Blumhouse alum Mary Lisio joins Fifth Season to grow non-scripted business

LA-based studio Fifth Season (fka Endeavor Content) has appointed former Blumhouse executive Mary Lisio as exec VP of non-scripted development and production.

Mary Lisio

In the newly created role, Lisio will be responsible for expanding the non-scripted business and building a slate of non-scripted originals for streaming and broadcast platforms as well as for theatrical distribution.

She will also work closely with Fifth Season’s existing documentary investment and sales unit, led by Kevin Iwashina.

During her time at fellow prodco Blumhouse, Lisio had oversight of the company’s non-scripted slate, which included such titles as Netflix’s Worst Roommate Ever, CNN series The People v The Klan and Emmy-nominated Netflix doc Pray Away.

As exec VP of alternative and non-scripted programming before exiting Blumhouse last year, Lisio also worked on HBO Max’s documentary about late actor Brittany Murphy and HBO’s The Anarchists. In addition, she oversaw development and sales of podcasts including Revelations and The Oval Office Tapes.

Prior to joining Blumhouse, Lisio was senior VP of non-fiction and branded content and an executive producer for Ridley Scott’s Scott Free and RSA Films. She was also previously VP at RJ Cutler’s Actual Reality Pictures.

Fifth Season co-CEOs Graham Taylor and Chris Rice said Lisio’s “deep experience and great taste make her the perfect person to build our non-scripted and documentary development and production business.”

The company’s existing documentary and non-scripted slate includes Omnivore for Apple TV+, a story of the planet and its relationship with food, told through eight defining ingredients. The project, currently in production, is coproduced with Film45 and produced and narrated by Noma chef Rene Redzepi.

Also on the slate is director Ramin Bahrani’s 2nd Chance, coproduced with the Vespucci Group and Samuel Marshall Films, about the inventor of the concealable bulletproof vest; Being Mary Tyler Moore, the first authorised documentary on the entertainment legend, produced with Lena Waithe and Debra Martin Chase; and a feature doc on Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, co-directed by Sean Penn and Aaron Kaufman and coproduced with Vice Studios.

Fifth Season also has a first-look deal with revered music producer Rick Rubin and his Shangri-La Studios to develop non-scripted and documentary content. The initial project to come out of the deal was docuseries McCartney 3,2,1, which starred Rubin and former Beatle Paul McCartney. The project was fully financed by Fifth Season and distributed by Hulu.