Blink49 Studios hires Fifth Season alum Mal Stares as senior VP of global scripted

Toronto-based Blink49 Studios has appointed Fifth Season and BBC Studios alum Mal Stares as its senior VP of global scripted programming.

Mal Stares

Based out of Blink49’s LA office, Stares will work across development and production of current and upcoming Blink49 scripted series. Reporting to exec VP of global scripted, Carolyn Newman, she will also be tasked with bringing new development projects into the Blink49 pipeline.

Most recently, Stares was the VP of international television production at LA-headquartered studio Fifth Season, which is the anchor investor in John Morayniss-led Blink49.

During her time at Fifth Season, she led the company’s expansion into Australia, New Zealand and Canada and sold Amazon’s first Australian original series The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, starring Sigourney Weaver. Stares also played a key role in securing deficit financing for series including BBC’s Queen of Oz, SBS’s Swift Street and CBC’s Run the Burbs, and set up black comedy Mammals at Amazon.

Carolyn Newman

Before joining Fifth Season, Stares, who is a dual citizen of Canada and the UK, worked at BBC Studios, where she helped set shows up at outlets including AMC, FX, HBO, Netflix, Sony TV and Showtime. Earlier in her career, she helped launch Scott Rudin’s Los Angeles-based scripted division and also worked with former HBO exec Anne Thomopoulos at Trio Lunch.

Blink49 Studios’ slate includes Hallmark Channel’s family drama series Ride and CTV drama Sight Unseen from Sisters Troubetzkoy Productions. The company is also developing several titles based on books, including the upcoming novel Hold My Girl from Canadian author Charlene Carr; ML Rio’s thriller novel If We Were Villains in collaboration with UK prodco Eleven Film; and author Marissa Stapley’s second novel Things To Do When It’s Raining.

“Mal is a true champion of writers’ voices and talent. She brings to Blink49 the perfect combination of global experience, relationships and great taste, which we have gotten to know firsthand through her work with us at Fifth Season,” said Newman.