Joe Hipps Exits As President Of TV For Fifth Season

EXCLUSIVE: Joe Hipps has stepped down as President of TV at Fifth Season after more than seven years at the indie studio. He will continue to work as a producer developing and overseeing several projects while consulting with the Fifth Season leadership during the transition as a search for a new President of Television gets under way.

“It has been an awesome seven year run and we are excited to support Joe as he makes the transition to a producer,” Fifth Season’s Co-CEO’s Chris Rice and Graham Taylor said.

Hipps joined Fifth Season’s predecessor Endeavor Content in 2017 as EVP, Television. He was promoted to President, TV Development and Production, in 2022. Hipps’ tenure included steering the company’s TV creative team through a pandemic and a dual Hollywood strikes.

Since the end of the strikes, Fifth Season has sold a number of projects, including The Good Daughter, starring Jessica Biel, which was ordered to series at Peacock, with His & Hers, starring Tessa Thompson, recently greenlighted by Netflix.

The company’s limited series Lady in the Lake starring Natalie Portman recently wrapped its run on Apple TV+ as did two series that ran for two seasons, Tokyo Vice on Max and Life & Beth on Hulu.

Coming up are Chief of War starring Jason Momoa and The Savant starring Jessica Chastain — both at Apple TV+ as well as the anticipated second seasons of two series that will come three or more years after the first installments, the pricey Apple TV+ sci-fi thriller Severance and Hulu’s mystery Nine Perfect Strangers headlined by Nicole Kidman.

As Rice told Deadline in March, Fifth Season is set to do “around a billion dollars in production this year across 12 series that are either in delivery, production or some form of prep.”

The company’s development slate Bright Young Women, based on Jessica Knoll‘s new bestselling thriller; Covers, a drama from Lena Dunham for Netflix; and a Hostel TV series starring Paul Giamatti.

Hipps joined Endeavor Content in 2017 after almost nine years at fellow indie studio MRC, most recently as SVP, Television.