Alumni Portrait: Lauren Capps (’12) part of RFK Award-winning team of “The Sing Sing Chronicles”

Lauren Capps (’12), was a producer on “The Sing Sing Chronicles,” a four-part docuseries by NBC News Studios and Trilogy Films that won the 2025 Domestic Television Award from Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights in May.

The series is built on two decades of original investigative reporting by Dan Slepian with unprecedented access to one of America’s most notorious prisons. Crafted from an archive of more than 1,000 hours of footage filmed from 2002 to present day, the series tells the story of a journalist and a man convicted of murder who begin as strangers but in the end become like brothers. Their unlikely connection, forged in the cell blocks of Sing Sing Correctional Facility, ignites a search for justice in four unrelated homicide cases.

The series is also nominated for a News and Doc Emmy for Best Documentary, won the Gracie Award for Best Documentary Series, and won the 2025 Hillman Prize for Broadcast Journalism whose judges called it “a monumental achievement in storytelling” and “a testament to the power of journalism that dares to confront injustice”.

We asked Capps about the series and her impressive body of work…

Let’s start with storylining an archive of more than 1,000 hours of Dan Slepian’s original vérité footage filmed from 2002 to 2024. How do you even…

It was definitely a huge task but also an exciting one, and we had an amazing team. As a documentary producer, it honestly felt like a gift to have the opportunity to build a story that was filmed extensively and intimately for more than 20 years. That archive was a treasure trove for storytelling. Dan Slepian is one of the most incredible journalists and human beings I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. It’s astonishing that he stuck with the story of these men, never gave up on bringing the injustices of their stories to light — for more than 20 years — AND captured so much of their stories and the stories of their families with a camera. Our team wanted to watch as much of the material as possible. There were some logs and descriptions, and much of the material had been previously catalogued by NBC staff. While starting to watch material, we were also outlining the arc of the series and figuring out how we’d tell this story in four episodes. We strategized and prioritized based on the story we aimed to tell. It was truly a team effort — with Dan Slepian, Director Dawn Porter, Executive Producer Kimberley Ferdinando, Producer Sadie Bass, Associate Producer Nick McElroy, Editor Rosie Walunas, and others on our team. And we did indeed watch many many hours of material. We worked with our great edit team to pull selects and create sequences along the way. In addition to the footage, we reviewed thousands of pages of court records, transcripts and documents related to the cases.

We understand that NBC News had broadcast elements of this story, but most of this footage had never been aired. Why was that?

Dateline and NBC News had broadcast stories related to these cases. I think one thing this project proves is that there are many ways to tell a story and all can be relevant, significant, and impactful. The Dateline and NBC News stories were great pieces of journalism, won awards, and raised a lot of awareness for these cases. The documentary series that NBC News Studios and Trilogy Films set out to make would be new and different, both stylistically and in terms of the breadth of storytelling. Through the arc of four episodes, we were able to connect the stories in a way that hadn’t yet been done, to really emphasize and help people understand how prevalent wrongful convictions are in this country. David Lemus and Jon-Adrian Velazquez became friends in prison and then Jon-Adrian met Eric Glisson, Johnny Hincapie and Richard Rosario at Sing Sing. They were all convicted of murder in five different cases and happened to connect with each other in prison, and they were all innocent. They spent decades fighting for their freedom, then were fortunate enough to connect with Dan Slepian and have a couple of dogged detectives and committed pro bono attorneys work tirelessly on their cases. If it took all of that, and much more, to finally overturn their convictions, just imagine how many more innocent people are still behind bars. It was important for us to not only lay out the facts of their cases, but also clearly show the failure upon failure of the system and the lack of accountability. It was also critical to show the impacts not only for the incarcerated people, but also for generations of their families. For Jon-Adrian Velazquez’s case in particular, the Dateline episode aired in 2012 — even the superintendent of the prison said he believed Jon-Adrian should be released after seeing that Dateline. But he was still in prison for nearly a decade following that broadcast, and with “The Sing Sing Chronicles,” we were able to tell that more expansive story of what transpired in the past several years. Dan was so committed that he continued to work with Jon-Adrian and others in prison, and continued to document them, and their families, while he was also producing tons of other work for NBC.

You studied under legendary filmmaker Jon Else who directed Berkeley Journalism’s doc program from 1997 to 2014 and will soon receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at the News & Doc Emmy Awards. What was that time like for you as a young filmmaker?

I still talk about it all the time. I’m so grateful for my experience at the J-School and the guidance from Jon Else. I’m also grateful for the influence he has had on the lives, creativity, knowledge and careers of so many journalists and filmmakers in the Bay Area and beyond. We would not have such a strong documentary filmmaking community if it weren’t for Jon and his legacy at Berkeley. During my time at the J-School, Jon went on sabbatical for two semesters, so the doc students my year had the privilege of being taught by Megan Mylan (’97) one semester and Jon Shenk, Bonni Cohen and Richard Berge another semester. All four had been mentored by and worked with Jon, and they followed the program structure that Jon had set up and refined over so many years. But they also lent their own experiences and perspectives to the instruction and mentorship as we started to craft our thesis films. And then Jon Else returned and guided us through that last semester and the completion of our thesis films. I just feel super fortunate to have been exposed to such an array of documentary filmmaking wisdom during my time at the J-School.

