Greg Berlanti talks about the power of faith and honors his late mother as he accepts the TV Academy's 2024 Governors Award

Prolific writer, director and producer Greg Berlanti spoke about his personal journey and lifelong love of television at the 2024 Governors Award ceremony at the Emmy Awards.

“I wanted to be part of television before I even knew how it was possible,” said the 52-year-old showrunner, one of the youngest individual award winners, in his emotional speech. “So many Gen-X kids in the '70s and '80s, the only color TV our family could afford was on 24/7 in our house, and I watched it all and loved it all.”

Berlanti used this childhood experience as inspiration for the logo of his company, Berlanti Production.

“There weren't many gay characters on TV at the time, and I was a gay boy who didn't come out. It's hard to describe how lonely that was back then,” Berlanti continued. “There was no internet to connect with other gay kids, …