Video/Action Founder and President Robin Smith is an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker with 30 years of experience. A graduate of Ohio University (BFA '72) and Boston University (MS '78), her first documentary was a story about her MIA father, a Marine Corps pilot shot down over Vietnam. CBS News bought rights to the film and she began her producing career first with Charles Kuralt on CBS Sunday Morning (1978-1985) and later with Roger Mudd and Connie Chung at NBC News on American Almanac and 1986 (1985-1987).
In 1990, Robin established Video/Action as a nonprofit production company to produce educational television and multimedia programs on issues affecting women and at-risk children. Under her direction, Video/Action has completed more than 200 productions. Her work has been featured in film festivals and on CBS, NBC, ABC, PBS, FOX, BET and The Learning Channel. She has been honored with an array of awards, including a CPB Gold Award for Excellence in Documentary Television Programming, Audience Choice Award for Best Documentary, Capital Region Emmy Awards, CINE Golden Eagles, Telly Awards, Auroras, Omnis, and ITVA’s Distinguished Achievement Award.
An active member of Women in Film and Video, Robin served as president of the Washington, D.C. chapter and received its prestigious Woman of Vision award. She was named a 2003 Distinguished Alum in the School of Fine Arts at Ohio University and received the University’s Medal of Merit in 2006.
Robin is married to CBS News White House correspondent, Bill Plante. In 1995, they journeyed into the jungles of Southeast Asia to visit the crash site where Robin lost her father. Their personal odyssey was shared with a national audience on CBS News Eye To Eye and is the subject of a photo essay by Dick Swanson.
Lynnette Jackson joined Video/Action in February 2007 and is our Production Manager.
Lynnette began her career in 1993 at Professional Video Services (PVS) in the Accounting Department. Always interested in the day-to-day operations of the company, Lynnette transitioned from staff accountant to a post production project specialist. When PVS closed, she joined Georgetown Post as controller.
Lynnette became a certified make-up artist for TV Tape & Film in 2000 and has done make-up for Tony Brown’s Journal, the longest national public affairs show on public television, as well as a number of satellite media tours and small productions.
Andrea Palombella is a producer and has been at Video/Action since January 2011. She has produced several productions for the Office for Victims of Crime, including the 2012 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week theme video, as well as their 2011 and 2012 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week tribute award videos. In addition, she produced “Service, Support & Justice” an awareness and training project on victim-centered service for the International Association of Chiefs of Police. Andrea is currently working on a seven-chapter awareness series on serving children exposed to violence for the Office for Victims of Crime. She also serves as a board member with WIFV (Women and Film and Video) DC.
Andrea previously worked in Chicago at MATTER, Edelman Sports and Entertainment Marketing. While there, she helped shape innovative media content as part of a client’s sponsorship of the Sundance Film Festival and Sundance Channel, wrote a branded online video series, conducted traditional public relations services, and crafted media concepts for some 20 new business pitches.
She is also a board member of Traffick Free, an organization working to combat all forms of human trafficking in Chicago and beyond. Andrea previously co-founded and directed Traffick Free and used media and open-source activism to engage the local public about the existence of human trafficking throughout the city and to provide tangible action steps for both individuals and groups seeking to impact the issue.
She has written, directed and produced short-form content for various non-profit organizations, including: A Better Life for Kids, Traffick Free, Tigerlily Foundation, Park Community Church and Invisible Conflicts. Andrea graduated magna cum laude from Loyola University Chicago with a B.A. in International Film and Media Studies and a minor in International Studies.
Producer Dylan Comstock is an award-winning producer with over fifteen years of experience in filmmaking and still photography, including two years with video/action. A graduate of the University of Virginia with a BA with High Distinction in Psychology and a minor in Philosophy, Dylan is our lead producer on Dismantling the School to Prison Pipeline, an issue awareness project being done in collaboration with the National Education Association, the American Federation of Teachers, Schott Foundation for Public Education, and Advancement Project.
Shortly after joining the video/action production team, Dylan wrote and directed three issue awareness shorts for the Office for Victims of Crime, including What is the Office for Victims of Crime?, What is the Crime Victims Fund?, and If You Are A Victim of Crime, Help is Available. He has produced many of the tribute videos featured at the National Crime Victims’ Service Awards Ceremony, an annual event in Washington, D.C. hosted by the Attorney General. His most recent release is Strength. Resilience. Justice., a high-profile video illustrating the theme of the 2017 National Crime Victims’ Right Week.
Dylan was recognized by the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts for a series of short films in 2004, the same year he began his career working on the documentary Public Memory: A Film About American Memorials. It was an experience that galvanized Dylan’s drive as a social justice-minded visual artist. Following work on the west coast with Clive Barker, Paramount Pictures and the Los Angeles Film Festival, Dylan has since focused on documenting compelling stories and elevating voices of the unfrequently heard.