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‘Secret Lives Of Americans’ Premieres Friday, June 12 At 10:30p.m. ET
LOS ANGELES (June 4, 2015) — Premiering Friday, June 12 at 10:30 p.m. ET, Participant Media’s “Secret Lives of Americans” airing on Pivot and produced by All3Media America and MME/Filmpool USA, gives viewers an up-close and intimate look at individuals’ lives as they expose their innermost secrets to the most important people in their lives.
Completely self-shot by its subjects, this series gives viewers a firsthand opportunity to see and hear the inner turmoil caused by holding on to deep secrets. The intimacy of the format provides an unfiltered look at the aftermath of exposing these powerful truths to friends, family, significant others, co-workers, teachers and mentors. Each of the 10 featured individuals overcome a unique personal obstacle in revealing their secret, with their on-camera confessions being a first step in helping them each move forward.
“Secret Lives of Americans” sheds light on pressing issues that millions of people face. Each half-hour episode integrates information, statistics and media footage that illustrates how the subjects’ personal stories connect to larger social issues in the United States. As viewers witness each subject’s journey unfold, they will also come to understand the subjects’ stories within a greater context.
“In a time where people filter their lives for social media, this show peels back the glossy ‘selfies’ to reveal the gritty truths individuals are grappling with every day,” said Belisa Balaban, EVP of original programming for Pivot. “’Secret Lives of Americans’ takes a genre familiar to reality TV fans, but uses the format to bring broad social problems out of the shadows.”
Premiere Episode: Jack, Eating Disorder
Jack has a great job in the entertainment industry. He is adventurous and loves to travel, and from the outside, his life seems ideal. But he is suffering from an eating disorder so severe that it could end his life.
Episode Two: Scarly, Immigration (Premiering June 19)
21-year-old Scarly, is a typical college student. Like many people in southern California, she was born in Mexico and moved to the United States when she was very young. However, Scarly has a secret she didn’t even know until she was a senior in high school – she is undocumented.
Episode Three: Kenny, HIV (Premiering June 26)
Kenny, a fashion consultant, has been hiding a huge part of his life from everyone around him. He is now ready to reveal to his closest friends and family that he has been living with HIV for two years.
Other stories that will be the focus of episodes this season include:
- A college student forced to live in her car after her student debt spirals out of control. She worries about the shame of revealing her secret as well as how she will manage her debt and her life once school ends.
- A young man has been hiding from his boss and co-workers that he was assigned Female at birth. Despite possible mistreatment at work, he knows it’s time to share his story.
In keeping with Participant Media’s mission to inspire and compel social change, Pivot has teamed up with several NGOs, including Young Invincibles and ACLU of Southern California, to create the digital companion docu-series, “One Secret, Many Lives.” The digital series will contextualize the breadth and impact of the issues beyond the cast’s personal narratives. By pairing a ”spokesperson” (an individual who has personally faced the issue) with experts on the issue, each of the videos will demonstrate the scope of individuals affected by four of the issues examined in the series (student debt, food insecurity, immigration, PTSD).
“Secret Lives of Americans” is executive produced by Eli Holzman, Stephen Lambert, and Danny Villa for MME/Filmpool USA and All3Media America. John Henshaw also serves as executive producer. Jeff Skoll and Christy Spitzer serve as executive producers for Pivot.
About MME/Filmpool USA and ALL3Media America
MME/Filmpool USA is the North American arm of the German based scripted and non-scripted content powerhouse MME/Filmpool. Led by Executive Vice President Danny Villa, MME/Filmpool USA creates and produces series in collaboration with All3Media America. The company is based in Los Angeles.
All3Media America is the Los Angeles-based production studio for All3Media, a global production and distribution group of companies headquartered in the UK. Established in December 2012, All3Media America develops and produces a wide range of original scripted and non-scripted programming specifically for the US market as well as serving as the domestic production base for the group’s international formats and the group companies’ US development. All3Media America companies include Bentley, Company Pictures, ID-TV, Lime, Maverick, MME, Morocco Junction Entertainment, North One, Objective, South Pacific Pictures, Studio Lambert Associates and Zoo Productions. The company currently has series in production or development with a large number of broadcast and cable networks, including the Emmy® Award-winning “Undercover Boss” for CBS. All3Media America’s formats and finished programs are distributed internationally by All3Media International. All3Media is owned jointly between Discovery Communications and Liberty Global.
About Participant Media
Participant Media (http://www.participantmedia.com/) is a leading media company dedicated to entertainment that inspires and compels social change. Founded in 2004 by Jeff Skoll, Participant combines the power of a good story well told with opportunities for viewers to get involved. Participant’s more than 60 films include Lincoln, Contagion, The Help, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Food, Inc., Waiting For ‘Superman,’ CITIZENFOUR and An Inconvenient Truth. Participant has also launched more than a dozen original series, including “Please Like Me,” “Hit Record On TV with Joseph Gordon-Levitt,” and “Fortitude,” for its television network, Pivot (http://www.pivot.tv/). Participant’s digital hub, TakePart (http://www.TakePart.com), serves millions of socially conscious consumers each month with daily articles, videos and opportunities to take action. Follow Participant Media on Twitter at @Participant and on Facebook.
Media Contacts:
Leslie Gwinn
FerenComm for Pivot
212-983-9898
Hayley Strichman
FerenComm for Pivot
212-983-9898