Sony Pictures Entertainment promotes three to head TV studio

Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) announced today that Jeff Frost has been named president of Sony Pictures Television Studios, the production side of SPE’s television business.

Concurrently, Chris Parnell and Jason Clodfelter have been named co-presidents of Sony Pictures Television Studios.

Frost will report to SPE chairman and CEO Tony Vinciquerra, while Parnell and Clodfelter will report to Frost.

Frost, Parnell and Clodfelter will collectively operate under a new “office of the president” which will oversee all US production and programming for Sony Pictures Television (SPT).

Parnell and Clodfelter’s oversight will include all creative aspects of the television studio including US drama and comedy development, reality and syndication, US scripted and current programming, talent and casting, movies and miniseries and TriStar Television.

SPT’s International Productions will continue to be led by Wayne Garvie, chief creative officer for SPT International Production, who will report to Vinciquerra.

As executive vice-president of US business affairs, Frost played a lead role in SPT’s overall strategy and negotiations with the studio’s broadcast and production partners and talent over the last decade. Frost joined SPT in 2008 from ABC Studios, where he served as senior vice-president of business affairs. He previously served as senior vice-president at Touchstone Television leading the legal department.

Parnell and Clodfelter joined SPT in 2003 and 2006, respectively; both most recently serving as executive vice-president of US drama development and programming for SPT. 

Together they have guided the development of scripted programming for drama series for broadcast, cable, and streaming outlets. The duo were driving forces behind dramas like Breaking Bad, The Blacklist and Outlander.

Prior to joining Sony in 2006, Clodfelter served as vice-president of development for Spelling Television, where he developed the series Wanted and Saving Grace. He also served as director of development for John Wells Productions.

“Jeff, Chris and Jason are the perfect team to run our US television business,” Vinciquerra said. “Over the last several weeks, I have been able to see first-hand the strong leadership qualities possessed by Jeff, Chris and Jason, the high energy and vitality of everyone in their groups and throughout SPT and the outstanding collaboration that exits between them all. I am confident they will not only grow our robust television business, but also strengthen the integration between SPT and SPE’s other lines of business and with the other Sony Group companies.”

Frost added: “I am thrilled to take on this new role at SPT and honoured to work with some of the most talented and creative individuals and teams in the business. I am particularly excited about working with Chris and Jason.  The landscape of our business continues to rapidly evolve, and SPT is in an ideal position to take advantage of industry shifts due to our diversity of programming and ability to air across a broad array of broadcast, cable and digital platforms.  We have had great success over the past 10 years and I look forward to working with the team to capitalise on the opportunities that lie ahead.  I want to thank Tony for this opportunity.”

Parnell and Clodfelter said: “We are proud of what we’ve accomplished over the last several years and are excited about building on that in this new role. We want to thank Tony for this opportunity and look forward to working with Jeff and the entire SPT team to grow the roster of high-quality programming the industry and audiences have come to expect from SPT.”

SPT is the studio behind TV dramas like Better Call Saul, The Crown, and Bloodline.