Megan Chao is an award-winning documentary producer and picture editor based in Los Angeles, with nearly two decades of experience specializing in documentaries. She is currently the vice president of development and production for Birman Productions, Inc. where she manages a diverse slate, a creative team, and corporate strategy from development through show delivery.
Chao is currently the showrunner, director and editor on two environmental documentary series projects, including Seasons 6 and 7 of Earth Focus for PBS SoCal. Prior, Chao was supervising producer and editor on a historical documentary called Saint Patrick's Greatest Gift for CuriosityStream, based on The NYT Bestsellers book series, The Hinges of History, by late author and historian Thomas Cahill.
Other notable projects: Chao was supervising producer and editor on the critically-acclaimed Murder to Mercy: The Cyntoia Brown Story for Netflix. The 16-year odyssey explores the complexity of our criminal justice system through the lens of one Tennessee family. The feature documentary made the Netflix U.S. Top 10 List for the first week of its broadcast. This was based on our 2010 award-winning documentary, Me Facing Life: Cyntoia Brown, for PBS | Independent Lens, which was part of the Community Cinema Program and integrated into curricula for the Women and Girls lead program. Chao was also producer and editor on The Big Bang Machine for NOVA, Curious Minds: Conscious Capitalism and The Hunt for Dark Matter for CuriosityStream and MAX, Chasing Speed for Velocity, and Perfecting Flight, an independent feature documentary with executive producer and actor Harrison Ford.
Prior, Chao was a science journalist who published with the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, a collaborative to encourage cross-disciplinary research. She also worked for KNX 1070 News Radio in Los Angeles and was part of the award-winning team coverage for the 2008 Malibu fires.
Chao serves on the Board of Governors at the Television Academy representing the Documentary Programming peer group, and is a member of the Activities, Awards and Bylaws committees, in addition to the AI Task Force. She is a member of the Producers Guild of America, where she currently serves as one of the co-chairs for the Documentary and Non-Fiction Committee. She is also a member of the International Documentary Association (IDA), the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) and is on the Advisory Board for the Archival Producers Alliance (APA) Initiative on Generative AI.
updated 6.21.24