Sheila Nevins (born April 6, 1939) is an American

television producer A television producer is a person who oversees one or more aspects of video production on a television program. Some producers take more of an executive role, in that they conceive new programs and pitch them to the television networks, but upon ...

and head of MTV Documentary Films division of MTV Studios. Previously, Nevins was the President of HBO Documentary Films. She has produced over 1,000

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

s for HBO and is one of the most influential people in documentary filmmaking. She has worked on productions that have been recognized with 35

News and Documentary Emmy Award The News & Documentary Emmy Awards, or News & Documentary Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the National Academy of Television Arts and Scien ...

s, 42 Peabody Awards, and 26

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

. Nevins has won 31 individual Primetime Emmy Awards, more than any other person. She is also a member of the Peabody Awards board of directors, which is presented by the University of Georgia's

Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication The Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication is a constituent college of the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, United States. Established in 1915, Grady College offers undergraduate degrees in journalism, advertising, public re ...

Early life and education

Nevins was born to a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family on the Lower East Side of

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

to Stella Nevins (née Rosenberg), a

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe t ...

, and Benjamin Nevins, a

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

n immigrant

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional ser ...

worker who was also a bookie. Nevins' family was very poor and her mother suffered from an acute form of

Raynaud's disease Raynaud syndrome, also known as Raynaud's phenomenon, eponymously named after the physician Auguste Gabriel Maurice Raynaud, who first described it in his doctoral thesis in 1862, is a medical condition in which the spasm of small arteries cau ...

, which resulted in amputations of her limbs, and

scleroderma Scleroderma is a group of autoimmune diseases that may result in changes to the skin, blood vessels, muscles, and internal organs. The disease can be either localized to the skin or involve other organs, as well. Symptoms may include areas ...

. Nevins has a younger sister (born 1946) who is a doctor. Due to the generosity of her uncle, who was a wealthy inventor, Nevins attended private schools growing up. Nevins attended Little Red School House and the High School of Performing Arts in

. She received a BA in English from

Barnard College Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...

in 1960. In 1963 she received an MFA in Directing from the

Yale School of Drama The David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University is a graduate professional school of Yale University, located in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1924 as the Department of Drama in the School of Fine Arts, the school provides training in e ...

, where she was one of two women in the directing program.

Career

In the 1960s, Nevins began her career at the

United States Information Agency The United States Information Agency (USIA), which operated from 1953 to 1999, was a United States agency devoted to " public diplomacy". In 1999, prior to the reorganization of intelligence agencies by President George W. Bush, President Bil ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

She was hired to play a secretary in the USIA TV series called ''Adventures in English'', which was created to teach English vocabulary, which her character repeated, in foreign countries. Nevins then worked as a researcher, cataloging historical footage about

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

. Nevins said that this immersive work inspired her to shift focus from the fictional world of theater to the fact-based world of documented in film. From 1970 to 1973, after moving back to New York, Nevins apprenticed with director

Don Mischer Donald Leo Mischer (born March 5, 1940) is an American producer and director of television and live events and president of Don Mischer Productions. Career Mischer has been honored with fifteen Emmy Awards, a record ten Directors Guild of America ...

and producer Bob Squire. Nevins then got a job as a researcher on Al Perlmutter's on the groundbreaking Channel 13 TV show ''

The Great American Dream Machine ''The Great American Dream Machine'' was a weekly satirical variety television series, produced in New York City by WNET and broadcast on PBS from 1971 to 1972. The program was hosted by humorist and commentator Marshall Efron. Other notable cast ...

'', eventually working her way up to doing segments and "man on the street" interviews. Nevins also worked as a director. Inspired by the film ''

Salesman Sales are activities related to selling or the number of goods sold in a given targeted time period. The delivery of a service for a cost is also considered a sale. The seller, or the provider of the goods or services, completes a sale in r ...

'', she hired

Albert and David Maysles Albert Maysles (November 26, 1926 – March 5, 2015) and his brother David Maysles (January 10, 1931 – January 3, 1987; ) were an American documentary filmmaking team known for their work in the Direct Cinema style. Their best-known films i ...

to direct parts of the show. In 1973, Nevins was a Field Producer for ''The Reasoner Report'' on

ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...

. From 1973 to 1975, Nevins wrote for Time-Life Films. She worked briefly for ''

20/20 Visual acuity (VA) commonly refers to the clarity of vision, but technically rates an examinee's ability to recognize small details with precision. Visual acuity is dependent on optical and neural factors, i.e. (1) the sharpness of the retinal ...

''. Nevins declined

Don Hewitt Donald Shepard Hewitt (December 14, 1922 – August 19, 2009) was an American television news producer and executive, best known for creating the CBS television news magazine ''60 Minutes'' in 1968, which at the time of his death was the longest- ...

