Marci Wiseman Exits As Co-President Of Blumhouse Television

EXCLUSIVE: Marci Wiseman is stepping down from her post as co-president of Blumhouse Television. The respected veteran TV executive notified the company staff of her decision to resign this afternoon, citing personal reasons. Fellow co-president Jeremy Gold will become Blumhouse TV president. Wiseman will remain a strategic advisor to Blumhouse, run by founder and CEO Jason Blum and president Charles Layton.

“As many of you know, I have experienced a series of challenging personal events this past year and I have decided that I need to take some much needed time,” Wiseman wrote in the heartfelt note to her colleagues (You can read it below). “It was an honor and, in some ways, a culminating experience in my professional career to be able to build our studio from the ground up and I am grateful to Jason, Charles and of course, my partner, and now lifelong friend, Jeremy for the opportunity to collaborate in doing so. I have chapters to come – but none will ever be quite like this one, because there is simply no place like Blumhouse.”

In 2016, Blum met with a slew of accomplished TV executives as he and Layton set out to ramp-up the company’s TV operation. Wiseman and Gold, who didn’t know each other at the time, were partnered to lead the independent TV studio.

The duo expanded the company’TV efforts beyond Blumhouse’s signature genre and horror fare with provocative and well received scripted and unscripted series such as The Loudest Voice, The Good Lord Bird, A Wilderness of Error and Sharp Objects. During her tenure at Blumhouse, Wiseman developed and oversaw with Gold 16 different produced projects, including scripted, unscripted, streaming movies, anthologies, and documentaries, which have garnered 28 nominations across Emmy, Golden Globes, Critics Choice, PGA, WGA, DGA, SAG, Gotham and Imagen Awards. Wiseman and Gold also forged crossover partnerships for Blumhouse, including one with iHeart Media to produce a series of fictional original podcasts for future film and television development, and with NBC News studio to develop scripted programming from the Dateline archives.

“Marci Wiseman is one of the smartest people I have worked with in my career, and I will always be grateful to her for everything she accomplished with Blumhouse Television,” Blum said. “She pioneered a production approach to our slate of streaming movies that was in many ways as innovative as what we’d been doing with our theatrical features. And even while she was innovating she was also teaching me about the traditional TV business. I’m pleased to continue to have her as a strategic advisor and look forward to seeing what she does next.”

Prior to her role at Blumhouse, Wiseman had a long tenure at AMC. There she launched AMC Studios, whose first series was The Walking Dead. She created a distribution and digital business for AMC, which included brokering the cable group’s first exclusive SVOD deal with Netflix in 2011, its 2015 SVOD deal with Hulu, as well as long term distribution deals with Entertainment One and Anchor Bay. Wiseman also helped launch AMC’s foray into international co-production, concluding deals for Humans (Channel 4/Shine) and The Night Manager (BBC/Ink Factory). Wiseman’s extensive resume also includes a stint as EVP, Global Production and Business Affairs at eOne Television, where she was instrumental in expanding the company’s global production business, including international co-productions. Additionally, she was brought in at the inception of fox21 to launch the first major studio arm to specialize in cable TV series.

Here is Wiseman’s letter to staff:

Dear Blumhouse Colleagues:

I wanted to let you know that, for personal reasons, I have decided to resign from Blumhouse, although I will remain a strategic advisor to the company. As many of you know, I have experienced a series of challenging personal events this past year and I have decided that I need to take some much needed time.

Blumhouse Television has been a major part of my life since Jason and Charles put their trust in Jeremy and me when they decided to invest in a TV studio. Put simply, my goal was to have our company soar to the greatest heights — in terms of creating work that was not only recognized, but also, of which we could all be proud. I think that we have accomplished that
— from critically acclaimed series and documentaries, to innovative and thoroughly creative endeavors and partnerships, like Into the Dark and Welcome to the Blumhouse.

Above all, I am most appreciative to have worked with all of you. I cannot tell you how often I have received a call from a producer, writer, director or network executive telling me how impressed they are with one, or the other, of you. Those calls were always the highlight of my experience at Blumhouse.

It was an honor and, in some ways, a culminating experience in my professional career to be able to build our studio from the ground up and I am grateful to Jason, Charles and of course, my partner, and now lifelong friend, Jeremy for the opportunity to collaborate in doing so. I have chapters to come – but none will ever be quite like this one, because there is simply no place like Blumhouse.

With the greatest admiration and love,
Marci