Beyond Productions

A graduate of the Australian Film and Television School, John’s early career was as a producer and director at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation with credits covering children’s programming, documentaries and outside broadcasts. John joined Beyond to produce the company’s first series Beyond 2000, a pioneering, award-winning science magazine format.  After executive producing a number of other successful series for Beyond, including Discovery Channel’s first original production Invention with the Smithsonian Institution, John was appointed President of Beyond Productions.

In that role, John has overseen the development, marketing and production of all Beyond Productions’ programming from bases in Sydney, Los Angeles and the UK. His impressive range of credits cover programming for cable, streamers and Networks in the US and Australia and include multi Primetime Emmy-nominated MythBusters (Discovery), MythBusters Junior (Science Channel), Taboo (NGC), Deadly Women (ID), My Lottery Dream Home (HGTV), White Rabbit Project (Netflix), Curse of Akakor (Facebook Watch), and dating formats – Back In The Groove with Taye Diggs (Hulu) and Love Undercover (Peacock).

After graduating from Griffith University and AFTRS, the early part of Jenny’s career was spent working in Queensland as a producer of TV commercials and international and domestic co-production documentaries. She joined Beyond in 1995 and quickly rose through the ranks to oversee the business and operational aspects of domestic and international production for Beyond Productions, as well as for sister production businesses within the Beyond group. Sitting at the heart of the company, Jenny is the undisputed ‘go-to’ person for anything to do with the financial performance of the production divisions, negotiating rights with broadcasters and talent, structuring finance plans, business affairs, and international production operations. She also oversees production management, production accounting and compliance.

Geoff oversees many of Beyond’s factual productions for both Australian and international markets. He’s helmed several of the company’s long-running series including evergreen hits Selling Houses Australia and Deadly Women. Geoff’s career with Beyond spans a range of genres including science, lifestyle, auto, true crime, adventure and natural history.

Geoff started with Beyond filming science breakthroughs around the world for Beyond 2000 and Beyond Tomorrow; he continues that tradition working with international production teams in Australia, the US and the UK. Geoff’s worked with a broad range of networks including Discovery, Travel Channel, National Geographic, Investigation Discovery, HGTV, Science Channel, Foxtel and all Australian broadcasters.

Caroline graduated from UNSW with an Arts Degree and after extensive travel, began her career working at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in many roles including studio directors assistant on live nightly news and current affairs programs.  She then travelled to London to work for FIFA TV for two years covering all major soccer tournaments including the France ’98 World Cup.

After returning to Sydney, Caroline was offered a role at Beyond and production managed many series including the first three seasons of MythBusters.  Caroline was promoted to a VP role overseeing Physical Production and Business Affairs and has since overseen the production management of countless hours of production for both the Australian and international networks across a wide range of genres with a focus on Beyond’s US operations.

Sonya Wilkes is an experienced and respected television executive, who has created and produced some of Australia’s biggest reality shows, including House Rules, Bride & Prejudice, My Restaurant Rules, Zumbo’s Just Desserts, Instant Hotel, World’s Strictest Parents, Conviction Kitchen, Hell’s Kitchen, Pooch Perfect, Farmer Wants a Wife, and The Real Full Monty.

Sonya’s recent focus has been on the US market, where she’s developing and producing original unscripted series for ABC US, TBS, Hulu, and Netflix.

Her previous role was Head of Unscripted at the Seven Network, where she also worked as Head of Development, an Executive Producer, and Network Executive collaborating with Australia’s biggest production companies.

Sonya started her career in television news, working in both Sydney and London as a news producer and a reporter.