Shifting Focus: Real Life as Art with Sara Rodriguez
HBO’s SVP of Documentary Programming, Sara Rodriguez pursues projects that push audiences to understand the world around them. As a former news producer, Rodriguez leverages her production chops to elevate real-life stories worthy of any big screen. In this interview with The Inclusive, Sara discusses love of powerful stories, recent HBO docs – and how she copes during COVID.
Q: Tell us a little bit about where you grew up and what drew you to storytelling and programming documentaries as a career.
A: I grew up in Queens until I was 10 years old and then moved to Long Island. When I was in 8th grade, my history teacher Mr. Creehan gave us an assignment to watch Ken Burns’ PBS special “Civil War.” That’s not something a 13-year-old would be stoked to get as an assignment, but as I watched it, I was transfixed. The letters that the soldiers wrote back home to their loved ones and the music -- I just felt like everything, the choices he made in storytelling really made the past feel really present. I watched it several times, I even ordered it from a PBS telethon on VHS so I could have all the episodes. That was how I fell in love with documentaries.
I didn’t really have the language then to understand the scope of documentaries…I referred to them back then as “real people stories.” The most complicated of those I learned were in the true crime space. I became really fascinated with true crime as a teenager, probably in a way that would be a red flag for parents today *laughs*.
Q: Growing up, I watched re-runs of this show called “Que Pasa U.S.A.,” sitcom that revolves around a Cuban family that is integrating into American culture. Even though I’m not Cuban, my family is from Mexico, it was the first time I had heard characters outside of Spanish-language media speak my language on an English network. For my mom, it was one of the shows that helped her learn English in the 70’s. When was the first time where you really saw yourself reflected on-screen? Can you think of any examples?
A: You know, my family is Puerto Rican and Costa Rican but there are two movies that I would watch over and over again. One was “La Bamba” and the other one was “Stand and Deliver.” Both those stories are about Mexican-American families and looking back now I can see that there was this yearning for seeing people that look like you and seeing families that spoke like your family. Back then you didn’t know that’s the reason why you were drawn to them but those are the movies that my brother, sister and I would wear down the VCR watching.
Q: Is there any particular scene you liked most?
A: The classroom scenes in “Stand and Deliver,” for sure. And then there are the scenes with Richie and his mom in “La Bamba.” You know, both of those stories revolve around a culture clash – Richie goes to this school and has to assimilate at a school with all white kids, and the kids in “Stand and Deliver” are being underestimated. It was very specific, it wasn’t just a family that was overseas – they were Americans – Mexican-American families that were butting up against the struggles that we all had in one way or another growing up.
“In telling individual stories, it’s critical to remember that these personal stories don’t represent an entire group of people. That’s why I would say we need to keep telling more of these stories in a myriad number of ways. There just needs to be more across the board.”
- Sara Rodriguez, SVP of Original Documentaries, WBD
Q: Everybody wanted that Mr. Escalante figure as a teacher that said “I’m gonna fight for you guys!”
A: Yeah! By the way, I’ve never thought about that ever, until you just asked it. It just didn’t occur to me until you asked, and it makes so much sense. I just never analyzed it!
Q: You’ve worked on a variety of projects, from pop culture icons to wildfire devastation – you don’t seem to stick to one topic or genre, which is so awesome. How do you select which stories you are going to tell?
A: Over the course of my career I’ve done a lot of different types of content, and mostly it’s because I honestly get bored of the same genre. I like to be working on different types of stories, but I also like to consume a lot of different kind of television. You think about all the various moods that you have when you want to watch something. We think about our programming overall as “What’s the balance? What’s the mix like?” I think that’s how people like to watch, they’re not necessarily interested in only one particular genre.
Q: Going back to what you said about true crime documentaries, are you still into those or do you think you’ve moved past?
