Sarada Duvvuri ’05 is a documentarian at heart as she has always been inspired by real people and the way they move through their perspectives.
Duvvuri began her career path in broadcast journalism but quickly realized her passion lies in storytelling behind the camera, so she turned her attention to documentaries and would go on to establish herself as head of logistics in unscripted (nonfiction) TV/film. She has facilitated the production of nearly 300 hours of television for a variety of networks, including Netflix, Disney+, Discovery Networks, and HBO most notably as a line producer. A line producer is an essential managerial position that is responsible for the financial and logistical aspects of production. Some of their duties can include being liaisons between crew and producers, setting up the production company, recruiting personnel, and scheduling shoot dates and locations.
Duvvuri’s journey toward becoming a producer in unscripted TV/film started at Illinois State University in 1999. Duvvuri, a native of Bloomington and Indian descent, attended University High School and later enrolled at ISU with a major in mass communication. However, her academic journey took an unexpected turn, leading her to graduate with a bachelor’s in English.
The flexibility of ISU’s academic environment allowed Duvvuri to explore various majors, including business, psychology, law, and social work. Eventually, she found her passion in English, realizing that building a career based on what she loved was the key to success. Reading classical literature and writing was her way to express emotions and concerns, Duvvuri found this process to be extremely soothing. While she loved her major, she learned quickly that college would take hard work and dedication to the program to succeed.
“I was academically dismissed twice for a low GPA. I had to work full-time to pay for college and living expenses, so it was difficult to maintain good academic standing. However, I wrote reinstatement letters both times and was able to continue without ever missing a semester.”
Sarada Duvvuri
A unique journey best describes the life of Duvvuri. Her love for research, writing, and scoring the key interviews led her to pursue a career in broadcast journalism. She cared about sensitive stories from real-life people in a way that she found them relatable and helpful to make out of her bad situations. Being a child abuse survivor herself, Duvvuri is extremely determined and passionate about telling those stories to the world. Her first steps in the industry were marked at the Fox affiliate in Bloomington-Normal.
“I was a receptionist but got to do some on-camera work. Half the screen was the credits of the show that just ended, and the other half was me introducing the next show. When that little red light would come on the camera, I was just like a deer in headlights. And the second the light turned off, I asked them, how did I do? And then they told me that I hadn’t said anything! So, I figured that ends my career in front of the camera,” she said, laughing as she reminisced about her first on-air experience. Duvvuri took this experience and started to think of it as a sign to follow a slightly different path, to work behind the camera instead.
Duvvuri strongly believed in the power of networking and that it could help her with this new career idea. Her friend had a neighbor in Chicago who worked as the director of development for Towers Productions, a company known for documentary television. Meeting him at the block party after her friend strongly encouraged her to come, Duvvuri gave him a one-page resume and admitted having no education or experience in the industry.
“And so, we sit down, and he looks at my resume. It was clear I did not have much experience, and he asked me with a bit of anticipation if he could help me with anything. And I said I know I have no education or experience in this, but what I can do is guarantee that if you open this door, you will never regret it. I don’t know where that line came from. Maybe all the Bollywood movies I watched!” she said.
Unfortunately, that was not enough. Being a courageous woman, Duvvuri persistently followed up with him every chance she got. There were six spots for a production assistant position on Gangland for the History Channel for its first season. She called again when there were five spots left. Each week the number of spots decreased. Yet, she continued to reach out weekly, sending emails, until she secured the last spot on the show.
After spending around 11 years in Chicago and getting to the position of a line producer, Duvvuri realized that it was time for her to go and conquer new peaks. In 2018, Duvvuri moved to New York and started to establish herself there and rose to the position of executive-in-charge. Due to the remote nature of production, even in a pre-pandemic world, Duvvuri figured that she could try a few more destinations like Atlanta and Los Angeles. In the end, she landed in sunny California to call home.
Duvvuri worked on countless projects, including season three of Crime Scene on Netflix, Single Long on HBO, and Court Cam on the A+E Networks. One of Duvvuri’s most challenging projects came when she served as a line producer on Find Our Missing for TV One. The goal of the show was to bring awareness to missing people, specifically Black people. The episode profiled each person, tracked their last movements, and told their stories to the public in case anyone had any information on them. It is extremely challenging to work on projects like this one. Dealing with such work that requires extreme compassion and attention to detail, means that you need to find the right balance with your personal life as well. Overcoming obstacles within her professional and personal lives, Duvvuri found a support system in her friends and loved ones.
Friends come into your life not only to share the greatest and worst moments but also as a great source for development. One of her fondest memories of ISU for Duvvuri is her lifelong friendship with another student who later helped her with approaching Native Americans to participate in a show. In 2020, Duvvuri was hired by a Los Angeles-based production company to produce a show called Murdered in Montana for Oxygen, which was about Native Americans who go missing. There were many challenges that Duvvuri as a supervising producer had to face. For instance, booking all the local law enforcement officials of Native American reservations and arranging the exhumation of a 14-year-old girl off tribal land for a forensic pathologist to make a second autopsy. Her friend also helped her land an interview with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, a similar unit to the FBI that acts on indigenous people’s territories, who never talked to the media.
“I took Native American Literature at ISU and almost instantly became friends with her. We went our separate ways after graduating, but I remembered that she never changed her number because I would check in on her once a year, no joke. It got easier when Facebook came out. She tributed me by saying ‘If it was not for you, we would not still be friends because you did such a great job with staying in touch.’ We are even closer because we both ended up in California. It is crazy how after all these years we still have each other and how it all worked out for us,” she said.
Duvvuri took that class out of pure curiosity, and it made a huge contribution to her life. She advises every Redbird to stay open to new things and never be afraid of challenging yourself.
“Outside of networking, lowering your expectations, and being open to pivoting, I would say it is important to believe in yourself. There were plenty of people who did not believe in me and were in my close circle. You have one life to live as yourself and you have the power to make the rules of your own life and where you want that to go. Now that might sound very general, but it is just about being confident in yourself and your own choices. Because if you don’t believe and don’t trust yourself, then no one else will.”
