Maria Shriver to Executive Produce 30 FOR 30 Short on Her Mother for ESPN Films

Film will Focus on her Mother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, and her Creation of the Special Olympics
ESPN Films announced today that award-winning journalist, author and philanthropist Maria Shriver will executive produce a 30 FOR 30 Short film with ESPN Films on the life of her mother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the founder of the Special Olympics. As the closing speaker of the 2014 espnW: Women + Sports Summit tomorrow, Shriver will discuss with ESPN SportsCenter anchor Kevin Negandhi the upcoming production of the film, ESPN's collaboration with the 2015 Special Olympics World Games and Shriver's own philosophy that women and men can make an impact in all areas of human endeavor if they see themselves as "Architects of Change."

"These 30 FOR 30 films look at defining figures in sports and my mother was one of them," said Maria Shriver. "I'm so excited to be partnering with ESPN to produce this film on my mother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver. I love ESPN's 30 FOR 30 franchise because I think the films have tremendous impact. My mother was a competitor from a family of competitors. In her family, athleticism and winning proved your worth, so she used sports to change the world's perceptions about people with intellectual disabilities (ID) - to show that they could be competitors and winners too. In creating the Special Olympics she proved that people with ID could be not just athletes, but valuable members of society - forever changing the landscape of sports. I'm so proud and excited to bring the story of her legacy to ESPN and the world."

"The captivating story of Eunice Shriver and the Special Olympics is one that we've been looking to tell for quite some time and we're honored to have Maria on board, not only for her highly decorated journalistic and storytelling talent, but also to help shape this film in the personal way that's become synonymous with the 30 FOR 30 brand," said Dan Silver, senior director of development, ESPN Films. "This short film also provides us an opportunity to contribute a unique and inspiring element to ESPN's inaugural coverage of the Special Olympics next year."

ESPN Films' Emmy Award-winning 30 FOR 30 Shorts series first premiered September 26, 2012 on Grantland.com, and featured short films on topics including the "Arnold Palmer" beverage, the T206 Honus Wagner baseball card and a mixed Palestinian-Israeli youth soccer team. Additional information about the Shriver short will be released at a later date.

The 24th Special Olympics World Games will take place over 10 days in Los Angeles beginning July 25, 2015. Every two years, Special Olympics athletes come together to compete at the Special Olympics World Games. Over 7,000 athletes from over 177 countries will be competing in 26 different sports at venues throughout Los Angeles, including USC and UCLA.

About ESPN Films

Created in March 2008, ESPN Films produces high-quality films showcasing some of the most compelling stories in sports. In October 2009, ESPN Films launched its signature 30 FOR 30 film series, which has since won a Peabody Award, Producer's Guild Award and an Emmy Award. Inspired by ESPN's 30th Anniversary, the films that made up the series were a thoughtful and innovative reflection on the past three decades told through the lens of diverse and interesting sports fans and social commentators. The strong reaction from both critics and fans led to the launch of 30 FOR 30 Volume II, which is currently underway. Additional projects from ESPN Films include the critically-acclaimed NINE FOR IX series, SEC STORIED and the Webby Award- and Emmy Award-winning 30 FOR 30 Shorts.

About Maria Shriver and Shriver Films

Maria Shriver is a mother of four, a Peabody and Emmy-winning journalist and producer, a six-time New York Times best-selling author, the founder of the non-profit A Woman's Nation which produces the award-winning Shriver Reports and an NBC NEWS SPECIAL Anchor reporting on the shifting roles, emerging power and evolving needs of women in modern life. Maria Shriver founded Shriver Films with the goal of executive producing socially conscious documentaries & feature-length films. In 2008 she executive produced the award-winning "American Idealist: The Life and Times of Sargent Shriver." In 2009, Shriver co-executive produced the Emmy-winning four-part-HBO-documentary series, "The Alzheimer's Project," She is an executive producer of the 2014 Emmy-nominated HBO documentary "Paycheck to Paycheck: The Life and Times of Katrina Gilbert," which told the story of one of the 42 million working women living on the brink of poverty and the 28 million children that depend on them in America highlighted in "The Shriver Report: A Woman's Nation Pushes Back from the Brink." She is also an executive producer of the soon-to-be-released feature film "Still Alice," starring Julianne Moore and Alec Baldwin.

About espnW

espnW serves women who love sports. espnW.com provides an engaging environment that offers total access to female athletes and the sports they play, takes fans inside the biggest events, and shares a unique point of view on the sports stories that matter most to women. Founded in July, 2010, espnW lives across television, films, events, digital and social platforms. The annual espnW: Women + Sports Summit is the leading event of its kind in the sports industry. The Women's Sports Foundation is a charity of choice for espnW.

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