A: No, I’m still really into true crime documentaries! We actually just finished a series called Murder on Middle Beach which is a really powerful and complicated portrayal of a family – The director’s mother was tragically murdered and part of the documentary was about him getting to know his mother as an adult and not necessarily about solving the case, and the series just really pushed the boundaries of what has been expected from the true crime genre.
Q: Murder on Middle Beach is definitely on my watchlist, right now I’m watching The Vow, and I’m hooked! Your list of past projects is a combination of news and long-form storytelling. Where do you see the convergence of entertainment with news?
A: I spent the first 10+ years of my work life at CBS news, so the principles of news have been really drilled into me. My then-boss is now the president of CBS news, Susan Zirinsky, who is a person I admire immensely. Still to this day I have CNN playing in the background all day, which is a news producer habit that’s really hard to break.
I would say that the biggest thing they share is both news and nonfiction longform storytelling deal in facts and hard truths. They share that foundation. They share a mandate of telling authentic stories. I think the presentation of that foundation has more flexibility in long-form storytelling, which can oftentimes be entertaining, it can be artistic, it can be experimental, which is different than in news. But the principles are still the same, the foundation is still the same.
Q: So then, what role do you think that documentaries play in the era of fake news?
A: In thinking about this, and you’re watching The Vow now so this is not a spoiler, so the journalist in one of the episodes Barry Meier from the New York Times used a famous quote in the series, “Sunlight is the best disinfectant,” and it’s true. I think it applies to documentaries because they’ll always have an enormous role in distilling misinformation by presenting stories that bring the truth to light.
Q: That’s a really good way to look at it, you can’t block the sun, much like the saying in Spanish, “No puedes tapar el sol con un dedo,” I’m not sure what the Puerto Rican version of that saying is, *laughs* but that’s what we say in Mexico. Or “no te hagas que la virgen te habla…”
A: Exactly! I don’t know that there is a saying for that one *laughs*… “don’t act, so the virgin Mary talks to you?”
Q: I’ve never understood what that one means, I’ll have to ask my parents. *laughs*
A: You know what I think it means? That they’re always watching! Like whatever you do in the dark will always come to light!
Q: Exactly! Pivoting more into COVID, obviously all of us at WarnerMedia have felt the ripple effects of the pandemic, we’re working from home, but I’m curious, how has your job changed during COVID and where do you draw inspiration for new projects?
A: We’re getting pitched constantly so I feel like I don’t have too much trouble getting inspiration because it’s coming at us from these incredible filmmakers that are doing really great work. And not only drawing inspiration from the projects that are coming in that are new, but ones that we are working on that are unfolding in real time, those are the ones that are in production now and something happens in the field or there’s a new development and you get really excited to hear those updates. So I don’t have to look too far for inspiration. And honestly with the entire slate that HBO has, I’m in awe of all the things that they’re presenting – from The Undoing to I May Destroy You – all those interesting projects that you watch with wide-eyes because they’re just so incredible.
Q: What would you say is the one thing that audience is looking for in documentaries?
A: Audiences are looking for stories that haven’t been told before from a unique point of view. There’s so much content in the ether and the thing about documentaries is that it’s not passive viewing – chances are you’re not doing your laundry or cooking or doing another thing and having the documentary play in the background – you are really sitting down and paying attention to watch it. We also think about if we are asking the audience for their undivided attention, we really have to earn it. Looking for stories that rise to that level is kind of the lens that we look through to engage.
Q: I’ve never thought about that, you’re so right. Documentary watching is a “don’t talk to me right now” type of experience. Some of your most recent projects such as “Transhood,” which tells the “coming of age” story of four kids over the course of five years, truly represent powerful minority groups in the U.S. What are some insights you’ve gained in making authentic and diverse documentaries for HBO? In your opinion, why is it important to continue to share these untold narratives?
A: I think documentaries reflect the world around us so if we aren’t telling these stories, we aren’t doing that. But it’s incredibly important to be mindful that there are sensitivities, and you have to be informed on the issues facing communities if we’re going to tell their stories. They’re opening up their life in such a vulnerable way that we have to respect that and be protective of that.
