Blackfin, the Lionsgate-backed production company behind series including “Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez”, has announced that Igal Svet, who was previously head of documentaries at Discovery+, has joined the company in the role as well as EVP and Head of Documentaries.
Reporting to Chief Creative Officer Geno McDermott, Svet joined after nearly three years as Head of Documentaries at Discovery+, a position he left in March 2023. In that role, he helped launch a slate of documentaries including “Trump: Unprecedented”, “House of Hammer”, “Curse of the Chippendales”, “Hillsong: A Megachurch Exposed”, and “Queen of Meth” as well as acquisitions such as “Introducing Selma Blair”.
Blackfin, which was formerly part of eOne, is also behind the upcoming “Dungeons & Dragons” 50th anniversary documentary and Andrea Bocelli doc “Because I Believe”. It also produced “The Icons That Built America” for History and Hulu’s “Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre”.
“Under Geno’s leadership, Blackfin has become a key player in premium documentaries as the producer of the acclaimed limited series ‘Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez’,” said Craig Piligian, Managing Director, Lionsgate Alternative Television. “Igal’s ability to identify compelling stories and best-in-class talent has earned him a reputation as one of the top creative executives in the unscripted space, and we are thrilled for him to join Geno in spearheading Blackfin’s development and production of premium non-scripted series and documentaries.”
Before joining Discovery in 2019, initially as VP, Production and Development, Svet spent five years at Nat Geo, where he worked on documentaries such as “LA92”, “Jane”, “Mars”, “Story of God with Morgan Freeman”, and “One Strange Rock”.