Sheila Conlin is creator and executive producer of The Curse of Von Dutch, a streaming documentary series that tracks the rise and fall of the 2000s fashion brand known for its trucker hats worn by the likes of Britney Spears, Paris Hilton and Justin Timberlake. The three-episode series debuts November 18 on Hulu. Along with the recent cult-centered pilot True Believers, Conlin is also in development on nearly a dozen projects, from those featuring real people to celebrity subjects, moving into the scripted world with a breadth of true crime and other episodic programs.
Evolving from talent agent to casting director to producer, Sheila Conlin is a recognized pioneer in helping create the phenomenon of unscripted television and passionately cultivating unique talent and quality entertainment. Known for casting and producing some of the most successful primetime reality series on network television, she is the catalyst behind Kitchen Nightmares, Chef Academy, Hotel Hell, Nanny 911 and Marriage 911, also serving as co-producer of When Animals Attack! In addition to independent films, her other television casting projects include the popular Revenge Body with Khloé Kardashian, Skin Decision, Hell’s Kitchen, Worst Cooks in America, True Beauty, Secret Millionaire, Paradise Hotel and The Swan.
Under the auspices of The Conlin Company, a full-service casting, development and production company in Los Angeles, Conlin was a trailblazer in developing the first systems and structures for a new genre of entertainment in the mid-90s – reality TV – working closely with executives such as Mike Darnell at Fox. Her casting work naturally overlapped with producing, with Conlin handling the creative and logistical aspects of spotlighting the stories of real people.
After an early stint in the hospitality industry, she worked as assistant to the technical director of Los Angeles Theatre Center, then spent four years as tour manager for legendary comedienne Phyllis Diller. Following this, during four years as a talent agent at the Agency for the Performing Arts (APA), she represented such iconic stars as Adam Sandler, Drew Carey, Bill Maher, Steven Wright, Johnny Cash, Harry Connick, Jr. and Tony Bennett, subsequently producing clip and variety shows and leveraging her talent-spotting prowess to segue into the casting world.
A coveted speaker at industry events, Conlin served as the moderator at Realscreen West 2012, as a panelist on “Casting Call” and “Developing the Story” at Realscreen 2014 and 2015, as a panelist at the Nashville Screenwriters Conference in 2014, and has lectured to broadcasters in China about unscripted television (BTV, Nanjing TV, Shenzhen TV, SMG, Hunan TV). In 2014 she led a master class on reality television for the first annual Doc & Factual Agora in Rome, Italy. Sheila Conlin is on the Board of Directors for The Adelante Movement, a nonprofit focused on the empowerment of women.
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Contact: Alex Spieller / The Initiative Group / [email protected] / 650-245-2327
