DENTRO LA SERIALITÀ AMERICANA: DAVID W. ZUCKER E STEVE STARK

Steve Stark is an award-winning television producer and studio executive with a legacy of hit and culture-moving series.

Stark has served in senior development & current positions at three major studios (Paramount, Columbia TriStar & Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) as well as an Executive Producer on multiple 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 & Golden Globe award-winning scripted series including: “The Handmaid’s Tale” for Hulu (which broke ground by making Hulu the first Streaming Platform to ever win the Emmy Award for Best Drama series & brought MGM its first Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series in 30 years; FX’s “Fargo” (which brought MGM its first-ever Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited Series; “Vikings” – History’s #1 scripted series & a global juggernaut in over 170 countries; “Teenwolf” – MTV’s long-running #1 scripted series; “Four Weddings and a Funeral” – Hulu’s premiere limited series; And 3 critically-acclaimed series: “Get Shorty”, (starring Chris O’Dowd & Ray Romano); “Perpetual Grace LTD”(starring Oscar winner Sir Ben Kingsley); and “Condor” (all for EPIX).

At his company 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, including “Wednesday” (created by Al Gough & Miles Millar & directed by Tim Burton).  Now shooting its third season, “Wednesday” remains the most watched English language series in the history of Netflix.  

Toluca Pictures has five new series that are premiering within the next year:  including the recently launched sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale “Testaments” for Disney/Hulu; The limited series “The Bombing of Pan Am Flight #103” for BBC/Netflix; The Mexican superhero franchise: “El Gato/Vigilante”; The historical epic series: “Bloodaxe” for Amazon Prime; And a limited series based on the incredible true-story called “Fear Not” starring Anne Hathaway for Paramount+.

In addition to the current slate, Toluca Pictures previously Executive Produced Netflix’s international hit: “Vikings: Valhalla” (created by Michael Hirst & Jeb Stuart); the award-winning “The Handmaid’s Tale” (created by Bruce Miller);  FX’s award-winning “Fargo” (created by Noah Hawley); the half-hour thriller “The Consultant” (created by Tony Basgallop and starring Oscar winner Christoph Waltz), and their first documentary: “The Devil’s Confession: The Lost Eichmann Tapes” that won the Israeli Television Academy Award for Best Documentary.   

Before Toluca Pictures & 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 Universal 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 Executive Produced the long-running CBS hit series “Medium” (created by Glenn Gordon Caron) 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 Television.

Stark had previously held the position of Executive Vice President of Development at Columbia Tri-Star Network Television, overseeing the development of drama, comedy and alternative programming where he developed “Hack” (created by David Koepp) for CBS and “Everwood” (created by Greg Berlanti) for the WB. Earlier, he had served as Senior Vice President, Current Programming at Paramount Network Television, 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 Peabodys, Emmys, Golden Globes, SAG, DGA, WGA, AFI, BANFF and Rose d’Or wins. Stark himself is a Golden Globe and Emmy nominee, the recipient of the Entertainment Industries Council Special Commendation, 2 AFI Television Awards, a Genesis Award, The Prism Award, The Golden Reel Award, the 2019 Help Group Humanitarian of the Year Award and the Israeli Academy Award for Best Documentary. He is a member of the Producers Guild of America, Writers Guild of America, the Television Academy and a proud graduate of Northwestern University.

David W. Zucker is Chief Creative Officer for Scott Free, and Executive Producer of ALIEN: EARTH (FX), the hit global series from Noah Hawley; the acclaimed crime drama, DOPE THIEF (Apple), starring Oscar nominees Brian Tyree Henry and Wagner Moura; and the Leo Woodall-led international conspiracy thriller PRIME TARGET (Apple).

Forthcoming releases include a fresh venture into the realm of BLADE RUNNER 2099 (Amazon), featuring Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh and Hunter Schafer; and the psychological horror series, THE TERROR: DEVIL IN SILVER (AMC), starring Dan Stevens and Judith Light.

During his tenure, Scott Free has produced a steady stream of highly acclaimed programs including seven seasons of the Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated, Peabody-winning THE GOOD WIFE (CBS); six seasons of the acclaimed spin-off, THE GOOD FIGHT (Paramount+); RAISED BY WOLVES (HBO MAX); THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE (Amazon); GREAT EXPECTATIONS and A CHRISTMAS CAROL (FX/BBC); KALEIDOSCOPE (Netflix); THE BEAST MUST DIE (AMC/Britbox); THE HOT ZONE and THE HOT ZONE: ANTHRAX (National Geographic); Jean-Claude Van Damme’s action-comedy, JCVJ (Amazon); and six seasons of the crime drama, NUMB3RS (CBS).

Additional standout programming includes KLONDIKE (Discovery), the Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH (Starz), WORLD WITHOUT END (Reelz), Emmy-nominated INTO THE STORM (HBO), Emmy-nominated THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN and COMA (A&E), the Golden Globe-nominated THE COMPANY (TNT) and a feature-length digital series HALO: NIGHTFALL (X-Box/Microsoft). 

Acclaimed non-fiction programs include AT WITT’S END (Hulu), STILL MISSING MORGAN (Hulu), CRIMES OF THE CENTURY (CNN) and the Emmy-winning documentary special GETTYSBURG (History Channel).