Samphire Films creative director and former Minnow exec lands senior US role
Former Minnow creative director Sophie Leonard is joining Fox Television as executive vice president of unscripted.
Leonard will oversee the creative strategy, development and production of Fox’s unscripted portfolio and will spearhead the expansion of the pipeline with more scalable, competition formats, social experiments that cut through and returnable event series that extend across platforms.
She steps into the role vacated by Yasmin Rawji, who announced her departure in November.
Leonard spent seven years at Minnow where she executive produced more than 200 hours of primetime programming across entertainment and premium unscripted. She forged close ties with Fox’s senior leadership and executive produced Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test, the US version of Celebrity SAS, for the network.
Alongside SAS: Who Dares Wins and its celebrity spin-off, her Minnow credits include Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies & Scandal and Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action (both for Netflix), Mother Teresa: For the Love of God (Sky Documentaries), Little Richard: King and Queen of Rock ’n’ Roll (BBC/PBS) and Picasso: The Beauty and the Beast (BBC).
Her other career credits include The Apprentice (BBC) and First Dates (Channel 4).
Leonard departed Minnow in 2024 to set up Samphire Films alongside David Hodgkinson; the fledgling outfit received backing from BBC Studios last year.
Samphire focuses on premium unscripted ents formats and high-end docs and has developed an international slate spanning the UK and US, including multiple large-scale unscripted entertainment formats currently in development for Fox and premium limited series for streamers.
Hodgkinson said: “I’ve loved founding Samphire with Sophie - we’ve achieved an incredible amount in a short space of time and she leaves us in outstanding shape with a super strong slate and tons of momentum behind us.”
Fox Television Network president Michael Thorne described Leonard as “an exceptional creative leader with fearless instincts, global perspective, and a proven ability to deliver bold, high-impact unscripted entertainment”.
He said her impact on Special Forces “is as undeniable as the many ambitious ideas she’s introduced through our partnership, and in her new role, we’ll build on that collaborative moment as we deliver on our unscripted strategy and continue to grow the Fox brand.”
Leonard said of her appointment: “What Rob, Michael and the team have built is genuinely one of the most exciting growth stories anywhere in the television business right now. The scale of ambition, creative freedom, and the speed at which Fox is moving is incredibly energizing.
“I’m thrilled to bring my experience across the Atlantic, deepen the relationships we’ve already built, and work with the extraordinary producers and partners here in the US and around the world to develop bold, Fox-worthy unscripted programming that truly travels.”
Leonard starts in her new post next week.
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