Television and Digital Group's president, Poznick will be charged with overseeing the creative and development of all unscripted television content. MGM Television is today the number one producer of U.S. network unscripted television content.
Poznick has enjoyed a long and highly successful career in unscripted content and has produced multiple series with Burnett including the original, Emmy® nominated hit show "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (FOX)," "How'd You Get So Rich? (TV Land)" and "Trust Me, I'm a Game Show Host (TBS)." Poznick founded Zoo Productions in 1994 and built it into a prolific independent unscripted production company, which was acquired by All3 Media in 2008 in one of All3's earliest U.S. acquisition moves.
After completing a successful run with All3, in 2013 Poznick formed Barracuda Television Productions and entered into a multi-year deal with Electus, which is backed by Barry Diller's IAC. Poznick has produced and/or created topical, original and comedy-driven unscripted formats for ABC, E!, CMT, TLC, Nickelodeon,
VH1 and POP including the hit unscripted series "Buckwild" (MTV); "World's Worst Tenants" (Spike); "Prankstars" (Disney); "It's Worth What? (NBC); "The American Bible Challenge" and "Lingo" (GSN); "Speeders" and "Southern Fried Stings" (Tru).
In making the announcement, Burnett said, "I took my time in finding the absolute best president for MGM's unscripted television group. Barry Poznick is it." He added, "In order to produce hit television shows you need to be able to create, to produce and to market, Barry Poznick can do it all. He has been successful in primetime network, primetime cable and daytime syndication. We have made hundreds of hours of TV together and Barry is the perfect person to build upon MGM's solid unscripted foundation."
"The opportunity to reunite with Mark, the master of innovative reality TV, and to work with the MGM unscripted team was a no-brainer," said Poznick. "MGM is one of Hollywood's most legendary studios with primetime shows on every major network and hit shows on cable. I am excited to help them continue creating innovative, original and epic programming to entertain viewers around the world."
MGM Television has numerous unscripted and scripted television shows airing on network and cable or in production including: "The Voice" (NBC); "Survivor" (CBS); "Shark Tank" (ABC); "Beyond the Tank" (ABC); "Celebrity Apprentice"(NBC); "500 Questions" (ABC); "The People's Choice Awards" (CBS); "Coupled" (FOX); "Lucha Underground" (The El Rey Network); "America's Greatest Makers" (INTEL/Turner); "Teen Wolf" (MTV); Fargo" (FX); and "Vikings" (HISTORY).
ABOUT MGM TELEVISION MGM Television is a leading producer and global distributor of premium content for television and digital platforms, with distribution rights to original productions and a robust catalog of television episodes and feature film titles including such premiere entertainment franchises as James Bond, Rocky, Stargate and "The Hobbit" trilogy. Current scripted and unscripted multi-platform projects include "Fargo" (FX); "Vikings" (HISTORY); "Teen Wolf" (MTV); "The Voice" (NBC); "Survivor" (CBS); "Shark Tank" (ABC); "Beyond the Tank" (ABC); "Celebrity Apprentice"(NBC); "500 Questions" (ABC); "The People's Choice Awards" (CBS); "Coupled" (FOX) and "Lucha Underground" (The El Rey Network); "America's Greatest Makers" (INTEL/Turner). Through its finance and distribution entity, Orion TV Productions, the
Syndicated courtroom series "Lauren Lake's Paternity Court" is currently airing its third season. MGM's television programming regularly airs in more than 70 countries worldwide. For more information, visit www.mgm.com.
