Senior MTV production/development executive Adam DiVello has left the network after nearly 10 years to found his own production company, Done and Done Productions.
DiVello, who created and has overseen all three seasons of the network’s smash-hit reality soap The Hills, is staying on as executive producer, managing day-to-day duties during shooting. Separately, Done and Done has a two-year, first-look development deal with MTV, where the company’s office are being housed for now. But per such deals, if the network passes on a show, he can shop it elsewhere.
Done and Done, whose moniker comes from the popular teen-speak phrase he (and, in turn, The Hills girls) regularly employs, will design to make both broadcast and cable shows that tell relatable stories, whether reality, live-action or animated, says DiVello.
“Ultimately, I’m a storyteller,” he says, “so I want to do shows that have same quality as The Hills that look good and tell stories in different ways than what you’ve seen before.”
The company is currently busy shooting the third season of The Hills; it debuts Aug. 13, but shooting will go through November since MTV upped its run from 12 to 18 episodes, so the season will run through December. After that, DiVello says, he will focus on developing new shows, both from internal ideas and outside pitches.
DiVello started out in the videotape library at MTV in 1997 and worked his way up through the production and development departments, along the way creating such shows as Crashing With and One Bad Trip and developing others, such as Made and Say What? Karaoke. He co-executive produced Laguna Beach as MTV’s senior executive on site during shooting and came up with the idea for its spinoff, The Hills, which follows Laguna’s lead character, Lauren Conrad.
Prior to MTV, he held stints at Live With Regis and Kathie Lee and production company Giraldi Suarez, where he worked on commercials for Dr Pepper and Jeep, among others.
DiVello has already begun taking pitches from contacts he has amassed during this time in the industry.
"Adam was an incredibly creative executive at MTV, and he’ll bring that creativity to his own production company," says his agent, Endeavor's Lance Klein "While at the network, he gained a great reputation in the industry that will serve him well moving forward.”
