“I’d like to thank the Academy.”
That’s how I opened my presentation at the Television Academy last week, and the room laughed. I understood why. It sounded like a joke.
But I meant it sincerely.
I was there to present the research our organization, the Jewish Institute for Television and Cinema (JITC) Hollywood Bureau, did with the Norman Lear Center on Jewish television representation and our studio Jewish fact sheet, to a packed room of entertainment professionals. The event was hosted by the newly formed Television Academy Jewish Affinity Group. As I stood there, I couldn’t help but think back to the first time we attended a Television Academy event after launching the JITC Hollywood Bureau in late 2021.
It was the Academy’s first Inclusion Summit in the fall of 2022, just a couple of weeks after Kanye West’s “death con 3 on Jewish people” comment. Our Hollywood Bureau was less than a year old, and I was still learning how to bring this work into rooms where Jewish concerns were not typically part of the conversation.
During one session, panelists discussed many marginalized groups in Hollywood and how to tackle DEI issues across the studios and elsewhere in the industry, but failed to mention Jews even once. They closed with a simple and striking question: “Did we forget anything?”
My heart started pounding. I knew the answer, but saying it out loud in a room full of diversity and inclusion professionals felt daunting. Still, I also knew that this was exactly why we had created the JITC Hollywood Bureau: to say the uncomfortable things that needed to be said, out loud, and to the stakeholders who needed to hear them.
So I picked up the microphone and told the room, respectfully but clearly, that they had forgotten the Jews. I shared that I was sitting at an inclusion summit as a Jew and feeling invisible. I spoke about the fear and alienation so many Jewish people were experiencing, including my own son who cried to me the year before (after learning about attacks that were happening to Jews) saying that he wished he had not been born into a group that faced so much hate.
Afterward, Jewish attendees came up to me, one after another. They were there in support of other marginalized groups. They told me they had been feeling the same thing, but were too afraid to advocate for themselves. Advocating for others was somehow easier.
It wasn’t just the Jews who were moved. Many people in the room responded with openness and generosity. What could have been a painful reminder of exclusion became the beginning of something more hopeful.
A Black producer at ABC told me my story about my son echoed her own, underscoring how we all must uplift one another because we all face similar hate.
And to the Television Academy’s credit, they listened.
They began including Jewish people in conversations around diversity and inclusion at the next summit, including featuring a presentation by Reboot Studios. They added Jews to their diversity listings. They incorporated Jewish identity into a demographic study of Hollywood, something no other entertainment organization had done before and that will be pivotal to further studies of Jewish representation in the industry and continued change to support our stories and Jewish professionals.
From there, the work grew. We helped Jewish creatives create support mechanisms within several professional organizations. We partnered with the Norman Lear Center’s Media Impact Project to conduct the most extensive study on Jewish television representation in 25 years, giving us real data that proves our case for change.
That is why returning to the Television Academy in 2026 felt so meaningful.
Three and a half years ago, I took a risk speaking up to explain why Jewish inclusion mattered. This time, I walked into a room filled with entertainment professionals who had organized, mobilized and were ready to engage with credible data about how Jews appear, and often do not appear, on screen.
That is real progress.
There is no question that the Jewish community is facing an extraordinarily painful moment. The bad news can feel relentless. Antisemitism is rising. Jewish people often feel isolated in cultural spaces, professional spaces and even in places devoted to inclusion.
But there are also moments of hope worth recognizing.
There is growing unity. There is growing courage. There is growing pride. And there are more people, Jewish and not Jewish, who understand that better representation matters because stories shape how communities are seen, understood and treated.
The work is not finished. It is only beginning. But this week at the Television Academy reminded me that change can happen when people are willing to speak honestly, listen carefully, and build together.
Three and a half years ago, I stood up and said, “You forgot the Jews.”
This week, I got to stand in that same institution and say thank you.
And that feels like a full-circle moment worth celebrating.
Allison Josephs is an award-winning writer, director, producer and the founder and executive director of Jewish Institute for Television & Cinema (JITC) Hollywood Bureau, the only group that advocates for better Jewish representation in the entertainment industry.