's invitation to be a producer for '' 60 Minutes''. In 1975 she began working as a writer and producer for the Children's Television Workshop. She also worked at Scribner making recordings of books for blind people. Nevins was a researcher then associate producer for ''

'' on

National Educational Television National Educational Television (NET) was an American educational broadcast television network owned by the Ford Foundation and later co-owned by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. It operated from May 16, 1954 to October 4, 1970, and ...

. In 1978 and 1979, Nevins was a producer for the CBS News magazine ''Who's Who''.

HBO

In 1979, Nevins was hired by HBO as Director of Documentary Programming on a 13-week contract. She continued in that position until 1982. From 1983 to 1985, Nevins had a production company called Spinning Reels and created the animated educational program ''

Braingames ''Braingames'' is an American educational program shown on HBO in the mid-1980s. It was a half-hour program consisting of brain-teasing animated skits (either stop-motion or cartoon) designed to make the viewers think. It was HBO's first attempt ...

''. In 1986, Nevins returned to HBO as Vice President of Documentary Programming. In 1995, she became the Senior Vice President of Original Programming. Nevin's tenure at HBO saw the rise of sexually-themed programming in the ''

America Undercover ''America Undercover'' is a series of documentaries that aired on the cable television network HBO from 1983 through 2006. Within the series are several sub-series, such as ''Autopsy'', ''Real Sex'', and ''Taxicab Confessions''. History The seri ...

'' documentary series. From 1999 to 2003, Nevins was the Executive Vice President of Original Programming at HBO. In 1998, Nevins said that she produced 12 documentaries a year at HBO, with budgets that were typically US$600,000 in 1998 dollars. Nevins was HBO's President of Documentary and Family Programming since 2004. In March 2018, Nevins retired from her position at HBO.

Writing

In 2007, Nevins wrote the foreword to the book ''Addiction: Why Can't They Just Stop?'', which was based on the HBO documentary series of the same name, and was produced in association with the

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is an American philanthropic organization. It is the largest one focused solely on health. Based in Princeton, New Jersey, the foundation focuses on access to health care, public health, health equity, ...

and the

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), as part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, supports and conducts biomedical and behavioural research on the causes, consequences, treatment, and prevention of alcoholism ...

. In 2017, Nevins published a memoir, ''You Don't Look Your Age... and Other Fairy Tales''. Nevins explores concepts of aging, youth, and experience. Some of the book features lightly fictionalized vignettes and poetry.

Kathy Bates Kathleen Doyle Bates (born June 28, 1948) is an American actor and director. Known for her roles in comedic and dramatic films and television programs, she has received various accolades throughout her career spanning over five decades, includ ...

, Gloria Vanderbilt,

Lily Tomlin Mary Jean "Lily" Tomlin (born September 1, 1939) is an American actress, comedian, writer, singer, and producer. She started her career as a stand-up comedian as well as performing off-Broadway during the 1960s. Her breakout role was on the varie ...

Martha Stewart Martha Helen Stewart (, ; born August 3, 1941) is an American retail businesswoman, writer, and television personality. As founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, she gained success through a variety of business ventures, encompassing pu ...

Meryl Streep Mary Louise Meryl Streep (born June 22, 1949) is an American actress. Often described as "the best actress of her generation", Streep is particularly known for her versatility and accent adaptability. She has received numerous accolades throu ...

, RuPaul, among many others, contributed audio performances to the audio version of the book.

Personal life

In 1963, Nevins married a lawyer who also attended Yale. Though she wanted to pursue a theater career, her husband wanted her to be home evenings and weekends, forcing her to find a daytime job. The marriage ended in divorce. In 1972, Nevins married investment banker Sidney Koch. The pair had a home in

Litchfield, Connecticut Litchfield is a town in and former county seat of Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 8,192 at the 2020 census. The boroughs of Bantam and Litchfield are located within the town. There are also three unincorpora ...

and an apartment on the

Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 96th Street to the north, the East River to the east, 59th Street to the south, and Central Park/Fifth Avenue to the wes ...

of Manhattan. They have one son, David Koch (born 1980). She has discussed her son's struggle with

Tourette syndrome Tourette syndrome or Tourette's syndrome (abbreviated as TS or Tourette's) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder that begins in childhood or adolescence. It is characterized by multiple movement (motor) tics and at least one vocal (phonic) ...

and her struggle to be a working mother with a son who was ill. Nevins has said that the 2007 HBO series, ''Addiction,'' was inspired by her son's struggles with substance abuse. Nevins produced an HBO documentary about the

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, on Saturday, March 25, 1911, was the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of the city, and one of the deadliest in U.S. history. The ...

called ''Triangle: Remembering the Fire'', to which she had a personal connection, which she found out about after seeing the documentary ''Schmatta''. Nevins' great-aunt Celia Gittlin, a 17-year-old immigrant from Russia, had died in the fire. Nevins enjoys theater and is an admirer of

Gloria Steinem Gloria Marie Steinem (; born March 25, 1934) is an American journalist and social-political activist who emerged as a nationally recognized leader of second-wave feminism in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Steinem was a c ...

