MTV is hoping that shedding light on high school dropouts will encourage kids to stay in school with a possible new documentary project about high school dropouts.
A network source confirms to The Hollywood Reporter that it is in the very early stages of development on the project and that the network is holding an exploratory casting in Chicago Friday, as reported by the New York Post.
MTV hopes the project will reignite young people’s passion for learning and stoke their interest in pursuing a career. Apparently, it’s so early in the process that the creative decisions are still being made as to what form the documentary project will take.
Of course, the project invites comparisons to the network’s hits, Teen Mom and Jersey Shore, which media watchdog groups have argued make stars of young people who shouldn’t be role models. But, Cherrivon Lloyd, the outreach specialist at Illinois’ Lake County Regional Office of Education, which is hosting the casting call, tells the paper that she’s confident that MTV’s motives are coming from a good place.
“It’s not a show like True Life or 16 and Pregnant, where they’re following the life of a student,” Lloyd says. “This show is going to be related to them getting and completing their education, not looking at them as students who’ve dropped out.”
