Student from Washington DC Selected as Television Academy Fellow

Galen Foote, of Washington, D.C., has been selected for the Television Academy Foundation’s prestigious Summer Fellows Program. Foote is one of just 50 students chosen by Television Academy members from across the country for the 2021 program.

Foote is currently a graduate student at Stony Brook University in New York working towards his Master of Fine Arts in television writing. He will be a Comedy Writing Fellow this summer through the Television Academy Foundation’s program.

He attended Georgetown Day School in Washington, D.C.

“I feel incredibly grateful to have been chosen for the fellowship and am honored that Television Academy members saw potential in my writing and application materials,” said Foote. “The opportunity to learn from the best and brightest in television, while making connections with like-minded peers with similar career aspirations, feels like the ideal launching pad for working in television.”

“I developed an appreciation for writing and storytelling from my parents,” said Foote. “My mom, who wrote for National Geographic when I was growing up, spent torturous hours helping me turn simple school essays into the best, most creative versions of themselves. Meanwhile, at the dinner table, my dad would regale us with enchanting stories and ridiculous accents. Later, in college, I participated in a simulated writers’ room and discovered television writing as a form of storytelling perfect for my creative, analytical, and collaborative instincts. I haven’t been able to shake it since.”

“When I was thirteen, my father suffered a stroke that left him disabled and suffering from a condition called aphasia, which limits his ability to clearly communicate his thoughts,” said Foote. “It was an incredibly difficult situation for my family and taught me what a delicate gift language is. It also gave me a perspective I carry into my writing to this day: in life, as with film, the things that aren’t said, that can’t be said, are just as powerful as those that are. Despite his disability, my dad is one of the funniest, most irreverent guys I know, and I aspire to create characters on screen like him. I hope this fellowship brings me one step closer to realizing that goal.”

Typically, the Television Academy Foundation’s annual Internship Program provides 50 internships, at top Hollywood studios and production companies, to college students nationwide every summer. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Television Academy Foundation has had to re-imagine its internship program this year offering the 50 students selected from across the country the chance to either intern remotely or enroll as a Summer Fellow.

The Summer Fellows Program includes virtual one-on-one visits with professionals in a student’s field of study, online panels with leaders in the television industry, and customized seminars covering personal brand building and navigating the job market ahead. Fellows also become life-long members of the Foundation’s alumni family giving them access to events and networking opportunities as they build their careers in the industry.