About Holt Productions
Sarah Holt is an award-winning producer, director, writer, and editor whose films have covered science, history, and medicine. In pursuit of her stories, she has followed explorers into unknown caves, Hadza hunters tracking game across the African savannah, and scientists unraveling the secrets of our genetic code. Her work for PBS has received multiple Emmy Awards, the Alfred I. duPont–Columbia Award, and three AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Awards.
Sarah Holt is an award-winning producer, director, writer, and editor whose films have covered science, history, and medicine. In pursuit of her stories, she has followed explorers into unknown caves, Hadza hunters tracking game across the African savannah, and scientists unraveling the secrets of our genetic code. Her work for PBS has received multiple Emmy Awards, the Alfred I. duPont–Columbia Award, and three AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Awards.
During the 2020 pandemic lockdown, Sarah led a team at NOVA to produce Decoding Covid-19 in a record six weeks. In addition to following personal stories in China and New York City during the crisis, the film explores how the novel coronavirus attacks our immune system, and the science behind the global race to develop drugs and vaccines to combat its deadly effects. The film won the 2021 Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia Award.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, writes…
" In one masterful hour, producer Sarah Holt and her team told the story of the overwhelming spread of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 with strong graphics, explaining how the virus works and how it could be fought with treatments and a vaccine. "
View the film's expanded page HERE.
In 2018, Holt produced Addiction, investigating how drugs alter the brain, and why addiction should be viewed as a treatable brain disorder and not a moral failing. With overdose deaths ravaging communities, the film examines how we can save lives—from embracing evidence-based treatments and harm reduction—to the rethinking of public policies.
Gina B. from Houston, TX writes…
" Without a doubt, my favorite NOVA episode is Addiction. I use it constantly at my job as a detox nurse in a residential facility to help explain the neurobiology to clients and staff and to let them see and understand that addiction effects all social and economic classes. Rather than having a person stand in front of them droning on for group lecture, they are able to watch your program to see the many real-life stories with gripping video coverage. This program is changing lives every time it is watched by the public, and I thank you for having produced it and getting the information out there. "
View the film's expanded page HERE.
In 2016, Holt produced, directed, and wrote, Can Alzheimer’s be Stopped? A co-production between Tangled Bank Studios and NOVA, the film follows the race to find an effective treatment, as scientists test new drugs in high stake clinical trials. It also presents the human stories of the people who join these experiments, desperate to prevent or slow the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.
In 2021, Sarah produced, directed, wrote, and edited The Cannabis Question for PBS/NOVA which explores how a vast array of chemicals in cannabis engage a mysterious regulatory system in our bodies. The film investigates the latest scientific evidence on the potential benefits and risks of the drug, as well as the disproportional harm its criminalization has had on marginalized communities.
"Holt investigates what has been learned about the potential risks and medicinal benefits and how cannabis legalization in 30 states after 80 years of prohibition has resulted in confusion and haphazard regulation."
The Cannabis Question REVIEW by Peter Keough, The Boston Globe, September 23, 2021
View the film's expanded page HERE.
In April 2020 Holt produced The Truth About Fat, which reveals that the factors determining our weight are driven more by biological processes than personal choices. Fat is not only a dynamic organ, producing hormones critical to our health, it also gave our ancient ancestors a key evolutionary advantage to survive periods of famine as they spread around the world.
A PBS/NOVA viewer writes…
" This was a great source of new information to me. I had always thought that fat people were incredibly lazy… Now I realize that I have been so wrong and plan to learn even more! "
View the film's expanded page HERE.
In 2005, Ms. Holt produced, directed, and wrote Rise of the Superbugs for a six-part PBS miniseries on global health. Filmed in 20 countries, the series, RX for Survival, won that year’s Emmy for “Outstanding Informational Programming.” In 2003, Holt received an Emmy for Best Historical Documentary for producing, writing, and editing Shackleton’s Voyage of Endurance, a two-hour special chronicling Sir Ernest Shackleton’s legendary rescue of an Antarctic expedition gone awry. Five years earlier, she ventured into the Philippine jungle to gain some idea of what US servicemen endured during the Bataan Death March in World War II. She then directed and co-produced the four-hour special MacArthur, about the life and times of General Douglas MacArthur, for the PBS series THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE. The program won the Prime-Time Emmy for Best Show, Best Series in 1999.
Ms. Holt has won the AAAS KAVLI Science Journalism Award three times for producing and writing the NOVA documentaries, Cracking Your Genetic Code, How Memory Works, and 18 Ways to Make a Baby.
In all, she has produced, directed, written, and/or edited more than thirty hours of broadcast television, including: Mass Extinction: Life at the Brink; Origami, on scientists uncovering the power of folding; Roots of Health, about the social determinants of health; What Darwin Never Knew, celebrating the 150th anniversary of evolutionary science; World in the Balance, about sustainability; as well as biographies on Eisenhower, Nixon, The Rockefellers and Andrew Carnegie.
Sarah's production company is based in Cambridge, MA. Samples of her work can be seen at:
- PBS/NOVA/Addiction (Also available for streaming on Amazon Prime)
- PBS/NOVA/Can Alzheimer’s Be Stopped?
- PBS/NOVA/DecodingCovid-19
- PBS/NOVA/The Cannabis Question (Also available for streaming on Amazon Prime)
- PBS/NOVA/The Truth About Fat (Also available for streaming on Amazon Prime)