Laying the Foundation

Samata Narra, Senior Vice President of Equity & Inclusion at Warner Bros. Discovery

Samata Narra is at the forefront of ensuring representation on and off the screen. As Senior Vice President of Equity & Inclusion at Warner Bros. Discovery, she works with content creators, writers and producers to develop inclusive stories and characters. However, she isn't limiting her work to just current talent. By working with Film2Future and Scholarship America, she is making sure the next generation is given the necessary tools and opportunities to succeed.

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After graduating from Boston University with a degree in business management, you took a position with The William Morris Agency. From there, you went on to Fineman Entertainment, Fox, WarnerMedia and now Warner Bros. Discovery. Did you always plan on going into the entertainment industry?

Rumor has it, and by rumor I mean my mother has said, at three years old when asked what I wanted to do when I grew up, I said I wanted to work in Hollywood and live in Malibu. I do work in the proverbial “Hollywood” a.k.a. the entertainment industry, which we can all probably agree is a little in Hollywood. So check? And I am still working towards getting that house in Malibu. I would also say it was when my parents let me watch TV and play video games that my love for storytelling and technology began and has never wavered since.

Having worked in talent management as well as production, what have you seen as the most significant change for Asians in the entertainment industry, both in front of the camera and behind the scenes?

There are more of us! But there needs to be more and the flow of content has to be more consistent. Bend It Like Beckham, Mississippi Masala, Joy Luck Club, Tollywood and Bollywood have informed so much of my taste and interest in representing the intersectionality of the Asian community on screen. The normalization of Asians in all different types of roles is the thing that excites me most about the time we are living in. The fact that Amrit Kaur’s character, Bela, in Sex Lives of College Girls, Alia Bhatt’s as Gangubhai Kathiawadi and Michelle Yeoh as Evelyn Quan Wang in Everything Everywhere All at Once is out in the content universe and AT THE SAME TIME is pretty awesome.

How, if at all, do you think social media has affected how diverse voices are amplified?

It’s huge! Social media has democratized access for artists globally to have a platform to share their creative work and connect with talent communities. I remember when we had the opportunity to bring Lily Singh in for a meeting at Fox and talking about the fandom she had on a global level through YouTube and social media. This holds even more value than it did back then.

What has been the biggest challenge so far in your career? And what success are you most proud of?

These two questions go hand in hand for me. The last two years have been some of the most challenging and rewarding years of my career. I am so proud of what our Equity and Inclusion team has been able to do across the organization with our content creators. My team works with creatives across WBD to make a direct impact on the content that is going out the door. We ensure they have the resources they need to break new ground with storytelling and understand both the intentional and unintentional impact of their content by connecting them to subject matter experts, academics and advocacy groups. We make sure we are available to them as far left in their creative process as we can as we understand the demands of production. We had the opportunity to collaborate with Casey Bloys, Sarah Aubrey, Brett Weitz, Channing Dungey and Sam Register’s teams early on to pilot a lot of solutions across creative and production. We have been able to lay some new foundations for the next 100 years of WBD.

Do you think being an Asian American woman has affected your career in any way?

My career? Yes. Everything about me? Yes! But just as equally so, growing up in KY, playing sports in high school, being a child of immigrants, regularly spending stints in India, going to college, studying abroad, working at William Morris and Fox, skiing, building relationships within this business and being a lifelong learner has too.

What advice do you have for those wanting to follow your career path?

Don’t fall into the trap of comparing yourself to others. This industry is a combination of talent, hustle, resilience, who you know and the luck of being in the right place at the right time. You have to remember you can only control what you can control. Be willing to do the jobs that nobody else wants to do. Learning what you don’t want to do is sometimes just as important as learning what you do want to do. Immerse yourself in content if you want to be in this business and be able to articulate your taste. Anyone can have an opinion, but the key to a respected opinion or strategy is a strong why. This will serve you in any position you hold whether it is creative or not.

Film2Future (F2F) is a nonprofit filmmaking program for under-served teens in Los Angeles. How did you become involved with F2F and what have you learned from the experience that you carry with you?

I was one of the first people Rachel Miller, the founder, asked to help her when she heard her white paper might get funded by Homeland Security. That alone peaked my interest, but the idea of bringing a group of students together to make films with a focus on the future where everyone has very little experience and given the same resources was exciting and it has been. It has also helped me better understand the inequities within our educational system and is the thing that motivated me to make the move into Equity & Inclusion. I am excited to be bringing some of that same energy and innovative thinking to another non-profit I recently joined the board of, Scholarship America.

Is there a favorite childhood memory that you think shaped who you are today?

Picture this: Orlando, Florida 1991. A ten-year-old walks into auditions for their dream role on television, to be a Double Dare contestant. Cut to three minutes later. Same ten-year old me walking out because I lost in the first round of a game of Simon Says. Being directable is definitely a need if you want to be on screen and this confirmed that my combustible energy and love for being two steps ahead is not suitable for an on-screen career.

And sneaking to watch In Living Color and Saturday Night Live at an inappropriate stage.