Faculty
Sarah Cawley is a NY-based cinematographer who splits her time between features and television, having shot both series and pilot episodes for Netflix, Amazon Studios, AMC, CBS, NBC, and Comedy Central. Recent credits include the feature film ‘Where to Land’ (2024) starring Edie Falco and Robert Burke and AMC limited series ‘The Terror: Devil in Silver’ (2024) starring Dan Stevens and Stephen Root.
During her tenure as DP on the show “Manifest,” the series broke Nielsen’s streaming ratings record by surpassing 1 billion minutes viewed for six consecutive weeks and became a #1 hit for Netflix, breaking viewing records and becoming one of Netflix’s weekly top 10 most-watched English-language TV series a record 25 times.
In addition to an array of contemporary narratives, Cawley photographed the historic period piece “Salem” for the WGN/Tribune network, which won multiple awards and launched original programming for WGN/Tribune network with a record-breaking 1.5 million viewers for the show’s debut. Other television credits include “Ugly Betty” (ABC), “Harlan Coben’s Shelter” (MGM International/Amazon), “Golden Boy” (CBS), “Ringer” (CW) and many others.
She has shot eight feature films, including two for director Hal Hartley (“Fay Grim” and Where to Land”) and two for Richard Shepard (“Mexico City” and “Oxygen”), and has numerous documentary, unscripted, commercial, and music video credits.
Her narrative work in features and television earned her a place on Variety’s annual selective list of ’10 Cinematographers to Watch.’ In addition to Variety, her work has received favorable press and reviews in American Cinematographer magazine, British Cinematographer, the Los Angeles Times, and the Hollywood Reporter.
Her cinematography projects have taken her to international destinations including Russia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Mongolia, Thailand, Malaysia, Venezuela, Cuba, Germany, France, Belgium, the United Kingdom, and Turkey.
A distance runner and triathlete, Cawley was an architectural lighting designer at Kugler Tillotson Associates in Manhattan before committing to cinematography as a career. She is represented by United Talent Agency.