With respect to Anne Vasquez, Executive Director of the Television Academy Foundation: she’s led newsrooms, digital teams, and nonprofits-all with one goal: make a real impact and open doors for others. She helped win a Pulitzer, led strategy for major media orgs, and now brings that same clarity and drive to shaping the future of television.
Television's New Ground Floor
You’ve probably heard it a dozen times: “television is changing faster than we can keep up.” That word “churn” is now more than making butter: Platforms shift. Audiences move. New tech emerges.
Twelve new AI platforms just launched since you started reading this (I know, such speculative conjecture, based on anecdotal experiences; you get my point though, yeah?)
For aspiring creators to stepping into the studio or their ring lights, those in the writer’s room, the editing bay, real or virutal… that old playbook doesn’t always apply.
I remember a moment in an audio description project where a sighted producer asked if blind audiences could “get” the joke. It wasn’t disrespectful. It was unfamiliarity. So we walked through how timing, tone, and clarity in description helps make the joke land, no ‘splaining needed. That storytelling moment had nothing to do with compliance. And it totally shifted their perspective.
That’s why I paid attention to the Television Academy Foundation’s strategic plan.
It does something institutions rarely do: it admits the old language doesn’t work anymore.
The Foundation looked at its mission and asked: are we actually clear about who we serve and how? Their answer was “no.” So they rewrote the script.
The result is a sharp refocus on emerging professionals, access, and relevance.
build better partnerships to reach more people and make a bigger impact.
Let’s get specific.
Three Specific Moves You Can Steal From Their Blueprint
Here’s what the Foundation’s clarity looks like when you translate it into action.
1. Rethink “Access” As Emotional Permission.
The Foundation uses access as the word that defines their future. That word needs texture. Access means feeling like you belong before you have the credits. Before you know the lingo. Before you believe you’re allowed in the room.
In my work with blind audiences, access means more than just hearing what happens on screen. It’s trust. That trust in the script bringing the most important visuals to life, and the performance of the script recognizes the audience, and speaks to what they care about, and how they connect with the story.
When you ask yourself: What am I doing that builds emotional permission for someone newer than me to show up? Something shifts, opens up, and brings that connection to the story. Here’s one example of a filmmaker and what she’s doing:
2. Mentorship Becomes An Operating System
The plan emphasizes mentorship and alumni networking. And that results in more than just a coffee chat or a panel. It brings visibility. Of return texts. Of pulling someone into a meeting early so they see how the sausage gets made. Of nudging their name into a hiring convo they’re not in yet.
If you’re a producer, director, narrator, or editor: you don’t have to mentor everyone. Just one. Consistently. That’s the shift. Scott Galloway talks about this in his new book “Notes On Being A Man”
3. Define Your “Television” Based On Behavior
The Foundation asked a sharp question: What is television now? Their answer spans YouTube, TikTok, Twitch, streaming, and more.
Television is any shared screen experience shaped by story. If you’re designing audio description, that means describing in rhythm with jump cuts on TikTok as much as slow burns on prestige dramas. You need to scale, and you need range.
If you’re an actor, creator, or access consultant, this is permission to specialize. To treat formats not as limits, but instruments.
Where Your Contribution Becomes The Industry's Advantage
The plan points to this: inclusion means creating in ways that reflect everyone in the room, not just letting them in.
I coach voice actors on how to perform audio description that holds space for emotion. Not overexplaining. Not flattening. But matching the mood so blind audiences get to feel the moment.
That nuance is a craft. And it’s teachable. But only if the industry values it. Strategic plans can name inclusion. Professionals make it feel inevitable.
One Question For Your Week:
What's one thing you'll do this week that makes someone else feel like they belong here?
Because access is a decision. And the future of television depends on how we make that decision show up, moment to moment, voice to voice.