Matt Zien is an American television and documentary film producer. He is known for developing and producing nonfiction series and feature documentaries, including ''The Curse of Von Dutch: A Brand to Die For'', ''

This Is Paris ''This Is Paris'' is a 2020 documentary film produced by YouTube Originals about media personality Paris Hilton, including her experiences as a former victim of the troubled teen industry. Plot ''This is Paris'' is about Hilton's day-to-day expe ...

'', '' Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath'', and ''

Slauson Rec ''Slauson Rec'' is a 2025 American documentary film directed by . It chronicles actor Shia LaBeouf’s free experimental acting collective founded in 2018 at the Slauson Recreation Center in South-Central Los Angeles, from its euphoric beginnings ...

'' (2025), which premiered in the Cannes Classics section of the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...

Early life and education

Zien studied at the University of Southern California’s

School of Cinematic Arts The USC School of Cinematic Arts is an academic unit of the University of Southern California, in Los Angeles. With a history that dates to the first years of talkies, the school descends from America's first program to confer a college degree in ...

, where he developed a background in storytelling and documentary filmmaking.

Career

Early work

Zien began his career in unscripted television development, working at All3Media America and

Studio Lambert Studio Lambert is a British television production company based in London, Manchester, Glasgow and Los Angeles. It creates and produces scripted and unscripted programs for British and American broadcasters, cable networks and streaming platform ...

on reality and documentary projects for major networks.

The Intellectual Property Corporation

In 2016, Zien joined

The Intellectual Property Corporation The Intellectual Property Corporation (IPC) is a reality television and documentary production company based in Van Nuys, California. IPC is owned by Sony Pictures Television through their Nonfiction division, formerly known as Industrial Media. ...

(IPC) as its first development executive. He later became Vice-President of Development and Creative Director, and head of brand development for

Industrial Media Sony Pictures Television – Nonfiction (formerly known as CKX, Inc., CORE Media Group, Inc. and Industrial Media, LLC) is an American entertainment company founded on February 7, 2005 by Robert F.X. Sillerman that owns and develops unscript ...

, overseeing more than 20 series and specials across HBO, Amazon, Netflix, Showtime, and A&E. While at IPC, Zien developed the Emmy-winning series '' Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath'' (A&E), which won the

Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Owned and operated by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the P ...

for Outstanding Informational Series or Special in 2017 and Outstanding Hosted Nonfiction Series or Special in 2020. He was promoted to senior vice-president prior to the sale of

to Sony Pictures Television in 2022, a deal reportedly valued at US$350 million.

Recent projects

Zien served as producer on the true-crime docuseries ''The Curse of Von Dutch: A Brand to Die For'' (Hulu, 2021), which explored the turbulent rise and fall of the

Von Dutch Von Dutch is an American multinational fashion brand posthumously named after Kenny Howard, a.k.a. "Von Dutch", an American artist and pinstriper of the Kustom Kulture movement. After Howard's death in 1992, his daughters allowed Ed Boswell t ...

fashion brand. In 2025 he produced ''

'', a feature documentary directed by Leo Lewis O’Neil. The film, which uses more than 800 hours of footage to explore Shia LaBeouf’s theater collective, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. In an interview with ''

Deadline Deadline(s) or The Deadline(s) may refer to: * Time limit, a narrow field of time by which an objective must be accomplished Arts, entertainment, and media Comics * Deadline (DC Comics), a fictional villain * ''Deadline'' (magazine), a Britis ...

'', Zien described the independently funded project as “the dream,” recalling that on the first day of post-production O’Neil wrote “We Cannes do it” on the office whiteboard.

KNGMKR Labs

Zien is the founder of KNGMKR Labs, a creative studio focused on experimental content at the intersection of cinema, technology, and culture. Alongside co-founder Mac Boucher, Zien has developed speculative, AI-assisted video-art projects including ''Camelot'', an alternate-history JFK narrative created using generative tools.

Personal life

Zien married actress

Kirsten Zien Kirsten Prout (born September 28, 1990) is a Canadian-American actress. She is known for her lead roles in the Freeform (TV channel), ABC Family television shows, portraying Amanda Bloom in ''Kyle XY'' and Char Chamberlin in ''The Lying Game''. H ...

(née Prout) in November 2017.

Selected filmography

Television

* '' Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath'' – development executive * ''The Curse of Von Dutch: A Brand to Die For'' – producer * ''This Giant Beast That Is the Global Economy'' – consulting producer * ''

Free Meek ''Free Meek'' is a 2019 true-crime docuseries about American rapper Meek Mill's ongoing battle with the U.S. justice system following a disputed conviction in 2007. The five-part series premiered August 9, 2019, on Amazon Prime Video, and is pr ...

'' – development executive * ''

'' – consulting producer * ''

Indian Matchmaking ''Indian Matchmaking'' is a 2020 Indian reality television series produced by Smriti Mundhra that premiered on Netflix on 16 July 2020. In August 2021, Netflix renewed the series for a second season. In March 2022, Netflix renewed the series fo ...

'' – development executive * '' Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer'' – development executive' * ''Empires of New York -'' consulting producer

Film

* ''

'' (2025) – produced by

References

External links

* {{Authority control Living people American film producers American television producers Documentary film producers University of Southern California alumni 21st-century American businesspeople Year of birth missing (living people)