A Mexican-American showrunner and executive producer concepting and directing documentary series: delivering next generation content with journey-led, info-dense stories where the context is as important as the arc of the subjects.
SHOWRUNNER, DIRECTOR, DEVELOPMENT EP
Lindsay Graciela Perna is an Emmy Award-winning executive producer, director and development executive focused on explainer and experiential non-fiction content. Her work includes showrunning a Snap Originals docuseries, Run for Office, about young candidates running in local midterm races across the country. Previously, she led development on unscripted shows for YouTube Originals and on a long-form docuseries about Latino culture in the U.S., hosted by John Leguizamo for MSNBC. These are on the heels of the success of Glad You Asked, a YouTube Originals series she executive produced and showran with Vox that was twice Emmy-Award nominated for Outstanding Educational or Informational Series.
Lindsay is also a producer of a Spanish-language documentary feature, The Age of Water, which has been licensed by the critically acclaimed independent documentary series, POV | American Documentary, for broadcast on PBS in North America in 2024-2025. This film has been supported by Latino Public Broadcasting amid other funding programs at Firelight Media and Chicken & Egg Pictures.
This follows several years at CNN, where Lindsay served as a lead producer directing high-profile talent for daily broadcast, creating network priority specials and kickstarting Beme, a CNN production company created with famed YouTuber Casey Neistat [Emmy Award nomination + Peabody Award Finalist].
Lindsay’s other long-form projects include the documentary feature, Duty Free, which premiered at DOCNYC in 2020 and was distributed by PBS Independent Lens.
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COMING OF AGE
RUN FOR OFFICE served the content gap faced by Gen Z on Snapchat: revealing context on the future of democracy told through the eyes of the generation that’s either going to upend it or rebuild it.
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LATINO HISTORY
Created an in-depth series template for NBC News Studios’ LEGUIZAMO DOES AMERICA, employing research from notable experts and cultural figures in development to inform a direction for the show.
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HUMAN CURIOSITY
Harnessed Vox’s signature explainer model in GLAD YOU ASKED, a premium docuseries tailored to the YouTube audience, bringing life’s curiosities into perspective with compelling scenes and immersive graphics.
leading and directing a team
Lindsay's well-versed with running a large rotating team of creatives during concurrent episode production, managing network stakeholders on editorial and marketing, and primarily articulating a unique visual direction from conception stages to final execution. She's most at home directing talent and camera in the field and on set, which you can see in this reel lovingly created by her former team.