Finding the Bullseye: Alexandra Eaton’s Journey from Bard to Bollywood to The New York Times

Taylor Drake
Out of the Den
Published in
4 min readApr 19, 2018

By Taylor Drake

Alexandra Eaton’s path to show running at The New York Times can definitely be categorized as one less traveled. Not many can say that they directed an independent film in Bollywood or created video series about pop culture icons like Waka Flocka Flame and Stevie Nicks.

Looking through Eaton’s fairly large collection of work, you can find the common thread of a colorful and true-to-life visual style. Eaton’s career has given her the room necessary to produce unique video projects for publications like Rolling Stone and Spin magazine.

Eaton did not always know that she worked best with video until she went to Bard College in Hudson, New York. Initially, Eaton wanted to be a painter, but could not figure out how to translate what she saw in her mind onto the canvas.

“I found that I really love shooting,” Eaton said. “The film program at Bard was also super experimental and full of kooky people, so it allowed me to play around and develop a voice and a style that felt unique to my way of seeing.”

After graduating from Bard, Eaton decided to try her luck in Bollywood rather than duke it out with her peers for internships at production companies. This bold decision led Eaton to direct her first documentary film, “Bombay Movie.” The film follows a filmmaker as he struggles to direct his independent film, “Barah Aana,” within Bollywood’s complex film industry.

Alexandra Eaton has produced video pieces and series for Spin magazine, Rolling Stone and The New York Times. Photograph taken by Katherine Finkelstein.

Eaton stumbled upon the potential film while creating a behind-the-scenes style video feature for the film’s DVD.

“I quickly realized that the director and the producers and their great ambitions for their film’s success made them into excellent characters,” Eaton said. “Five years later and many, many hours of editing later, we premiered at IFC Cinema in Manhattan.”

After her film’s premiere, Eaton continued working in video, acting as the New York Bureau Chief at SpinMedia and as a Video Director at Rolling Stone. Eaton says her time at Rolling Stone “was fun to be able to work with reporters to make mini-documentaries and performances that could supplement the magazine and to figure out the unique voice and style of each piece.”

Eaton’s collection of work with Rolling Stone ranges from musical performances by artists like Cage the Elephant and Charli XCX to interviews with performers like J.K. Simmons, Kristen Stewart, and Hannibal Buress.

“I love making videos about music, but Rolling Stone allowed me to branch into politics and culture,” Eaton said. “I got to shoot President Obama, Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump, and Stevie Nicks while working there.”

Later, Eaton was presented with the opportunity to work as a showrunner for The New York Times digital platforms, including their website and YouTube channel.

“I had always wanted to work at the Times and one day the opportunity came up. There was no way I could say no,” Eaton said.

Despite working in a news-oriented environment, Eaton’s work finds creative, boundary-pushing ways to share stories.

“Our team predominantly focuses on making serialized content,” Eaton said.

At The New York Times, Eaton “creates and oversees a handful of series ranging from three to 10 episodes each.” This requires her to follow a project from its initial conception, through budgeting, planning, directing, producing, editing, and promoting the final piece on different platforms.

Eaton’s work can be seen in series like “Dance in the Real World.” The five-episode series gives an electrifying look at how people express themselves and their culture through various forms of dance. Eaton says that her favorite thing “is to make something that hasn’t been done before on The New York Times site.”

Making sure that the entire production of a new video series runs smoothly requires a lot of reliance on the people you work with. Eaton credits the talent of her team with the high caliber of creativity and quality in her video series.

“The best part of the job is the incredible wealth of talent that works within the building at The New York Times,” Eaton said. “It’s not easy to find good collaborators and people whose opinion you can trust when you first start out. I’m happy to have found such a strong creative community here.”

It is no surprise that the world of video production is a wide-ranging one with a limitless number of possible avenues to travel. Eaton was able to find a path that allowed her to develop a creative voice all her own.

Eaton encourages others interested in video production to “think about what you have to offer the world, not what it has to offer you. Then think about the places that you could make better with your gifts and seek those out.”

Eaton’s own fortuitous journey to Bollywood is a testament to the good that can come from following your intuition and deciding to simply dive in.

“The hardest thing is figuring out what you want. If you don’t know, try a bunch of things until you do,” Eaton says. “One day, your desire will arrive, perhaps suddenly, and you’ll feel like you have a bullseye in your sights. Then, think of the million weird ways that you could aim at your target, try all of them, and hit it.”

To see more of Alexandra Eaton’s work you can visit her website here.

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Taylor Drake
Out of the Den

Multimedia Journalist at Mercer University. Freelance photographer. Source of slightly above average advice.