In the early 1990s in Paris, with journalist Patrice Barrat, Spencer developed the innovative "Vis à Vis" series: transcontinental two-way video dialogues linking people ‘face to face’ from their homes and workplaces using videoconference technology. Recorded over a period of a week, then edited into 15 one-hour programs for European broadcasters. The "Vis à Vis" format was later used as a model for many trans-border, cross-cultural exchanges. Working with producer Steven Lawrence, three programs were created for PBS, including "Beyond the Veil" in 1997, which connected a schoolteacher in Tehran with her counterpart in Washington D.C. – the first independent Iranian-US media co-production after the hostage crisis in 1979.