MTV Music Television and SEVENTEEN, the number one magazine for teens, published by Hearst Magazines, announced a ten episode pick-up of a new series for the cable network. PROJECT SEVENTEEN (Working Title) will start production in April and is scheduled to premiere on MTV in the fall of 2005.
PROJECT SEVENTEEN will chronicle the magazine´s search for a girl who most deserves the title of AMERICA´ SWEETHEART.
Young women from across the country will compete to prove that they have all the well-rounded credentials to be a role model to SEVENTEEN´s 13 million readers. The winner of the show will receive a prize package that includes a college scholarship, a paid internship at SEVENTEEN and her face on the cover of America´s biggest selling teen magazine. Casting calls for the new series will take place this spring in cities across the country. Exact times, dates and locations will be announced shortly.
Since the majority of SEVENTEEN readers watch MTV more than any other network, PROJECT SEVENTEEN is a natural progression of MTV and SEVENTEEN´s already strong relationship. SEVENTEEN´s April 2005 issue, on newsstands now, carries an MTV theme throughout its pages. The issue features exclusive interviews with MTV celebrities, beauty secrets of today´s biggest stars and the scoop on the network´s hot new shows. An announcement of the SEVENTEEN reality show on MTV also appears in the April issue.
"MTV is the perfect partner for a reality show with Seventeen because both brands talk to today´s young audience with the same successful mix of real-life honesty," said Hearst Magazines President Cathleen P. Black. "Bringing the pages of SEVENTEEN to life with one of today´s most respected and popular television networks for young people is a very exciting project."
"Since our viewers look to MTV for access and a behind-the-scenes perspective to the real world, we can´t wait to capture the drama and excitement of what it takes to be a SEVENTEEN cover model," says Lois Curren, Executive Vice President, Series Entertainment, MTV. "We are confident that this will be a series that is completely entertaining - and empowering - to our joint audiences."
"Our readers have grown up watching reality TV and expect their favorite brands like SEVENTEEN to have a multimedia presence that makes them an even bigger part of their daily lives," said SEVENTEEN Editor-in-Chief Atoosa Rubenstein. "We need to speak to our readers online, in print and on television to stay relevant and top of mind in a world where they communicate in so many different ways."
