Starting this fall, you can add UCLA professor to her ever-growing list of titles.
Emmy winner, actress, entrepreneur, and KeyTV founder Keke Palmer is teaming with UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television on a new five-year artist-in-residence collaboration. Titled “From Blocking to Broadcast,” the initiative launches during the 2026-27 academic year and will see Palmer leading quarterly workshops on campus covering pitching, distribution strategy, business ownership, career sustainability, and personal brand development.
Central to the partnership is Palmer’s digital media platform, KeyTV, which she founded in 2021 and launched in November 2022. The platform, whose productions are 100% BIPOC-creator-led, has already produced 29 original projects and recently introduced KeyTV Days at Special Academy, a six-week immersion program for young creatives from underrepresented communities. Through the residency, KeyTV will distribute a minimum of three student projects annually and provide students with hands-on experience in packaging, marketing, and digital audience engagement.
Beginning in the 2027-28 academic year, TFT students will develop and produce original multimedia projects through a fully sponsored studio course, mentored by Palmer and guided by faculty. Project formats may include video podcasts, television pilots, music videos, and musical or dance theater.
“UCLA TFT is a place where artists learn to be in practice, to experience trial and error, to take projects off the page,” Palmer said. “That is also the mission of KeyTV. We know that education is key to democratizing opportunities and I am eager to both learn from and support UCLA TFT students.”
Dean Celine Parreñas Shimizu echoed the significance of the moment. “Bringing an artist of Keke’s caliber into the spaces where our students are learning to develop their stories will inspire them to see and believe what is possible when you are willing to work hard and are committed to educating and uplifting one another.”
Palmer, who currently stars in the Peacock comedy The ‘Burbs and can be seen in theaters in Boots Riley’s I Love Boosters, has been steadily building KeyTV alongside her performance career. The residency makes official what has long been clear: she is just as committed to opening doors as she is to walking through them.