Your thesis film, “Captive Radio,” a half-hour documentary about families of victims of kidnapping in Colombia who use a weekly radio program to communicate with their loved ones held hostage in the jungle, screened at film festivals around the world, won Best Short Documentary at the San Diego Latino Film Festival, earned you an Overseas Press Club Award and was nominated for the International Documentary Association’s David L. Wolper Student Documentary Award recognizing “exceptional achievement in non-fiction film and video production” at the university level, one of the most important awards for young filmmakers. Did that early recognition buoy your confidence?

It is always an honor to have work recognized in that way. I’d say it did help me feel confident that I was on the right track, that I was making the right decisions in the type of filmmaking I was drawn to and the stories I found important and captivating. I’d also say that screening the film at festivals and other venues gave me more confidence to present work publicly and engage with audiences. I’d encourage doc grads to screen their thesis films publicly as much as possible. It’s a very special experience to sit in theaters with audiences as they watch your work, and to have discussions and Q&As. I think presenting the work and engaging with audiences at those festivals and screenings strengthened my confidence as a filmmaker at that time.

Let’s go back to those years after you graduated from Berkeley Journalism. You were an AP on “Rape in the Fields/Violación de un Sueño,” a yearlong reporting effort by the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley and the Center for Investigative Reporting which was broadcast on PBS “FRONTLINE” and Univisión and won a 2014 duPont-Columbia Award and a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award. It was only the second time that a university-led program was awarded a duPont Award.

How did that experience shape your work?

My work at the IRP on “Rape in the Fields/Violación de un Sueño” was very significant for the trajectory of my work and was fundamental for how I approach projects. It was a crash course in investigative journalism, building from what I had learned at the J-School, and I had the opportunity to observe and learn in the field from the great Lowell Bergman. The project involved complex legal cases, ethical considerations, allegations, sensitive material, access challenges, extensive fact checking, and multiple interwoven stories. And we had a set of unique considerations during production, because the film was broadcast for an English-speaking audience on PBS “FRONTLINE” and for a Spanish-speaking audience on Univisión. I honed many research methods, and reporting and production skills that year, which I continued to use in every subsequent project, whether they were investigative or not.

How important is being bilingual in the doc world?

Knowing Spanish has, of course, allowed me to communicate more effectively with Spanish-speaking participants, like those in “Rape in the Fields,” and limit the necessity for translation. I’ve also been more inclined to pursue immigration-related stories, which I’m drawn to, and I believe immigration is such a relevant topic brimming with potential stories that haven’t yet been told. One of my favorite producing experiences was with director Bernardo Ruíz on “Harvest Season.” Focusing on the immigrant families and workers that are the backbone of the California wine industry was such a unique and engaging way to illuminate the lives and contributions of immigrant communities in this country. And at some points during that production, as with “Rape in the Fields,” the ability to communicate in the participants’ native language was certainly helpful. But I also don’t think that the inability to speak a participant’s language should discourage filmmakers from pursuing the stories they want to tell. A fixer/translator, AP or co-producer who speaks the language can be a great asset and partner.

This is your fifth major project with Dawn Porter. How did you meet and what’s your working style together?

My friend, mentor, and former colleague Carrie Lozano (’05) introduced me to Dawn when she was looking for a story producer for “Bobby Kennedy for President.” My working relationship with Dawn has always been very collaborative. Feature documentaries are a major undertaking, and multi-part series are especially complex — to work out how best to cover a topic or story that spans several decades in three or four hours. Thank goodness, Dawn always brings together stellar teams. Of course, each project is unique, with different teams, workflows and needs. But we always have extensive story conversations at the outset. Based on these conversations, I, sometimes along with other producers, create a detailed outline that reflects Dawn’s vision for the film or series. And our production teams strategize from there, setting up interviews, vérité scenes, archival plans, etc. And producers/story teams and Dawn are discussing the development of ideas and sharing material every step of the way.

Any sage advice for students in the doc track today?

As I mentioned above, I advise students to go out into the world with their thesis films as much as possible — festivals, educational screenings, community screenings, etc. It’s great for their development as filmmakers in many respects. Another piece of advice: If they are interested in producing or directing but not finding the dream AP or producing job yet, think about getting involved in projects in other ways — development, writing treatments, fact checking, impact campaigns, PA work, etc. And lastly, I know J-School students already know this, but I’d just like to remind them of the high caliber of talent, the breadth of experience and camaraderie among the community of journalists and filmmakers from this program. I think every job I’ve had in the 13 years since I graduated has been through a J-School connection. And when I’m looking to build a team or hire crew, many candidates and references come from J-School alumni. So my advice is to keep in touch with those they already know, go to alumni events if they can, and reach out to others they want to meet.

More about Capps’ work

Capps was a producer for the four-part docuseries “Deadlocked: How America Shaped the Supreme Court” for Trilogy Films and Showtime/Paramount +, which received the 2024 Television Academy Honors and was nominated for the Film Independent Spirit Awards, Critics Choice Documentary Awards and International Documentary Association Awards. Capps was story producer for the Trilogy Films projects “Rise Again: Tulsa and The Red Summer” for National Geographic, “John Lewis: Good Trouble” for CNN Films, and “Bobby Kennedy for President” for Netflix. She co-produced “Harvest Season,” broadcast on PBS Independent Lens, and produced several episodes of the series “Fault Lines,” including “Forgotten Youth: Inside America’s Prisons,” which was nominated for two 2016 News and Documentary Emmy Awards. She worked with MediaStorm on “Crisis Guide: Iran,” which won a 2012 Emmy Award, and has produced content for “PBS News Hour,” Center for Investigative Reporting and the George Lucas Educational Foundation, among others.

–Marlena Telvick