Barry Poznick has been named President, Unscripted Television by Mark Burnett at MGM TV, the company announced on Thursday.
The veteran producer of shows including “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?” and founder of Zoo Productions will oversee all of the MGM’s unscripted television development. He will report directly to Burnett, who was named president of MGM Television and Digital Group last year.
“I took my time in finding the absolute best president for MGM’s unscripted television group. Barry Poznick is it,” Burnett said in a statement. “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,” Burnett continued.
“The opportunity to reunite with Mark, the master of innovative reality TV, and to work with the MGM unscripted team was a no-brainer,” Poznick added. “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.”
Most recently, Poznick formed Barracuda Television Productions in 2013 and signed a multi-year deal with Electus. His other TV credits include MTV’s “Buckwild,” Spike’s “World’s Worst Tenants,” Disney Channel’s “PrankStars” and “It’s Worth What?” on NBC.