In telling individual stories, it’s critical to remember that these personal stories don’t represent an entire group of people. That’s why I would say we need to keep telling more of these stories in a myriad number of ways. There just needs to be more across the board.
I think it’s also important when we’re working on productions to be really intentional about making sure they have diverse teams, not just the stories coming from underrepresented communities, but for all stories –because there’s value in that.
Q: Absolutely. Very often we’ve seen in current events the negative effects of creating monoliths – take the Latino community – taking Mexico as an example, the culture from Northern and Southern Mexico is so vastly different, and when you start to mix in other Latin countries, Central America, Cuba, Puerto Rico, they really get placed in a generalization that tends to be overshadowed because we are all seen as one.
A: Yeah and I think that’s because there aren’t enough stories depicting the myriad experiences of Mexican-Americans in the United States, the experience of that Dominican girl in Chicago versus a Mexican person in Texas – it’s so different. That’s something that’s front of mind when thinking about the stories that are missing and we need to tell.
Q: What would you say is your biggest achievement?
A: Oh that’s so hard to say, I have to think about that one. I would say it hasn’t happened yet. We all have that mentality where we constantly strive to do better it’s like right around the corner.
Q: Yeah, and I think that means that you’re constantly growing and evolving. That’s really refreshing to hear from someone in a position of leadership.
A: I think about careers as being really long, and you should be learning at every stage. I think that’s what has helped me the most throughout my career – what’s the thing that I don’t know and how do I go about finding out about it? And also paying attention to the marketplace and evolving with it.
Q: Pivoting topics a bit, what is one piece of content you never grow tired of and can watch again and again and again?
A: I promise this is not because I work at HBO, but I’d say The Wire, and I’ve always been a fan and it’s the series that I think I’ve watched the most. If you haven’t seen it, you should watch Season 3, get hooked and then go back and you’ll want to watch it again from start to finish. I would say that’s the series I can watch the most even though I’ve seen it a bunch of times. That’s kind of active viewing, but for passive viewing I’m a huge fan of reality TV – unapologetic – I have high-low taste and I watch all of it. I’m a fan of the “Real Housewives Franchise,” “90 Day Fiancé,” all great escape TV.
Q: That’s something super unique that I wouldn’t have guessed about you. What another quirky fact that most folks don’t know?
A: My sister would say “DON’T TELL ANYONE,” but I’m really obsessed with karaoke and I don’t have a good voice and it does not matter.
Q: *laughs* What’s your go-to karaoke song?
A: So two songs: “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” and “Como La Flor” by Selena, the Goddess, long may she reign. Those are my two go-to’s – and I have my own karaoke machine that’s a personal one. I love it.
Q: Yes! I get really annoyed when you go to a really fun karaoke spot and someone chooses a really sad karaoke song, it’s like “read the room, sir! We don’t want to hear Adele right now…”
A: PIVOT! It’s like a DJ, you have to pay attention to what the vibe is.
Q: So besides karaoke, how are you coping with quarantine? What’s the first you’ll do as soon as we are all cleared?
A: I’m going to hug so many people I care about. I’m getting emotional just thinking about it. It’s taken such a toll for everybody and their families and the thought of so many people being separated – hugging everybody that I care about and seeing them as quickly as possible.
Q: Is there any film you’d like to shed some light on while we have the chance?
A: “40 Years A Prisoner” is a story about the past that resonates so much today. The film follows a man who spent years trying to get his parents out of prison. It’s a tough watch but ultimately is a hopeful story with an unexpected ending. In my early career at CBS, I covered a lot of court cases and saw some awful miscarriages of justice-- I was once in the courtroom covering a story when someone was convicted of a crime they didn’t commit – and subsequently released years later – but the power of storytelling, the power of documentary, you just can’t underestimate what it can do.
Q: Well, thank you so much for sitting down with me today, I’ve had such a blast getting to know you!
A: This didn’t even feel like an interview – thank you so much!