Sheila Nevins, longtime president of HBO Documentary Films, will create a space at MTV for mentoring a new generation of documentary filmmakers exploring issues that impact youth. MTV, a brand of Viacom, announced the arrival of Nevins in a release to the press on May 7, 2019.
"MTV has always been at the forefront of youth culture, and the generation that is growing up now will change the world in ways we can't even imagine," said Nevins. "I'm excited to join MTV with electrifying stories that explore the crises and commitments that young people face every day."
Sheila Nevins is a well regarded producer and a leader in the nouvelle art of documentary film creation. "Throughout her stellar career, Sheila has elevated documentaries into one of the most compelling, culturally influential forms of modern storytelling," said Chris McCarthy, President of MTV. "As we grow and expand MTV, we're excited for Sheila to bring a new generation of filmmakers to the forefront and continue to extend our creativity and cultural impact."
MTV News and Docs was started two decades ago. Sheila has been creating doc culture for three decades. MTV Documentary Films will build on the heritage of MTV News and Docs and MTV Films which for twenty years has created Emmy Award winning series True Life, Academy Award nominated Tupac: Resurrection, and the Academy Award winning Hustle And Flow.
MTV Documentary Films is a unit of MTV Studios, which was created in June 2018 with a focus on developing series for Steaming Video On Demand and Linear distribution platforms. MTV is a leading brand for the youth in our world. To date, MTV is in 180 countries reaching 450 million households in nearly 30 different languages and has acquired over 350 million social media fans across platforms.