Steve Stark has served in senior leadership roles at Paramount, Columbia TriStar Television and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and as an executive producer on series for Universal, Paramount, 21st Century Fox and MGM.
Stark was President of MGM Television for nine years before departing to launch his own production company, Toluca Pictures, in May of 2021. When he first joined MGM, it was just reemerging from bankruptcy and Stark was tasked with rebooting and then relaunching MGM Television. He subsequently launched MGM’s multiple network-defining and Emmy® and Golden Globe® award-winning scripted series including: The Handmaid's Tale for Hulu; Fargo for FX; Vikings for History; Teen Wolf for MTV; Four Weddings and a Funeral for Hulu and Get Shorty, Perpetual Grace, LTD and Condor for EPIX.
At Toluca Pictures, Stark continues his ongoing partnership with MGM/Amazon, executive producing those award-winning signature series he developed and launched during his run at the studio, and now Prime Video’s The Consultant, created by Anthony Basgallop and starring Oscar®-winner Christoph Waltz; Prime Video’s three-part documentary The Devil’s Confession: The Lost Eichmann Tapes; and Netflix’s record-breaking Wednesday, created by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar and directed by Tim Burton.
Before joining MGM, Stark was President and Executive Producer of Steve Stark Productions, where he led the company to an overall deal with NBC/Universal Television. His slate of series included USA Network's Fairly Legal, created by Michael Sardo, and the NBC series The Event, created by Nick Wauters. He also developed and served as executive producer on the long-running CBS hit series Medium, created by Glenn Gordon Caron and starring Emmy-winner Patricia Arquette. His development and producing credits also include The CW's The Game, created by Mara Brock Akil, and the U.S. adaptation of The Sketch Show, which he also executive produced while president of Kelsey Grammer’s Grammnet Productions in their long partnership with Paramount Network.
Stark had previously held the position of Executive Vice President of Development at Columbia TriStar Network Television, overseeing the development of drama, comedy and alternative programming where he developed Hack for CBS and Everwood for Warner Bros. Television. He had also served as Senior Vice President, Current Programming at Paramount Network, where he shepherded multiple episodes of series beginning with the last season of Cheers that was followed by Frasier, JAG, Becker, Nash Bridges, Girlfriends, Duckman, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, Soul Food, Brooklyn Bridge, Seven Days, Clueless, The Untouchables, Now and Again and Sister, Sister, among many others.
Prior to his run at Paramount, he worked as a producer and development executive for Al Burton Productions at Universal Studios, where he wrote and produced the syndicated series The New Lassie and served as a production consultant on the syndicated hit Charles in Charge.
Beginning his career while still in college at Northwestern University, Stark collaborated with executive producer Bob Banner on his senior project Rising Stars to develop and eventually launch the long-running series Star Search with syndication mogul Al Masini. The series ran for 12 years and launched the careers of many successful and notable artists.
Stark's series that he has overseen or produced have garnered multiple Peabody Awards, Emmys, Golden Globes, SAG, DGA, WGA, AFI, BANFF and Rose d'Or wins. Stark is the recipient of the Entertainment Industries Council Special Commendation, two AFI Television Awards, a Genesis Prize, The Prism Award, The Golden Reel Award and received the Help Group Humanitarian of the Year Award. He is a member of the Producers Guild of America, Writers Guild of America, the Television Academy and a proud graduate of Northwestern University.
