Barry Poznick to step down as GM of unscripted at Amazon MGM Studios

Barry Poznick is stepping down from his role as general manager (GM) of unscripted TV at Amazon MGM Studios and segueing into a three-year first-look producer deal.

Barry Poznick

With his departure, the LA-based exec will continue to serve as an executive producer on all of MGM’s reality franchises. His exit from the GM role is effective from January 1.

Under the producing deal, he will continue to provide creative oversight on The Voice, Shark Tank, The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Real Housewives of Rhode Island, The Real Housewives of Orange County, Vanderpump Rules and American Gladiators, in addition to being a liaison between production, network and studio, according to Amazon.

Poznick’s departure comes almost 10 years after he joined MGM as president of alternative television under Mark Burnett, who then served as chairman of MGM’s worldwide TV group. During that time, he played a key role in the acquisitions of Evolution Media and Big Fish Entertainment, as well as setting up a UK outpost. He has also overseen the past 20 seasons of reality juggernaut Survivor.

In 2022, Poznick was tapped to oversee the merged unscripted units as Amazon acquired MGM in a US$8.45bn deal. In his role as president, he worked across Prime Video titles such as Are Your Smarter Than a Celebrity? with Travis Kelce, 007: Road to a Million with Brian Cox and the upcoming reboot of American Gladiators.

Earlier in his career, he co-founded and ran the prodco Zoo Productions, which was acquired by All3Media in 2008.

Poznick’s departure comes at a time of major change at Amazon MGM Studios, both in terms of personnel and team structure. Two months ago, Amazon announced it was merging MGM Alternative TV with the rest of its studio business, under the leadership of global TV head Vernon Sanders. But Sanders left less than two weeks later, with ex-Netflix exec Peter Friedlander replacing him.

With Poznick’s departure, Kitty Gambel and Lucilla D’Agostino, who lead creative development, will now report directly to Friedlander. Dom Bird, senior VP, international unscripted TV, based in London, and Justin Dudek, senior VP of physical production, based in LA, will report to Gambel.

“We are delighted that Barry will maintain his relationship with Amazon through a producer deal, allowing us to continue our prosperous partnership,” said Friedlander in an internal memo.