What is the core mission of your company and the types of content you specialize in?

Our mission is to support and connect the world’s nonfiction filmmakers, journalists, and organizations using video to inform and inspire audiences everywhere. We firmly believe that true stories change the world!

What’s one part of the video and television industry you would change and why?

We need a change in how we reach — and think about reaching — the audiences we serve. I firmly believe that filmmakers, journalists, and all video storytellers are quite literally culture makers. Our world is what it is because of the stories we see — and tell. Meanwhile, there are SO MANY amazing stories that haven’t been seen by or aren’t accessible to the audiences that *should* see them, because there’s such a big disconnect in how we distribute content. Social media can be amazing, and YouTube is democratizing everything; but the curation and “findability” aspects of content is also missing. In sum, we need a change in how we reach people in a deep way, because we all know that Netflix and Hulu aren’t the answer for most. Very much actively marinating on this.

How does your organization approach collaboration in your process, either with your membership, other creative teams, or your clients?

We like to call Video Consortium a “radical collaborator” in that we believe that collaboration and partnership is the only way forward. 110% for it!

How can people join or learn more about what you do?

Go to videoconsortium.org/join and apply to join our amazing and talented network of 5500+ nonfiction filmmakers and video journalists! Also, come join us for an upcoming local gathering in a city near you and meet great people — it’s a really inspiring and unique community of brilliant creatives, all working hard to push our industry forward.

How do you balance artistic vision and business demands when creating content?

I *created* content for the first decade of my career, at The New Yorker and at NBC, and making a blurred transition over the past five years into *facilitating* content (which I’ve been doing full-time for the past four) has, honestly, been a dream. Of course, building an organization, whether it’s a for-profit or a nonprofit, is really, really hard… but my favorite part is getting to learn new things every day, in the biggest way. There’s also so much creativity involved in designing programs and creating and tweaking infrastructure to support different dynamics and goals, business logistics and all. To boot, we’re a global organization, so the biggest props to our staff and community organizers for continuing to support our members who’re in the US while also working hard to bend and morph things to meet the needs of our members in Europe, Africa, LatAm, and Asia. It’s definitely a work in progress — but a very thrilling and gratifying one. The balance is good!