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Marisa Liston

Adjunct Professor

Affiliated Divisions:

Peter Stark Producing Program

Marisa Liston is a 25-year veteran of the entertainment industry and a respected marketing leader. Her extensive experience and expertise in marketing and communications, covering both feature film and talent, has impacted some of the biggest campaigns in Hollywood history and the careers of talent that are now household names. Liston began her career in 1995 at a public relations firm that represented such talent as Jerry Seinfeld, David Spade, Halle Berry, and Bill Maher. From there, she joined the renowned agency, Baker Winokur Ryder, where her own clients included up-and-coming talent – Jennifer Garner, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Casey Affleck, Ryan Reynolds, Mandy Moore, and many more – who would go on to become some of today’s biggest stars. 

After dedicating over seven years to a career representing top industry talent, Liston’s interest in film led her to a career pivot to studio publicist. First joining 20th Century Fox, she then made the move to Sony Pictures Entertainment, where she remained for over 17 years and was intimately involved in every facet of the earned media and communications campaigns for over 100 films. Starting as a Director of Publicity and eventually working her way to Senior Vice President overseeing her own team of national publicists, Liston was responsible for the development and implementation of campaigns for such films as Superbad, Marie Antoinette, Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, the 21 Jump Street franchise, the James Bond films Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, Skyfall and Spectre, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Zombieland, The Interview, Sausage Party, This Is the End, and Zero Dark Thirty of which she also managed the awards campaign. In 2016, Liston was promoted to Executive Vice President of Publicity – running the domestic publicity operation for the studio. 

In that role, overseeing a team of over 30 publicists, she set the overall earned media strategy for such films as Spider-Man: Homecoming, Venom, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Peter Rabbit, Hotel Transylvania 3, and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which went on to win the Academy Award® for the Best Animated Feature of 2019. In 2020, Liston became head of Communications and Earned Media at Lionsgate’s Motion Picture Group. Liston set the earned media strategy for one of the studio’s most successful slates, including Knives Out, Bombshell, and John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum; she also served as an integral part of the Motion Picture Group’s leadership team. In 2021, Liston was asked to step into the role of Marketing Chief as Lionsgate navigated the pandemic landscape and realigned its business strategy. Liston oversaw a department of over 100 employees and set the overall marketing strategy in the Covid marketplace for such films as Spiral: From the Book of Saw, The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard, American Underdog, and The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. Since earlier this year, Liston has been an entertainment marketing consultant working with various studios, streamers, and other businesses. An active member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Liston lives in Mar Vista with her husband Matt and her children Sienna (9), twins Jack & Savannah (7), and her beloved family dog, Walter Payton.