Erin Lee Carr
Erin Lee Carr is an American documentary film director and producer. Her documentaries include Thought Crimes: The Case of the Cannibal Cop, Mommy Dead and Dearest, I [Love You, Now Die: The Commonwealth Vs. Michelle Carter|I Love You, Now Die: The Commonwealth vs. Michelle Carter], At the Heart of Gold: Inside the USA Gymnastics Scandal, as well as the 2021 Netflix documentary Britney vs Spears.
She is also an author for VICE and her memoir called All That You Leave Behind: A Memoir.
Early life and education
Carr was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota to The New York Times media columnist David Carr and Anna Lee.Carr and her twin sister, Meagan Carr, were born two and a half months early. Their parents lost custody of the twins because of their drug addiction. Carr and her sister went into foster care for a summer. When their father got out of rehab, he regained physical custody of the girls and in 1994 married Jill Rooney, who became Carr's step-mother.
In addition to her twin sister Meagan, Carr has a half-sister named Maddie. The family lived in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and then New Jersey.
In 2010, Carr graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Arts. In the Spring of 2010, Carr attended FAMU in Prague in the Czech Republic.
Career
2009-2014
In the summer of 2009, Carr was an intern at Fox Searchlight Pictures, working in the public relations department. In the fall of 2009, Carr worked as a Media Assistant at the Instructional Media Center in the Communication Arts Department at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. In November 2010, she worked as an office production assistant on Lena Dunham's TV show, Girls.Carr worked as a college intern at VICE. In 2010, she got a full-time job at VICE where she worked up to an Associate Producer position for Vice Media's Motherboard, In 2011, Carr co-produced the documentary Free The Network for Motherboard. The film depicted the efforts of the Free Network Foundation to provide Occupy Wall Street protestors in Zuccotti Park with Internet connectivity.
In 2012, Carr developed Spaced Out for Motherboard. Spaced Out had twelve videos, nine of which Carr helped create. In 2013, Carr developed My Life Online for VICE ''Motherboard. Carr also produced a documentary for VICE called Click. Print. Gun. about Cody Wilson, the owner of Defense Distributed. The film shows how 3D-printing is creating new issues with gun production. The documentary won a 2014 Webby Award.
In June 2013, she left VICE for Vox Media's The Verge'' to produce long and short stories. In November 2013, Carr became a freelance director for HBO Documentary Films.
2015-2021
In 2015, Variety included Carr as one of its "10 Documakers To Watch". Carr's first documentary for HBO, Thought Crimes: The Case of the Cannibal Cop premiered at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival. The documentary received positive reviews and was a finalist for the 2016 Cinema Eye Honors in the non-fiction film for television category.In May 2017, Carr's documentary film Mommy Dead and Dearest was released. It was an official selection for SXSW, Hot Docs and DocAviv and was one of the most-watched documentaries on HBO in 2017. In 2018, Carr directed an episode of the Netflix documentary series Dirty Money called "Drug Short" which examines how big pharmaceutical companies exploit patients seeking life saving drugs. Carr made the 2018 Forbes 30 under 30 list.
In 2019, Carr's two-part HBO documentary I Love You, Now Die: The Commonwealth Vs. Michelle Carter premiered at SXSW. It was also an official selection at Hot Docs and the Montclair Film Festival. Carr's film At the Heart of Gold: Inside the USA Gymnastics Scandal, premiered at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival,
Carr directed the limited series, How to Fix a Drug Scandal, that was released on Netflix on April 1, 2020.
After the February 2021 release and public reaction to Framing Britney Spears, a New York Times presentation on FX, Bloomberg announced that Carr was working on an additional documentary to be streamed on Netflix. Carr directed and produced the documentary Britney vs Spears about the Spears family and Britney Spears's attempts to challenge her 13-year conservatorship by her father Jamie Spears and former business manager Lou M. Taylor.
2022-present
In 2023, Carr directed and produced The Ringleader: The Case of the Bling Ring.In 2024, Carr directed and produced I Am Not a Monster: The Lois Riess Murders.
Carr, along with Lena Dunham, was the executive producer of Orgasm Inc: The Story of OneTaste, released on Netflix in November 2022. The film came out to mixed reviews and controversy, including hundreds of women and men claiming that that film used their image against their consent, filing a lawsuit against Netflix to disallow the film, signing petitions, and creating viral videos protesting the violation.
In 2024, Carr served as an executive producer on Perfect Wife: The Mysterious Disappearance of Sherri Papini. In the first week of the series release, 3.6 million viewers watched the series, making it Hulu's most viewed documentary. That same year, Carr directed and produced Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara. In 2025, Carr was an executive producer on Trophy Wife: Murder on Safari.
Carr was creator and executive producer on the scripted series Murdaugh: Death in the Family starring Jason Clarke and Patricia Arquette.
Personal life
Carr lives in New York City. Carr has discussed her struggles with alcohol and becoming sober. Erin is an openly queer artist.Filmography
TV series
Numbers in directing credits refer to number of episodes.| Year | Title | Director | Executive Producer | Notes |
| 2013 | My Life Online | Documentary series | ||
| 2013 | Spaced Out | Documentary series | ||
| 2018 | Dirty Money: Drug Short | Documentary series | ||
| 2020 | How to Fix a Drug Scandal | Documentary series | ||
| 2022 | Undercurrent: The Disappearance of Kim Wall | Documentary series | ||
| 2022 | The Girl from Plainville | Scripted series | ||
| 2024 | Perfect Wife: The Mysterious Disappearance of Sherri Papini | Documentary series | ||
| 2024 | I Am Not a Monster: The Lois Riess Murders | Documentary series | ||
| 2025 | Murdaugh: Death in the Family | Scripted series; also co-creator |