, who she has deemed "next to my mother, the most important woman I’ve ever met."

Honors and awards

* 2000: ''

Broadcasting & Cable ''Broadcasting & Cable'' (or ''Broadcasting+Cable'') is a weekly telecommunications industry trade magazine published by Future US. Previous names included ''Broadcasting-Telecasting'', ''Broadcasting and Broadcast Advertising'', and ''Broadcas ...

'' Hall of Fame * 2008:

Gotham Awards The Gotham Awards () are American film awards, presented annually to the makers of independent films at a ceremony in New York City, the city first nicknamed "Gotham" by native son Washington Irving, in an issue of ''Salmagundi'', published o ...

, Tribute Award – shared with

Penélope Cruz Penélope Cruz Sánchez (; ; born 28 April 1974) is a Spanish actress. Known for her roles in films of several genres, particularly those in the Spanish language, she has received various accolades, including an Academy Award and a British ...

Melvin Van Peebles Melvin Van Peebles (born Melvin Peebles; August 21, 1932 – September 21, 2021) was an American actor, filmmaker, writer, and composer. He worked as an active filmmaker into the 2000s. His feature film debut, '' The Story of a Three-Day Pass'' ...

, and Gus Van Sant * 2011:

Directors Guild of America The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is an entertainment guild that represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry and abroad. Founded as the Screen Directors Guild in 1936, the group merge ...

, Power 100 * 2013:

Women's Project Theater WP Theater (formerly known as Women's Project Theater) is a not-for-profit Off-Broadway theater based in New York City. It is the nation’s oldest and largest theater company dedicated to developing, producing and promoting the work of female-iden ...

, Woman of Achievement Award * 2013:

International Festival of Arts & Ideas The International Festival of Arts & Ideas is a 15-day festival that takes place in New Haven, Connecticut. The festival presents performing arts, lectures, and conversations that celebrate influential artists and thinkers from around the world ...

, Visionary Leadership Award

Cable Ace Awards

* 1995: Documentary Special for '' Gang War: Bangin' In Little Rock'' * 1997: Documentary Special for ''Heart of a Child''

Peabody Awards

* 1981: Peabody Award for ''She’s Nobody’s Baby: The History of American Women in the 20th Century'' – shared by HBO and ''

Ms. Ms. (American English) or Ms (British English; normally , but also , or when unstressed)''Oxford English Dictionary'' online, Ms, ''n.2''. Etymology: "An orthographic and phonetic blend of Mrs ''n.1'' and miss ''n.2'' Compare mizz ''n.'' The pr ...

'' magazine * 1999: Peabody Award, Personal Award * 2006: Peabody Award for ''

Baghdad ER ''Baghdad ER'' is a documentary released by HBO on May 21, 2006. It shows the Iraq War from the perspective of a military hospital in Baghdad. It has some relatively disturbing scenes in it (e.g. amputations), therefore the U.S. Army is official ...

'' * 2013: Peabody Award for '' Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God'' and for '' Life According to Sam''

Primetime Emmy Awards

* 1995: Outstanding Informational Special for ''

One Survivor Remembers ''One Survivor Remembers'' is a 1995 documentary short film by Kary Antholis. Summary Holocaust survivor Gerda Weissmann Klein recounts her six-year ordeal as a victim of Nazi cruelty, including the loss of her parents, brother, friends, home, p ...

'' * 1995: Outstanding Informational Special for ''

Taxicab Confessions ''Taxicab Confessions'' is a television series of hidden camera documentaries that aired on HBO from 1995 through 2006. When passengers enter the cab, they are recorded with several small cameras hidden in the taxi. The producer prompts passeng ...

