Dia Sokol Savage is an American film and television producer, director and writer. She is best known as the executive producer of MTV's hit series 16 & Pregnant and Teen Mom franchise and as a producer on Andrew Bujalski's films Mutual Appreciation and Beeswax.
She currently runs 11th Street Productions with her producing partner Morgan J. Freeman.[1]
After college, Dia moved to Boston and started working for documentary director Errol Morris on projects such as Mr. Death, The Fog of War and his television series, First Person. While there, she befriended Justin Rice who introduced her to Andrew Bujalski on the day Andrew moved back to Boston from Los Angeles. Soon after, Bujalski made Funny Ha Ha, a project he'd been trying to get off the ground in LA and ultimately shot in Boston. The film is credited with launching the mumblecore film movement.[2] Dia later produced Bujalski's Mutual Appreciation and Beeswax.[3]
In 2009, Dia's feature film directing debut, Sorry, Thanks,[4][5] premiered at the SXSW Film Festival and was later distributed by IFC Films. It featured Wiley Wiggins and Kenya Miles in the main roles.[6] She was awarded the Adrienne Shelley Director's Grant for her work on this film.
She got the job and the two went on to be the executive producers of MTV's series 16 and Pregnant, Teen Mom, Teen Mom 2, and Teen Mom 3. Together, they launched 11th Street Productions,[7] a film and TV production company.