Veteran Sony Pictures Television (SPT) executive Steve Kent is leaving his role to focus solely on The Young and the Restless.Deadline has confirmed that Kent will no longer be Senior EVP of Programming but will become executive in charge of production on CBS’ 50-year-old daytime soap.He has been overseeing daytime dramas The Young And The Restless and Days of Our Lives since 2007, along with being in charge of development and production of original local language productions such as Outlander, Nikola and As If as well as scripted and unscripted formats like Dragons’ Den.SPT’s Senior EVP Programming role is being eliminated and Kent’s responsibilities will be covered by other members of the SPT production team going forward, we are told. He is the second senior exec we have revealed to be leaving their role in the past week. Global scripted boss Nina Lederman is exiting the company next month amid the slowdown. Kate Gill was revealed to be joining as SVP Comedy Development yesterday.Kent joined Sony in 1996 as VP of Production for then-Columbia TriStar Television, working on such series as Dawson’s Creek and Early Edition. He has since played a key role in the oversight of The Young And The Restless and Days of Our Lives. Created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell, the former has been airing since 1973 and focuses on two core families, the wealthy Brooks family and the working class Foster family. Made famous globally by its representation in Friends, Days of Our Lives moved from NBC to Peacock two years ago and is one of the longest-running scripted TV shows in the world.Prior to Sony, Kent was a supervising producer on NBC soap Santa Barbara from 1984 to 1993, for which he won three Daytime Emmys.
© 2024 Deadline.