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.
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.
