Jenna Arnold is founder and President of Press Play Productions, which focuses on developing innovative multi-platform content to inspire global awareness among youth and their participation in social causes. With offices in New York, Los Angeles and the Middle East, Press Play reaches this key audience through educational and entertaining film, television, online programs and academic material that bridges the gap between the classroom and pop culture.
With a broad range of experiences, Arnold has unique expertise in developing content that sparks positive social change and awareness about the world. Most recently, she became the youngest Executive Producer of an MTV series when the iconic network picked up an eleven episode series entitled Exiled! that she and her team created, produced and directed. It was the first time MTV green-lit a television series shot primarily abroad. The series charts the adventures of American teens who are sent by their parents to live with indigenous tribes in faraway lands in hopes that the tough love will change their self-centered ways.
Exiled! was the second highest rated series on MTV, is distributed to 35 countries with a potential audience of 500+ million viewers between the ages of 14 – 34.
In the Summer of 2008 Arnold produced and assisted in the development of the first Dubai Documentary Film Festival: Pulling Focus. The symposium provided young filmmakers from the region the skills and tools required to tell their stories through a documentary lens. In addition, Arnold was the youngest American to work at the United Nations serving as a Media and Education Specialist where she created multi-platform programming that co-branded the UN with Fortune 500 companies, reputable celebrities and international institutions. While at the UN, Arnold was a Producer for the Diary of Jay-Z: Water for Life, an MTV program that focused on the lack of accessible and safe drinking water around the world. She also brought the celebrity- studded What’s Going On? Showtime network series into classrooms making it the second best-selling education product nationwide. Arnold has extensive world knowledge having taught in 13 countries and authored 15 different curricula about global topics. She graduated top of her class from the University of Miami with an honors degree in Education and Astro-Physics. She received a Masters in Education from Columbia University with a focus on developing education systems in post conflict and emerging conflict regions.
