Ava DuVernay on her journey from PR to directing Netflix's 'When They See Us'

Filmmaker Ava DuVernay's journey to being a director for Netflix's When They See Us has indeed been an inspiring one. The lady has been on the tube for over 14 years now but has only been credited as a publicist for some of the most amazing stories.

For the uninitiated, DuVernay rose through the ranks as a PR executive early in her career before starting her own agency in 1999, where she raked in clients such as Warner Bros. and HBO. It was the launch of the DuVernay Agency that earned the publicist turned director her first mention in Variety on March 8, 2000, and afforded her a real opportunity to amplify the voices of women and people of color — a mission still integral to her projects. After years of working on movies during her off-hours, she finally made the leap to becoming a director full-time, earning critical acclaim for films such as “Selma,” “13th” and Disney’s adaptation of “A Wrinkle in Time.” Most recently, her Netflix miniseries “When They See Us” earned 16 Emmy nominations for its portrayal of the Exonerated Five, who were wrongfully convicted of rape in 1989.

According to Variety, on what was she most scared of getting wrong while portraying Exonerated Five in When They See Us, Duvernay was quoted saying, "Just the men — it was really just the men. My mission every single day — in the writing, the direction, every line of dialogue that I wrote, every choice — I wanted the guys to love it. I want them to feel like it’s really them; I want them to look at this and be proud and let their stories be told that were taken from them at 14 years old and they were never able to get back. For all those years, people thought they were one thing that they weren’t, and so I just wanted them to look at me and say, “You did it.” And they watched it, and when it was over, the lights came up and they all turned around and looked at me. Their eyes were bloodshot red and soaked, and they encircled me. I was just in the middle of all of them, and they hugged me, and we all cried. And they said, “You did it.” It was beyond what they thought it could be. So honestly, what else do you need? "

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