Starz hires Sony Pictures Television’s Kathryn Busby for original programming

Lionsgate-owned US cablenet Starz has appointed Sony executive Kathryn Busby as president of original programming.

Kathryn Busby

At Starz, Busby will be responsible for leading the programming and development team and delivering on its programming mandate committed to narratives by, about and for women and underrepresented audiences.

With more than 25 years’ experience developing and producing content across multiple platforms, Busby joins Starz from Sony Pictures Television, where she was exec VP of TriStar Television.

While in that role, she was involved in projects including Apple TV+’s forthcoming murder-mystery comedy series The Afterparty, an as-yet-unnamed series based on Kirsten Chen’s upcoming novel Counterfeit and another new series based on Malcolm X’s daughter Illyasah Shabazz’s novels X: A Novel and The Awakening of Malcolm X.

Before that, Busby was senior VP of development at Sony, where she developed and produced numerous projects including AXN drama series Absentia. She also sat on the Sony Pictures Action Council, which implemented the studio’s racial equity and inclusion initiatives.

Prior to joining Sony, Busby was VP of original programming at US network TBS, where she partnered with The Blacklist creator Franklin Leonard to create a joint initiative to identify diverse new writing talent for blind script deals and staffing consideration.

Busby’s other previous roles include senior VP of production at New Line Cinema and senior VP and head of development at The Carsey-Werner Company.

The exec began her television career as director of comedy development at Universal Television. She is also an award-winning screenwriter, director and producer, with credits including short films Max & Josh and My Purple Fur Coat.