Up next in our Power Players series is Sara Rea, a true “power player” who makes things happen behind the scenes.
Up next in our Power Players series is Sara Rea, a true “power player” who makes major moves behind the scenes.
Rea has been producing unscripted television for over 20 years, receiving 10 Emmy nominations, a GLAAD Award and multiple PGA award nominations in the process. In 2020, Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine acquired her company, SKR Productions, where she now serves as the Head of their Unscripted division. As you can already tell, Rea is quite accomplished, spending many years of her career as a successful unscripted showrunner, which includes her prolific run as the Executive Producer of the iconic and award-winning “Project Runway.”
Additionally, Rea also helped with developing “Making the Cut” with Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn, where she revolutionized the unscripted space by bringing e-commerce to this competition reality series on Amazon Prime. Continuing to push the boundaries in unscripted TV by partnering with Roku, she was the brainchild behind the development of “Meet Me in Paris,” a first-of-its-kind 90-minute unscripted romantic comedy that aired in 2023.
SKR Productions/Getty Images
As for her work in the sports scene, Rea has been closely involved in “F1 Academy” and Hello Sunshine’s ongoing female-centered sports content push. I recently chatted with the producer and entrepreneur to learn more about her career and her plans for the future.
The interview has been lengthened and condensed for clarity.
SN: Thanks for taking the time to chat with us Sara! Let’s start by having you introduce yourself in your own words.
Rea: Sure! My name is Sara Rea, and I run all of Unscripted’s documentaries at Hello Sunshine. I’ve been here since the very beginning of 2020, which is when they acquired my company, SKR Productions. We were running a show called “Making the Cut” with Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn, which was a fashion competition show, and prior to that, I was also a showrunner on “Project Runway” and “Project Runway Jr.,” which was through my company as well. So, in 2020, when Hello Sunshine was looking to bolster their Unscripted department, they came to me, and while I wasn’t looking for somebody to acquire the company, it was a no-brainer for so many reasons. Obviously, Reese is an amazing actress, producer and inspiration to women everywhere, and it was an exciting opportunity.
SN: Amazing! What does a day in the life typically look like?
Rea: It is never the same! Every day has its own set of goals and challenges, which is what I really appreciate. As you know, our industry is at a pivotal time, the platforms are shrinking and spending less, and the budgets are tight. While creative is my love, I spend a lot of time looking at what’s the strategy, and how we are making sure we have products that rise above. So, I spend a lot of time on the deal-making side and the strategy side, which I do enjoy, but I’m also a creative at heart.
SN: As far as sports go, I know you all have interesting things that are happening, such as “F1 Academy.” Can you talk more about that?
Rea: “F1 Academy” is one of the projects we are most excited about for so many reasons. For starters, F1 a huge global sport with a huge audience base, and with sports, in general, the stakes are very high from a storytelling perspective. Then, you have an added layer of a high-intensity sport that is also dangerous. It is a fascinating world to enter as a storyteller and watch these drivers—some of them don’t even have a driver’s license. It is wild to watch them navigate intense pressure while also watching them chase their dreams. It’s a story of triumph and success every episode, and it’s a phenomenal series that I couldn’t be prouder of. And Susie Wolff’s mission is to continue to change and develop motorsport for women, which is in line with our mission to change the narrative of women in television and film. It’s a perfect fit, and I’m so thankful to be working with Netflix and the powerhouse group that has come together to make this show.
SN: Amazing! I wanted to get your thoughts on the women’s sports space in general. Is there anything you guys are working on specifically that you can talk about, or something you all want to work on?
Rea: It’s an exciting time to see how women’s sports are really getting their due. I think they’ve proven that when you give to them, the numbers show up. There are a few things we do have—some things have been announced and some haven’t. We have a sports talk show (“Women’s Sports Now, announced in February and premiered in March), which is co-hosted by Renee Montgomery, and we’re super excited about it. We also have a slate of sports documentaries in the works that we’re producing right now. So there may be something with the WNBA soon to come because that stretches across all sports. And then we have “Surf Girls” season two, which is on Prime and premieres July 17. We have quite a lot in the female-focused space.
SN: Speaking of July 17, there is another project debuting on that day as well, right?
Rea: Yes, it’s a busy day for us! We also have “Family Recipe Showdown” with Octavia Spencer making its premiere.
SN: Can you talk a bit more about your Unscripted division?
Rea: We focus on everything from lifestyle to bigger formats like “Making the Cut,” which I mentioned before. We previously had a country music competition show on Apple and “Pasta Queen” on Amazon. We also have documentaries. We produced a documentary a couple of years ago following Wynonna Judd, following her on the tour after she lost her mom, which was very powerful. That was on Paramount, and now it’s on Roku. We basically run the gamut!
SN: It seems like a good bulk of what you guys do is empowering and uplifting women. Is that a strategic thing?
Rea: Yes! It’s interesting you bring it up that way because the mission of the company is to put women in the center of the story, but our job is to entertain, so we still need conflict. We need highs and lows, and in sport we need competitive women. I think it’s important to go deeper into the competitive spirit, the rivalries, etc., that really resonate on a universal level. There will always be a fight, but we don’t often tell the story of the fight as much as we do the story of the characters, so we want to dive deeper.
SN: How is it working with Reese?
Rea: Reese is amazing to work with. She’s creative and supports our ideas. She came to the “F1” premiere in Miami. She really is an integral part of the entire company.
SN: Where do you see the company in the next five years or so?
Rea: That’s a good question! To continue to grow and to continue to have an impact. It will always be entertainment first, but the more we put women behind the camera, the more impact we will have.
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