5 Questions for a Brunonian: Film Exec Nina Jacobson ’87, P’23

Why do you do what you do?

I am always looking for a book that I can’t put down, a movie I can’t stop thinking about, a show I can look forward to, a podcast that makes me want to take the dogs on an extra long walk, or even just a good long article. It makes sense for me to have a job that requires me to do those things all the time. I think that storytelling is actually one of the few ways that humans have to recognize ourselves and each other, to feel someone else’s joy or pain, to imagine ourselves in the shoes of another. We have a primal desire to see ourselves represented on cave walls, pages, and screens. I have always been in awe of gifted storytellers, people who can hold an audience in their hands and not let go until the story has been told. As a producer, I am on a relentless quest for storytellers who can grab me by the collar (figuratively) and make me care about what happens to the characters they’ve created and help me to see the world differently than I did before.  

Why Brown?

I went to college anticipating some kind of metamorphosis, but lacking any self awareness of what it would be. I was intellectually curious and wanted the freedom of the Open Curriculum. That freedom allowed me to take an introductory semiotics class that changed the way I saw the world and set me on the course I’m on now. I chose Brown because it felt like the person I was and the one I would become would both feel at home there.  

How has your Brown education and experience influenced and informed your career?

Studying Semiotics and working in the Theater Program at Brown transformed my love of consuming stories into a desire to tell them. I came to appreciate the power that media has to shape how we feel about ourselves and each other and to interrogate the systems of power that determine which stories are told and by whom.  

What is one piece of advice you would give your younger self?

The way you imagine your future and your actual future have very little in common.  Be prepared to be surprised. Also, Converse high tops are not good winter shoes.  

As you know, this year, the Brown Women’s Network is celebrating and honoring 130 years of women at Brown with programming ranging from a women’s leadership series to industry nights to an author series. What are you most excited about?

Authors, of course :) 

Nina R. Jacobson ’87, P’23 is a senior film executive and producer. As an executive, she shepherded “The Sixth Sense,” “Remember the Titans,” “The Royal Tenenbaums,” “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” and “Pirates of the Caribbean.” Jacobson’s feature credits include “The Hunger Games” franchise, “Crazy Rich Asians,” and the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series. She has also produced television shows ranging from the groundbreaking “Pose” to “The People v. OJ Simpson: American Crime Story” and “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story,” which received two Emmys and two Golden Globes.