Audio description narrates the essential visual detail of a story, from action and expression to setting and costume, in the gaps between dialogue and sound. Done well, it disappears into the work, so a blind or low-vision audience member experiences the same story beats at the same time as everyone watching.
2 million+people in the UK live with sight loss, according to the RNIB.
43 million+people live with sight loss globally, according to the Lancet.
The commercial and legal case has never been stronger. Ofcom sets access-service quotas for UK broadcasters, and the European Accessibility Act has applied since June 2025.
10%is Ofcom's audio description target for UK TV channels.
87.5 hoursof described programming a quarter: the FCC's target for major US networks.
Streamers now expect AD as a standard deliverable, and venues increasingly programme described performances as a matter of course.
47,500+ hoursof film and TV on Netflix's US catalogue alone, according to Reelgood.
15 billion+minutes of video uploaded to YouTube every year.
That's a lot that needs describing.
The better reason is simpler. It shows every audience member you care. Description written well reflects the values of the production and the producers it serves.
EST. 2019Through Describe Studio has worked extensively across the West End and global streaming platforms.
180+productions described across film, TV, theatre and social media.
Script, voice, or both, from a reel to a series.
Every job designed to fit your platform, and post-production pipeline.
Audio description scripts and recorded narration for feature films and series, timed to the frame and delivered to the house style of your platform. Recent titles include releases on Netflix, Disney+, Amazon, Sky and NBCUniversal, and Mubi theatrical releases.
A timed script and voiced track delivered to your festival's, distributor's or platform's spec, so your short is ready for described screenings and its streaming release. Recent work includes BFI NETWORK shorts and the Edinburgh Film Festival.
The formats that don't have an access playbook yet: social video, virtual reality, web campaigns and interactive work. This is where the studio is pushing hardest. If it's visual and it's new, it can be described.
For creators and brands: Described versions of Reels, TikToks, YouTube videos and campaign films, written to the length of the format and voiced to sit with your edit, so your content reaches blind and low-vision followers too.
Live, in-venue description through the theatre's headset system, with touch tours for your patrons, from Shakespeare at the Globe to new writing at the Royal Court. 30+ productions across the West End and beyond, panto included.
Described tours, exhibition films and installation audio for cultural spaces. Recent projects include work at the British Museum, the British Library, Tate Modern and the Tower of London.
Through Describe has helped organise ongoing development training for describers with VocalEyes and the Audio Description Association, and helped facilitate AD awareness training for cultural organisations. If you need training, we can help, or point you to the right people.
We agree format, deadlines and delivery spec. You send the materials; Through Describe flags anything that needs a decision early.
We agree dates, venue and which performances are described. You send the script, recordings and rehearsal access.
We agree platforms, formats and deadlines. You send the assets; we flag where a format has no usual access route.
Through Describe views the work closely and maps the spaces between dialogue and sound where description can live.
We see the production and note the set, costume and movement that need words.
We review the content and decide how description should work in the format: voiced, written, or built into the experience.
We create a timed script drafted to your platform's style guide, choosing the visual details that matter most to the story.
We create a description script and a pre-show introduction covering set, costume and cast, ready for the audience's headsets.
Description written for the format: tight for short video, spatial and layered for virtual reality and interactive work.
Recorded narration to your audio spec, delivered in the formats your platform asks for.
We deliver live through description on the night, over the theatre's headset system, rehearsed and ready. We also run a touch tour for your patrons, allowing them a tactile navigation of the stage.
Voiced files, text or in-experience description, delivered in whatever each platform needs.
Through Describe Studio was founded by Michael Skellern to provide film-first script and voice work for features, shorts and streaming, to establish a growing specialism in social and new media, and to ensure that blind and low-vision audiences get the whole story.
Trained as a describer in 2019 with Roz Chalmers OBE and VocalEyes, the leading provider of audio description in London's West End, he's described live at the National Theatre, the Old Vic, the Royal Court, the Donmar Warehouse and Shakespeare's Globe.
Film and television is now the heart of Through Describe Studio's work: feature releases and series on Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime, Sky, NBCUniversal and Mubi.
Through Describe is particularly interested in where accessibility goes next: social media, virtual reality and the new formats that don't have an access playbook yet. Think VR experiences, social media, large scale multimedia artworks, and e-zines. If your project exists in these untrodden spaces, get in touch.
180+ productions and counting, some as a freelance describer through audio description companies.
Audio description isn't only for the big streamers. Here's how the studio works with the people making and showing the work.
If you're making a short, including through BFI NETWORK, audio description is how blind and low-vision audiences get your film in full, and it's increasingly part of delivery. One timed script, one recorded track, delivered to the spec your funder, festival or platform asks for.
Described screenings and described online programmes, from a single title to a strand. We deliver AD tracks to your venue's or platform's spec, write pre-show introductions, and can help you plan an accessible programme and tell audiences about it.
Reels, TikToks, YouTube videos and campaign films, described at the length of the format and voiced to sit with your edit. Post the described version alongside the original, or build the description into the piece.
Yes. Short films are a big part of the film work, including BFI NETWORK shorts. A short is scripted, voiced and delivered the same way as a feature: a timed description script, recorded narration, and a mix or a separate AD track to whatever spec your distributor, festival or platform asks for.
Send the running time, the deadline and where the film is going, and we'll come back with a price and a turnaround.
A described version of the film, timed to the final cut and delivered as a separate audio file or a described mix, to whatever your festival, venue or platform asks for. We can also write a short pre-show introduction for the audience.
If you're a festival looking to make a programme accessible, we can also help you plan which titles to describe and how to tell audiences about it.
Increasingly, yes. Ofcom sets access-service quotas for UK broadcasters, the European Accessibility Act has applied since June 2025, the major streamers treat AD as a standard deliverable, and funders such as the BFI expect access materials for the work they back. If your funding agreement, broadcaster or distributor's delivery schedule mentions 'access materials', 'AD' or an 'audio description track', that's what we deliver.
Yes. Reels, TikToks, YouTube videos, campaign films, VR and interactive work can all be described. For short-form video we write to the length of the format and voice to sit with your edit, so a described version can be posted alongside the original or built into it.
Every quote is based on running time, format, what you need (script, voice, or both) and the turnaround. Send the runtime and the deadline and we'll come back with a price. Shorts and social content are priced to fit smaller budgets.
Screen work is delivered remotely for productions anywhere. Live theatre description is in person, in London and at venues around the UK.
Format, timeline, delivery spec, or just the idea. If you're not sure what your project needs, that's a fine place to start too.
Need audio description awareness training rather than description itself? Get in touch anyway. If it's not something we can deliver, we'll point you to the right people.