Hollywood Executive Joins Caregiving Advocacy Group to Make Caregiving More Visible in Film, TV

Lydia Storie to Engage With Writers and Filmmakers to Increase Representation of Care

LOS ANGELES (March 29, 2022)—Hollywood creative executive and producer Lydia Storie has joined Caring Across Generations to lead the organization’s entertainment industry engagement strategy to introduce more care-related storylines into movies, TV and other narrative-driven content. Having developed dozens of projects for major buyers—including Netflix, HBO, Disney, Fox, and NBC—Storie brings to her new role entrepreneurial spirit, strategic thinking and experience working with a wide range of writers, filmmakers and industry leaders.

“I’m looking forward to drawing on my creative expertise and relationships with storytellers across the  industry to help shape stories and bring more visibility to care,” said Storie. “Whether it’s identifying how caregiving can be integrated into existing content or building new content around care experiences, the goal is more representation.”

Founded in 2011 by Ai-jen Poo and Sarita Gupta, Caring Across Generations seeks to transform the way people provide and receive care across the country. The organization harnesses the power of online and in-person grassroots organizing and shifts how media portrays aging, disability, illness and caregiving so that local and federal policies—such as those that support universal child care, paid medical and family leave, and long-term care supports and services—take root. Storie joins the organization’s growing culture change team, which collaborates with artists and content creators across sectors—art, entertainment, advertising, social and traditional media—to showcase the depth and breadth of caregiving experiences in the U.S. The team’s recent projects include a billboard campaign in Times Square and across Washington, D.C., an interactive art installation, and TikTok collaborations showcasing millennials and Gen Z-ers living with their grandparents.

“Caring Across is well positioned to lift up the diverse types of care that take place in millions of homes across the country, but that we don’t typically see taking place in the homes on our screens,” said Storie. “It’s an exciting moment to sit at the intersection of content creation and advocacy, especially around an issue I find so personally important.”

Like many parents across the country, Storie struggled to find childcare for her son during the pandemic.  “Many people become parents every year and need to find care for their children while they work to earn a living to support them, yet there’s no functional system in place to do so in this country,” said Storie, who also manages a range of supportive services to address some of her son’s developmental delays. “All of us need some type of care at some point in our lives. Working together with storytellers to shine a light on all the various ways caregiving shows up in our homes and communities also puts a spotlight on the need for a strong care infrastructure that serves all families.”

Prior to joining Caring Across Generations, Storie served as senior vice president of development for Muse Entertainment, where she led the expansion of the company’s scripted series and TV and movie business within the U.S. market while managing the Los Angeles-based creative team. She oversaw the development and sale of multiple projects across linear television and streaming platforms, and helped establish Muse as a go-to source for inclusive entertainment centering the stories of traditionally marginalized characters. Prior to Muse, Lydia worked at Additional Dialogue, a producer-driven company under the Endemol Studies banner as director of development and as director of development for Original Media, where she helped launch a new division focused exclusively on scripted film and TV content.

Storie is currently a member of the Television Academy and the Hollywood Radio & Television Society’s (HRTS) Associates group. She previously served as the co-president of HRTS Associates Los Angeles’ board of advisors, where she spearheaded the organization’s first annual gala event in conjunction with Amnesty International in 2019.

Storie holds an M.A. in Cinema Studies from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and a B.A. in English Literature and History from Ball State University.

See this Q&A with Storie for more on her connections to care and her motivation to join Caring Across.