This is Life: Alumni Produce Popular TV Series for CNN

On Sunday morning, I watched time-lapse panoramas of rolling Utah skies and sunrises over looming, copper cliffs, before finally  settling in the living room with award-winning CNN reporter Lisa Ling and Becky Jeffs, the daughter of the man who founded the Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints (FLDS). Ling gently asked Jeffs, “When a man like that [your father] becomes a prophet, what happens?”

“He can hide his sins behind the title ‘prophet,’” Jeffs answered.

Last Sunday, a small group of students and I were lucky enough to watch the second season premiere of CNN’s investigative documentaries This is Life with Lisa Ling before it aired on national television. The episode, titled “Children of the Prophet,” gave an exclusive look behind the closely guarded doors of the FLDS through the eyes of the children of the infamous prophet and convicted felon, Warren Jeffs.

Students were given this opportunity because of Middlebury’s connection to the production team. The executive producer of “This is Life”, Amy Bucher ’87, is a Middlebury alum, along with three co-producers, Heidi Burke ’93, Jackie Hurwitz ’07 and Courtney Hutchens ’99.

“It’s remarkable to me because we spanned twenty years of Middlebury history and none of us overlapped … Now, we’re working on one of the best series in television,” said Bucher. “That is a series of happy coincidences that we all met each other.”

Initially, the series was called Our America with Lisa Ling, and it aired on Oprah Winfrey’s then-nascent network, OWN. After five seasons on OWN, the show transitioned to CNN, where its first season gained such popularity that its viewer ratings outperformed other cable shows in the same time slot. Viewers of This is Life outnumbered CNN’s then most popular programs. Last week, the first season of This is Life became available on Netflix.

“I think the heart of why people watch the show is because it’s an exciting emotional journey,” said Bucher. “[Viewers] trust Lisa to bring them into a world they might be apprehensive about and they trust that she’s going to show them something new, and it’s going to be something for sure compelling and relatable.”

Each episode of This is Life takes the audience into new sub-cultures and communities that stray from the mainstream through honest interviews and incredible video footage of exclusive societies. Among the responsibilities of Bucher’s team of Middlebury producers is researching the most compelling narratives to arrange interviews and gain as much access into the story as possible – a task Bucher says has become the defining quality of this upcoming season.

“We try to raise the bar and increase the depth of our storytelling and the depth of our access … it’s very difficult to obtain [access to these communities] and we’re especially proud of the depth of our access in the upcoming season,” said Bucher.

She credited her co-producers for the series’ depth of reporting.

“It takes a lot of passion and natural curiosity,” she said. “That is their [Burke, Hurwitz and Hutchens] talent.”

Natural curiosity is also what led all four women into the television industry after college, during which most of them did not foresee a career in television. Their majors ranged from Geography to Chinese. All four agree on the merits of a liberal arts education.

“We do take in a lot of Middlebury students and continue to do that through internships. I think a liberal arts background was an extraordinary foundation for me to get into this industry,” said Bucher. “[Working  on This is Life], we become specialists on different topics every month and I think liberal arts is a great venue for that.”

To those interested in working in the television industry, these alumni recommend internships and tenacity over film school.

“I’ve seen a lot of people come in as interns and not have any experience but [they] give 110% and they’re quick learners and they work their way up the ranks,” said Burke.

Hurwitz, who went to film school prior to pursuing a career in storytelling media, does not see graduate school as the ultimate entry into the business.

“Perhaps different from some other internships is that a lot of getting jobs in the production industry is what people you’ve worked with before; personal references are huge,” Hurwitz said.

When considering potential hires, Bucher said, “The things that really stand out to us are passion, the ability to pitch in and be able to connect with people and to really have confidence and writing skills. We don’t look at a resume and look at somebody who went to film school and think of them as having an advantage.”

“Are you articulate? Can you write? Are you willing to start at the bottom? Self-motivation is a huge one – Jackie [Hurwitz] stood out because she had this incredible self-motivation,” said Bucher.

“The last seven years have been the best of my career and it’s because of the stories we tell,” said Hurwitz.

“I worked in television for a long time and it’s neat that we can work with topics that can help people open their minds,” added Burke.

Being open-minded to explore topics deeply and play with new ideas is something the liberal arts education champions as a life-long skill. For these four Middlebury alumni, it has paid off.

Tune in to CNN to watch the season two premiere of This is Life with Lisa Ling on Wednesday, Sept. 30 at 9 p.m.