Sky Studios poaches CBS exec to oversee original drama

Gangs Of London

Sky Studios has appointed CBS exec Meghan Lyvers to the newly created role of director of original drama for UK & Ireland.

Lyvers will oversee Sky original dramas including Gangs of London, M: Son of the Century and the recently announced The Tattooist of Auschwitz. 

She will join the production division in late summer and has “strategic oversight” across all drama projects commissioned and produced for Sky UK’s customers. Her appointment coincides with Sky Studios’ attempts to expand its investment and scale in original drama projects, alongside the launch of its new physical studio.

Lyvers will report to Sky Studios CEO Cécile Frot-Coutaz, and work closely with the wider original content teams at Sky UK, Deutschland and Italia.

Meghan Lyvers

Her team will include Gabriel Silver, who was upped to director of drama commissioning last year and Preethi Mavahalli, who joined the Studio earlier this year as creative director.

Exec overhaul

The addition is the latest senior exec rejig for Sky’s studio arm, following Frot-Coutaz’s appointment as CEO a year ago.

Jane Millichip stepped down as chief content officer after nine years in the role in April, with her departure sparking a management restructure that saw former COO Caroline Cooper expand her remit.

Other changes saw head of comedy Jon Mountague, SVP of Sky Studios Deutschland & Italia Nils Hartmann and BskyB SVP Rebecca Segal, reporting directly to former YouTube EMEA boss Frot-Coutaz.

Lyvers, meanwhile, will join having served as SVP & head of international co-productions and development at CBS Studios, where she worked on projects such as Your Honor for Showtime and Unbelievable for Netflix.

In her most recent role, Lyvers established the strategic international business vision for CBS Studios, identifying and developing  premium content outside of the US, and has worked with a range of free-to-air, SVOD and pay TV channels and platforms across the globe.

Current projects include Oderbruch for ARD in Germany as well as Munich Games for Sky Studios.

Prior to CBS Studios, Lyvers was a producer at Management 360, establishing their television division, and began her career at Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal’s Tribeca Productions on projects such as About A Boy and the Meet The Parents film franchise.

Lyvers said that joining Sky Studios was “ an opportunity I could not pass up.”