Mia Renee Henry: History-Driven Storytelling With a Gamer’s Imagination

Mia Renee Henry, Award-winning Filmmaker & Producer, SEP Cohort 3

Mia Renee Henry grew up “all in the family” of entertainment. “My dad was one of the first Black cameramen ABC hired back in ’78,” she recalls proudly, noting that her mother writes screenplays and a cousin directs indie films. That lineage opened doors, but her path has been anything but conventional.

She cut her teeth in eSports at broadcaster OGN, where she pitched turning the mobile game Clash Royale into a life-size LED battlefield. “Why don’t we bring the game to life? We popped this map out in person and it was a hit for two years—twice a week until COVID.” The project revealed her talent for blending technical spectacle with audience-first creativity.

COVID also pushed Henry toward long-form nonfiction. While producing her short documentary Flood—Breaking the Game—about baseball icon Curt Flood’s fight for free agency—she was hospitalized with a COVID-related heart attack. “I was in the hospital for four days… still made the questions and everything,” she laughs now. Perseverance paid off: “Last month I was nominated for a Golden Mic for it… the nomination is amazing.”

Henry’s resilience has earned her more than applause. Henry has racked up industry recognition, including multiple Emmy nominations and a Pulitzer Prize finalist nod, underscoring her ability to fuse cultural urgency with creative storytelling.

Mia on Ped Cam at News1

Henry’s creative voice fuses rigorous history with the immersive thrills she finds in games like Assassin’s Creed. “I like history, I like facts… but I’m also a very avid gamer. How can I transport you into that time and still make it interesting?” Her calling card, she adds, is leaving viewers with “a thirst for knowledge” that sends them down their own research rabbit holes.

 “I was in the hospital for four days… still made the questions and everything.." “Last month I was nominated for a Golden Mic for it… the nomination is amazing.”

That mindset dovetails with Snarky Elephant Productions’ mission to champion under-represented voices. Henry says the company “stands ten toes down” on inclusive storytelling and offers her the platform to be heard.

For passionate creatives, Henry proves that curiosity across mediums (newsrooms, arenas, documentaries) can build a singular cinematic voice. Philanthropic allies will see in her work a potent way to preserve cultural memory. And industry advocates can’t miss the metrics: multi-platform chops, award recognition, and the resilience to finish a film from a hospital bed.

Henry’s next feature-length doc, three years in the making, promises more of the same: meticulous research, bold visuals, and that trademark invitation to step inside history then keep digging once the credits roll.

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At Snarky Elephant Productions, we’ve embedded the idea of shifting established standards and changing company cultures into our DNA. Snarky Elephant focuses exclusively on producing content about and by underrepresented groups, especially groups with the least amount of representation in film. We are dedicated to providing equal pay and equal representation among crew and employees. For more information, contact us at info@snarkyelephant.com or visit us at snarkyelephant.com