Kathryn Busby

Kathryn Ann Busby is an American film executive, who has been senior vice president of development at Sony Pictures Television Networks (SPT), executive vice president of TriStar Television, and most recently President of Original Programming at Starz, announced in November 2021. and in January 2022 was announced as chair of BAFTA's inaugural North America Board, in which role she was succeeded by Joyce Pierpoline in 2024.

Biography Education and early work Busby attended Harvard University, where she was co-captain of Harvard's track team, and graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. degree in Visual and Environmental Studies. She worked in the record industry for several years as an executive at LaFace Records, Paisley Park Records, and MCA Records in London, UK.

Television career Beginning a career in television, Busby was director of comedy development at Universal Television from 1996 to 1999.

From 1999 to 2005, she was senior vice president and head of development at Carsey-Werner, where she developed such television series as Whoopi, The Tracy Morgan Show, Game Over, and Grounded for Life. where she was executive producer on the 2008 film Sex and the City and senior executive on Rush Hour 3 (2007).

Busby worked for four years with Turner Broadcasting from 2010, as vice president of comedy development and vice president of TNT and TBS Originals, working on such shows as Black Box, Wedding Band and Sullivan & Son. In 2014, she joined Sony Pictures Television (SPT) Networks, where she was senior vice president of development,

As senior vice president of the boutique production unit Gemstone Studios, she spearheaded the development and production of drama series such as Absentia, and oversaw the development of such projects as the local-language original series Ultraviolet and the series Carter (starring Jerry O'Connell and Sydney Poitier Heartsong), until in January 2020 being named executive vice president of TriStar Television, a division of SPT, where she was involved with notable projects such as The Afterparty, starring Tiffany Haddish and Sam Richardson.

In November 2021, it was announced that Busby would be leaving the Sony television label to become President of Original Programming at Starz, succeeding Christina Davis.

In January 2022, Busby was elected Chair of the inaugural BAFTA North America Board, after BAFTA united its New York and Los Angeles entities. She was succeeded in the role in 2024 by Joyce Pierpoline.

Other activities Also a filmmaker, Busby's work includes having directed, produced and co-written the short film Max and Josh (2006), which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and the 2004 comedy short My Purple Fur Coat (winner of a Best Children's Short award at the Houston Black Film Festival). She co-authored with Neena Beber the original screenplay Her Gal Friday, which was optioned at ABC's Freeform channel.

Busby is on the Los Angeles board of directors for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), of which she was elected deputy chair in January 2018, and chair in December 2018. She is also on the Board of Directors of PACE (Philanthropy and Community Engagement). She is the niece of British publisher Margaret Busby.

Honors and recognition In May 2021, Busby was the recipient of a Dream Keeper Award from the I Have a Dream Foundation - Los Angeles, and in November 2023 she was honored by the Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles with a Changemaker Award for her championship of female leadership.

In March 2024, she was an honoree, alongside Danielle Brooks, Halle Bailey and Nkechi Okoro Carroll, at Essence magazine's 17th annual Black Women In Hollywood Awards, Asked the question "What do Black Women In Hollywood deserve?" by Kathleen Newman-Bremang, Busby replied: "We need to tell our stories and put them out in the world. I feel very grateful to have come up the ranks to a position of power where I really can have a say at what kind of stories are told."

In June 2026, Busby was announced as recipient of the TV Vanguard Award "in honor of her work shaping some of TV's most ambitious and culturally relevant programming".