Bridget interviews Roy part 1: A Voice Actor's Guide To Audio Description Performance Book
Release Date: 08/12/2025
The ADNA Presents: Darian Rodriguez Heyman: You Don’t Have To Sacrifice To Do The Right Thing
The ADNA Presents
Darian Rodriguez Heyman has spent thirty years helping mission-led organizations stop reinventing the wheel. He's the author of AI for Nonprofits, founder of Helping People Help, and someone who has thought seriously about why good intentions so often produce predictable, avoidable mistakes. What drew me to this conversation is that the gap he keeps closing, between what's available and what people actually reach for, lives in Audio Description too. We talk about the nonprofit assumption, what AI adoption actually looks like inside organizations right now, and why the accessibility sector may...
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Blind Film Critics Give the Oscars Their Own Awards
The ADNA Presents
Lee Pugsley and Alex Howard of The Dark Room watched this year's Oscar ceremony with audio description on, and they brought friends. John Stark, and the newest Blind Film Critic Society member Ren Leach, join them to hand out their own awards, debate the night's surprises and snubs, and reflect on what it actually felt like to experience the telecast as a blind audience member. They get specific. Who got named from the stage, which nominated films still don't have audio description, and what the Marlee Matlin captioning moment means for the conversation ahead. This is a cross-post from The...
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256: Joanne Levine - At Heart, A Storyteller
The ADNA Presents
Joanne Levine has spent her career making sure people who aren't physically there, could still experience what happened there. As founding head of programming for Al Jazeera English in the Americas, a producer for Nightline and ABC World News Tonight, and a Senior Advisor for Media at the State Department, she has worked across continents, cultures, and crises. She speaks multiple languages. She has reported from conflict zones and sat with world leaders. In this conversation, we talk about the craft of storytelling across formats, what it costs to translate one world for another, and what a...
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Scott McCarthy - VP Localization Dreamworks: We breathe in one language and exhale another.
The ADNA Presents
What does it take to make a joke land in a language it was never written for? How do you know when the emotional contract with an audience has held, and when has it broken? Scott McCarthy has been sitting with those questions for more than twenty years. As VP of Localization at DreamWorks Animation Television, he oversees dubbing across 30+ markets, from Shrek to preschool series to song-heavy productions, each one requiring a different set of creative partners, a different set of decisions, and a different kind of trust. In this conversation, Scott shares a description of localization work...
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J. Michael Collins
The ADNA Presents
J. Michael Collins has 30 years in voiceover, 50+ industry awards, and runs the largest voiceover conference in the world. He also still has things worth saying. In this conversation, J. Michael and Roy talk about why the voiceover industry is unusually decent, what abundance actually means in a business full of competition, and how Audio Description continues to earn its place at the table at VO Atlanta. J. Michael is candid about the cost of people-pleasing, the math of saying no, and what it looks like to take real risks in a career that spans agency work, online casting, and everything...
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Maren Garcia
The ADNA Presents
Voice actor Maren Garcia joins host Roy Samuelson to talk about how she first discovered Audio Description, and why it immediately felt personal. Maren shares the moment she was hired for a full feature film, after being found through the Disabled Voice Actors Directory, a resource built to support authentic casting. She talks candidly about vetting an unfamiliar company before saying yes, then falling in love with audio description as both craft and service. They dig into what makes audio description work when it is done well: intention, empathy, and choices that support...
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Meg Ryan -
The ADNA Presents
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251 - David Grabias "Brailled It"
The ADNA Presents
Join Roy Samuelson as he chats with Emmy-winning filmmaker David Grabias about his groundbreaking documentary "Brailled It." Grabias shares his innovative approach to incorporating audio description and working with blind filmmakers, challenging traditional views on cinema. Learn how this unique project redefines collaboration and creativity in filmmaking, and get an exclusive peek into its premiere at the Slam Dance Film Festival. Don't miss this exciting discussion that poses the thought-provoking question: 'What is blind cinema?’ If you like this podcast, please like, subscribe,...
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Story Over Sight: Rethinking Audio Description with Alison Eardley
The ADNA Presents
What happens when we stop treating audio description as an afterthought, and start treating it as storytelling? In this episode of The ADNA Presents, Roy Samuelson sits down with researcher and accessibility innovator Alison Eardley, whose work reshapes how museums understand inclusion, perception, and the power of narrative. Allison reveals why audio description guides attention, builds emotional journeys, and creates experiences where everyone belongs. SO much more than visuals. She shares how pan-disabled co-creation transforms design, why “neutrality” is a myth, and how a patch of...
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The ADNA Presents: Rebecca Odum
The ADNA Presents
Audio description is crafted, refined, and checked with extraordinary care, with thanks to quality control specialists. On this episode of The ADNA Presents, Roy Samuelson interviews Rebecca Odom, a blind audio description quality control specialist whose expertise ensures that scripts, narration, and final mixes deliver clear, authentic, and emotionally aligned storytelling. She discusses the evolving landscape of AD, the behind-the-scenes work of QC specialists, and how professionals like herself are shaping the future of accessibility in entertainment.
info_outlineTables turned! Bridget Melton sat in the host chair for The ADNA Podcast, grilling me about my new book A Voice Actor's Guide to Audio Description Performance. We dug into privilege, allyship, and why I open the book by addressing the awkward-but-important question: “Why listen to a sighted guy talk about AD?”
Bridget appreciated that the book stays laser-focused on performance for film and TV, without wandering into every other AD niche, and we explored how performers and writers can “salsa dance” between script and delivery to keep blind audiences immersed, even when the words are limited. I shared why access to visuals matters for performance, how production ownership of AD could change everything, and the surprising ripple effects of SAG Awards requiring AD on screeners.
From deft “dialogue dodging” to scene-shift signaling, from the dream of live, in-production AD collaboration to the reality of working in silos, we covered the craft, the advocacy, and the small-but-mighty ways performers can elevate the work. Bridget's thoughtful questions brought out the heart of why I do this, and why better AD is access as well as honoring the story. Bridget was one of the first to ask to interview me about my book, A Voice Actor's Guide To Audio Description Performance. Follow her at BridgetMelton.com