MTV, VH1 scripted buyer steps down

The head of scripted programming at US cablenets MTV and VH1 has stood down from her position, the Viacom-owned networks have announced.

Maggie Malina

Maggie Malina’s exit was confirmed in an email to staff from MTV and VH1 president Chris McCarthy and general manager Amy Doyle. The pair said details of the networks’ new structure would follow shortly.

Malina took up the role after Mina Lefevre left to join Facebook as head of development and programming last year. As a producer and programming exec at MTV and VH1, Malina has developed series such as The Breaks, basketball drama Hit the Floor, original movie CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story and Single Ladies.

Her exit comes at a time when MTV is adjusting its programming strategy to focus on unscripted. At the beginning of the year, it greenlit a second season of Floribama Shore, the latest creation in the network’s Shore format, which began with Jersey Shore (US) and led to spin-offs in the UK, Spain, Poland, Italy and Mexico.

Although Malina had been overseeing a third season of horror series Scream to air on MTV later this year, all other scripted series on the two networks have been cancelled over the last 12 months.

Thanking Malina for her “significant contributions to both brands” McCarthy and Doyle said: “Maggie is a creative force who has championed diversity in front of and behind the camera.

“She cast Beyoncé in her first role with MTV’s Hip Hopera: Carmen, oversaw one of cable’s biggest original movies, CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story, and hired an all-female directing staff for the first season of Hit the Floor.”