'' * 1995: Outstanding Children's Program for ''Going, Going, Almost Gone! Animals in Danger'' * 1997: Outstanding Informational Special for '' Without Pity: A Film About Abilities'' * 1997: Outstanding Children's Program for '' How Do You Spell God?'' * 1999: Outstanding Nonfiction Special for ''Thug Life in D.C.'' * 2000: Outstanding Nonfiction Special for ''Children in War'' * 2000: Outstanding Children's Program for ''Goodnight Moon & Other Sleepytime Tales'' * 2003: Outstanding Children's Program for ''Through a Child's Eyes: September 11, 2001'' * 2004: Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special for '' Elaine Stritch at Liberty'' * 2004: Outstanding Children's Program for ''Happy to Be Nappy and Other Stories of Me'' * 2005: Lifetime Achievement Award * 2005: Outstanding Children's Program for '' Classical Baby'' * 2005: Exceptional Merit In Documentary Filmmaking for ''

Death in Gaza ''Death in Gaza'' is a 2004 documentary film about the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, opening in the West Bank but then moving to Gaza and eventually settling in Rafah where the film spends most of its time. It concentrates on three children, Ahm ...

'' * 2006: Outstanding Children's Program for ''

I Have Tourette's but Tourette's Doesn't Have Me ''I Have Tourette's but Tourette's Doesn't Have Me'' is a 2005 documentary film featuring children between the ages of six and thirteen with Tourette syndrome. The film examines the lives of more than a dozen children who have Tourette's, and expl ...

'' * 2006: Exceptional Merit In Documentary Filmmaking for ''

'' * 2007: Outstanding Nonfiction Special for ''

Ghosts of Abu Ghraib ''Ghosts of Abu Ghraib'' is a 2007 documentary film, directed by Rory Kennedy, that examines the events of the 2004 Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse scandal. The film premiered January 19, 2007, at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. The film a ...

'' * 2007: Exceptional Merit In Documentary Filmmaking for '' When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts'' * 2008: Outstanding Children's Program for ''Classical Baby (I'm Grown Up Now): The Poetry Show'' * 2008: Exceptional Merit In Documentary Filmmaking for '' White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki'' * 2009: Governor's Award for the

Creative Arts Emmy Award The Creative Arts Emmys are a class of Emmy Awards presented in recognition of technical and other similar achievements in American television programming. They are commonly awarded to behind-the-scenes personnel such as production designers, set ...

s * 2009: Exceptional Merit In Documentary Filmmaking for ''The Alzheimer's Project: The Memory Loss Tapes'' * 2009: Outstanding Children's Nonfiction Program for ''The Alzheimer's Project: Grandpa, Do You Know Who I Am? with

Maria Shriver Maria Owings Shriver (born November 6, 1955) is an American journalist, author, a member of the Kennedy family, former First Lady of California, and the founder of the nonprofit organization The Women's Alzheimer's Movement. She was married to ...

'' * 2010: Outstanding Nonfiction Special for ''Teddy: In His Own Words'' * 2011: Outstanding Children's Program for ''A Child's Garden of Poetry'' * 2013: Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special for '' Manhunt: The Search for Bin Laden'' * 2013: Exceptional Merit In Documentary Filmmaking for '' Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God'' * 2014: Outstanding Children's Program for ''One Last Hug: Three Days at Grief Camp'' * 2014: Exceptional Merit In Documentary Filmmaking for '' Life According to Sam'' * 2015: Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series for '' The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst'' * 2015: Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special for '' Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief'' * 2015: Outstanding Picture Editing For Nonfiction Programming for '' The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst'' * 2016: Exceptional Merit In Documentary Filmmaking for '' Jim: The James Foley Story'' * 2018: Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special for ''

The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling ''The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling'' is an American documentary film that premiered on HBO in two parts on March 26 and 27, 2018. Directed and produced by Judd Apatow, the film explores the life and legacy of comedian Garry Shandling. Premise ...

Selected filmography

* 1981: ''She’s Nobody’s Baby: The History of American Women in the 20th Century'' – HBO and ''

'' magazine * 1983-1985: ''

'' – creator, executive producer * 1991-2005: ''

'' – executive producer * 1995: ''One Survivor Remembers'' – senior producer * 1997: ''

4 Little Girls ''4 Little Girls'' is a 1997 American historical documentary film about the murder of four African-American girls (Addie May Collins, Carol Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Rosamond Robertson) in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in B ...

'' – executive producer * 2001: ''Living Dolls: The Making of a Child Beauty Queen'' – executive producer

Works and publications

* *

References

External links

* *
Profile of Nevins
at

The Paley Center for Media The Paley Center for Media, formerly the Museum of Television & Radio (MT&R) and the Museum of Broadcasting, founded in 1975 by William S. Paley, is an American cultural institution in New York with a branch office in Los Angeles, dedicated to ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nevins, Sheila 1939 births Living people American entertainment industry businesspeople American people of Russian-Jewish descent Barnard College alumni Emmy Award winners Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School alumni HBO people Little Red School House alumni MTV executives Women television executives Peabody Award winners People from the Lower East Side People from the Upper East Side Primetime Emmy Award winners Television producers from New York City American women television producers Yale School of Drama alumni 21st-century American women