MAEYEN'S WORK
FILMMAKER BIOGRAPHY
Maeyen Bassey is a two-time Emmy Award Nominated filmmaker who creates critical stories that inspire, and that celebrate societal changemakers who are unapologetically themselves. Bassey’s foray into long-form filmmaking began when she was invited to Direct a documentary chronicling the history of Black students on the campus of Stanford University, a project that received a public commendation from Senator Cory Booker. Soon thereafter, she collaborated with the Academy-Award winning company Dirty Robber on the Emmy-nominated, Why We Fight, an ESPN+ doc series EP’d by Ronda Rousey exploring the intimately personal stories driving world-class athletes to pursue combat sports.
Recently, Maeyen has Directed, series produced & EP'd long-form documentary works for Lebron James' UNINTERRUPTED, BBC Films, BBC Studios, MasterClass.com, and Amazon Prime Video. Notably, she Directed a cable series episode of A Life In Ten Pictures which uniquely shared untold layers of the life and death of the iconic rapper Tupac Shakur. She also teamed up with 2022 Academy Award Nominee Matt Ogens to direct a half-hour film, starring 2023 first overall NFL draft pick Bryce Young for ESPN. Bassey also recently was the Supervising Producer on the six-part Deion Sanders starring vehicle Coach Prime which premiered at #1 on Amazon Prime Video (2023/2024), and she served as Showrunner/Director on a six-part series produced by Ebony Studios, hosted by ABC's/Black-ish star Marsai Martin. Maeyen has also led projects for luminaries like Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Nikole Hannah Jones, Angela Davis, Cornel West, Lonzo Ball, and seven-time NBA Champion Robert Horry among others. The 2022 release of her eleven-hour Amazon Prime Video series on race in America, Black History, Black Freedom, & Black Love, has been met with widespread critical acclaim, and in 2023 the series that she directed for inaugural poet Amanda Gorman was nominated for an Emmy Award.
In addition to film, Bassey has produced and Directed projects in the branded and commercial space including works for Nissan, Microsoft, Jet Blue Airlines, The Hard Rock Cafe, W Hotels, and Wal-Mart. In addition to her two Emmy Award nominations, Bassey's work has garnered several awards, fellowships, and commendations including from The Webby Awards, The Telly Awards, The Ford Foundation, Women In Film, Disney Entertainment Television (DET), The Alliance of Women Directors, The Directors Guild of America, The Producers Guild of America, and The Writers Guild of America. Maeyen has served as a speaker and judge at multiple universities and film festivals including Northwestern University, Woodbury University and the Pan African Film Festival. She aslo has been invited to speak on a panel of directors at the SXSW Festival in March 2025. Maeyen currently resides in Los Angeles and has multiple documentary and narrative projects in development.