The ADNA

I’m honored and delighted to join ADTrainingRetreats.com team of audio description professionals at the Leadership Exchange in Arts and Disability (LEAD®). The Kennedy Center’s focus on this conference provides ongoing learning, support, camaraderie, and motivation for accessibility in cultural venues. What a perfect alignment with the great team at ADTR. Plus it’s a first for many of us to be together as humans and not multiple screens, emails, phone calls, and shared documents. (Bonus: in person, there are hugs and matching branded T-shirts.) From presenting again at a comics conference last weekend with a surfer, magician, and audiobook producer, to an art and culture access conference this week with talented AD pros from so much media, I’m feeling charged up and renewed. Thanks Colleen Connor from one of your kids for bringing us together to share explore learn and grow. Bridget Melton Melissa Hope Matt Lauterbach Susannah Mars I Voice Actor Adrienne Livingston Liz Gutman Louise Victor

It's an exciting week for us at Descriptive Video Works. The Olympics are nearly upon us and over the coming weeks we will be providing over 550 hours of live AD for NBC Sports and CBC Sports. We have an amazing team of nine describers who will be working round the clock to bring new levels of accessibility to Olympic broadcasts. Shout out to Norma Jean Wick, Tony Ambrogio, Darren Polish, Brandon Ross, Jeff Heck and Ethan Ransom who will be our NBC team working with the incredible Monica Downer and her team. Our CBC team will feature Lori Wilson, Sarah Mennell and Chris Beaulieu. With deep gratitude to Lori Samuels and Sarah Duda for all your support. Check out the coverage and let us know your thoughts. #DescribeEverything #LiveAD #a11y

It's an exciting week for us at Descriptive Video Works. The Olympics are nearly upon us and over the coming weeks we will be providing over 550 hours of live AD for NBC Sports and CBC Sports. We have an amazing team of nine describers who will be working round the clock to bring new levels of accessibility to Olympic broadcasts. Shout out to Norma Jean Wick, Tony Ambrogio, Darren Polish, Brandon Ross, Jeff Heck and Ethan Ransom who will be our NBC team working with the incredible Monica Downer and her team. Our CBC team will feature Lori Wilson, Sarah Mennell and Chris Beaulieu. With deep gratitude to Lori Samuels and Sarah Duda for all your support. Check out the coverage and let us know your thoughts. #DescribeEverything #LiveAD #a11y

With the sensitivity pass completed on my book, its pre-order will be available soon. It's exciting to share my anticipation of this book release with my colleagues, both inside and outside of audio description for film and tv. And for more on AD, this podcast is SO enjoyable - the Twenty Thousand Hertz team know how to weave a very sound 😏 story. https://lnkd.in/gF6NYdVQ (Link ID: a dark-skinned couple on a sofa smile and look in awe, eating popcorn. One wears a headset. Behind them, high rises: a Godzilla spits fire, swatting planes with its tail)

I rarely talk about the projects I've worked on with AD. I'm sharing this to illustrate the impact of AD when writing, engineering, and performing come together. Crediting the various people involved means something! John (Mac The Movie Guy) has likely watched so many audio description titles, that this brings home the importance of credits within AD. Congrats to James Mason and the team at Point360. It's an honor to work on this, and to have yet another reason why quality matters. https://lnkd.in/g8mZNsQp "...I’m grateful this project has audio description by Roy Samuelson. He does something truly great in the end credits, with an obvious pregnant pause that really brings home the meat of what he just said. the track, in general, was exceptional. James Mason wrote a terrific script for Samuelson to read, and Point 360 made sure it sounded excellent. I’ve heard so many poorly mixed and balanced tracks now that I no longer take that for granted."

I like seeing changes happening in film and TV audio description. When I first started reaching out about my own audio description performance, I faced rejections from organizations, particularly since, at the time, they were solely focused on AD writing and how voicing was not important, let alone casting, engineering, or quality control. I’ve seen how that’s changed in including professionals of all kinds, blind, sighted, and under represented groups. I love how many are now able to showcase their work and bring more opportunities for those who have not gotten them before. That’s one of the many reasons why The ADNA was formed – to celebrate the credits of those who work in tv and film AD. With the ongoing successes of the annual Audio Description Gala, I trust that maybe this year the people who actually created audio description entertainment – the quality control, the writers, the performers, and the engineers and directors – our named. It does make a difference. I originally created the Audio Description Network Alliance to give credit to the numerous talented and skilled individuals who work in all aspects of film and tv audio description. I see how the culture is shifting: seeing AD professionals like Liz Gutman featured in Vulture magazine, and celebrated for her amazing work on Bridgerton. The self-promotion before the Tonys aired, that Nicole Cyrille and Bryson Carr did for their work, and including production in the AD conversation. Nefertiti Matos Olivares and her alliance with her company Descriptive Video Works in promoting her work and others, and Michele Spitz for her tireless AD efforts, showcasing the positive results of her philanthropy. Of course, Joel Snyder and his work in AD for decades. And the many more voice over talents, AD writers, and quality control specialists who do talk about their work in film and TV entertainment. Our podcast The ADNA Presents features over 200 interviews. https://lnkd.in/gaEtP2Em