Sony Pictures TV President Katherine Pope Still Bullish on Biz Amid Disruptions, Says ‘Creative Production, Budgetary Friction,’ a ‘Good Thing’
variety.comChristopher Vourlias Sony Pictures Television president Katherine Pope is still bullish on the future of TV, saying that some of the recent disruptions rattling the global business will be good for the industry in the long haul and insisting that this sink-or-swim moment is the time for visionary creatives to shine. “I think some of this constriction is going to be good, because I think it was very, very hard to break out when there were 750 shows premiering at any given time,” Pope said during a keynote address at Rome’s MIA Market on Wednesday. “I think this will actually be a good time.” In a wide-ranging conversation with MIA’s head of drama Paolo Ciccarelli, Pope acknowledged that pessimism persists in many quarters — something she partly attributed to “the hangover of the boom times” — but suggested the leaner business model of a previous TV era, when she was cutting her teeth at NBC and NBCUniversal, could help set the industry back on track. “Some of that rigor that was in the old system is coming back.
And I think it’s actually really healthy,” she said. “There’s a way for me that creative production, budgetary friction, is a good thing.
It always yields unexpected answers.” The veteran television executive recalled joining Sony in 2022 to head its TV division at “a super volatile time in the business,” amid a period of almost unprecedented course-correction and disruption to the TV industry globally.
Since stepping into her role after the departure of Jeff Frost, Pope has overseen the release of global hits including “The Boys,” “Outlander” and “The Last of Us,” crediting Sony for remaining “very singularly focused” amid the turbulence of recent years.
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