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Roy Samuelson proposed an event on Audio Description, which was approved by the committee.  This was co-produced by Roy, Marian Massaro, Nickie Bryar, and Bob Bergen.  Roy moderated.  This event was the catalyst for Board approval to bring these narrators into our peer group.  And, this event has been a terrific tool used to educate the industry on the need and growth of Audio Description. https://www.emmys.com/video/audio-description-how-blind-people-watch-tv

Thank you! I’m particularly honored, as this award comes from the audio description project, one of my most reliable resources and partners for years.

When I started the audio description discussion Facebook group with Kevin, I had an agenda and an admirable partner in crime: We sought to develop an accessible library of lively conversations about the nuances and strengths of audio description quality and excellence.

In the last year alone, I’ve interviewed over 100 audio description blind and sighted professionals on the “Know Your Narrator” podcast. Growth has been manifesting on all sorts of exciting fronts:

Visionaries such as Bold Blind Beauty‘s Stephanae McCoy work with my firm to produce Audio Description Awareness Day. We’re looking forward to our 3rd successful annual celebration in just 10 months time!

After 3 years and many hours of work, I can report that the premiere voice over awards SOVAS now includes 3 categories exclusively for audio description.

After hundreds of hours of meetings and proposals, most recently with the Board of Governors at the Television Academy, I’m proud to share that Audio Description Narrators are at last fully eligible for Active Voting Membership in one of the entertainment industry’s most respected bodies, the home of the Primetime Emmy Awards. And with this formal recognition of our creative contribution, we have a seat at another important table, where we can advocate for increasingly enriching diversity.

All these are the reasons why I developed Kevin’s Way: a process that will ensure all productions can guarantee a standard of Audio Description excellence upon which audiences may confidently rely.

My partners and I know that the work we have put into these initiativesis not simply to put statues on shelves. Now more than ever, diversity and inclusion are both social imperatives and business opportunities, which means there are no excuses anymore. These new opportunities for recognition strengthen both our blind community and the entertainment industry as a whole. And assuring that blind professionals are in a leadership position – this is what makes “nothing about us without us” true.

This award encourages me to continue making noise about the merits of Audio Description, and I invite you to raise your voices with me. Together we can help an industry tap into an underserved and undervalued constituency, not by treating it as an afterthought, but by respecting its creative, social, and economic value, and by demanding parity and equity on behalf of the nearly 37 Million blind and low vision Americans who deserve nothing less than the same level of creative immersion that is presently enjoyed by their sighted brothers and sisters.

Thank you again, and don’t forget to alt text any images you post. For this moment, that would be “sighted tall white guy with a black t-shirt that reads in braille “What the f….

Recipient of the 2021 ACB’s Audio Description Project Individual Achievement Award

Shout out to all of you professionals in audio description.

Excellent quality Audio Description can’t have any weak links.

Any of these could be dealbreakers:
Audio description script word choice.
Placement of those words.
Rate of words (how many words, how fast).
Emphasis of words (is it “she ate the red * APPLE * , or she ate the * RED * apple? Is it the fruit or the color of the apple?)
Intention of words (this is where the voice talent brings her skills to the table. Some call this emotion – but it’s intention – a performance craft that is active.)
Clarity of words.
Support of the story.
Casting of the voice.
The voice’s professional and ongoing training.
The placement of the audio cues.
The mix of the audio (how loud or soft it is in your ear)
How it aligns with production.
The quality control – consistency of words.
How the audio description fits in the mind of the audience.
The necessary elements of the story.
Not stepping on or interrupting the emotional silences.
Then it’s gotta travel from “cinema to streaming.”

Then it’s gotta be accessible.

So there are just 18 elements right there, and the countless of hours of training and experience and ability to deliver this on deadline.

There are more elements than these 18!

But in this example, if 17 are spectacular, and if even one of them isn’t great,

it can negatively affect your entire Audio Description experience.

Thank you to all the professionals who put in the time and care to do their part to not be the weakest link.