Katherine Brooks facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Katherine Brooks
|
|
|---|---|
Brooks in 2010
|
|
| Born |
Sara Katherine Hill
March 15, 1976 Covington, Louisiana, U.S.
|
| Occupation | Writer, film director |
Katherine Brooks (born March 15, 1976) is an American film writer and director. She is a member of the Directors Guild of America, a Jury Member for Samsung Fresh-Films 2007 (the largest teen filmmaking program in the USA), and the recipient of the LACE Award for Arts and Entertainment. In 2011, she was named one of the "Amazing Gay Women in Showbiz" by POWER UP.
Contents
Early life
At the age of 16, Brooks ran away from her small town home in Louisiana to pursue a career in television and film. She slept in her car in the parking lot of a Hollywood motel.
Career
Brooks has directed 21 television shows, as well as written and directed 10 films. Her film and television credits include three seasons of the Emmy Award-winning show The Osbournes, Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica, and MTV's groundbreaking The Real World. While associated with MTV, she helmed several of the network's reality series, including There and Back, Meet the Barkers and The Simple Life.
Brooks moved into directing feature films after making her short films Finding Kate and Dear Emily.
Brooks' first feature film, Loving Annabelle, starred Erin Kelly, Diane Gaidry, and Kevin McCarthy. It debuted at the prestigious Cinequest Film Festival in 2006. The film won the Audience Award and Best Actress Award at Outfest. In addition, Loving Annabelle won Best Feature Film at the Melbourne Film Festival (2006), Barcelona Film Festival (2006), Atlanta Film Festival (2006), and the Jury Award at Paris Cinema Festival (2006).
Brooks wrote her second feature, the indie thriller Waking Madison, in New Orleans, a film which starred Sarah Roemer (Disturbia), Elisabeth Shue, Will Patton, Frances Conroy, and Taryn Manning. Her documentary Face 2 Face appeared on Netflix in 2013. She served as a Field Producer on National Geographic Presents: Impact with Gal Gadot, produced by Gal Gadot.
Her most recent work is Lost in Time (2018), starring Jill Hennessy.
Personal life
Brooks is a spokesperson for PETA and a practicing Buddhist. Brooks lives in New Orleans, Louisiana. Brooks is a lesbian.
Films
Finding Kate
In 2004, Erin Kelly and Brooks made an experimental short film called Finding Kate. The short film was part of a series called Virgin Memoirs, a compilation that narrated the "first-time" experiences of women.
A young Kelly plays 17-year-old Kate at a wedding reception. When she sees Victoria (Jessica Lancaster), she quickly drops her boyfriend's hand to go and talk to her cousin. The two flirt and end up in the pool together, their eyes dancing until they begin to kiss.
Dear Emily
Sara is going to visit her high school friend Emily. On her journey there, she recalls her last experience with her teenage crush, remembering a letter she wrote to Emily—a letter confessing her love for her. Following a painful flashback to Emily's mocking of Sara, after she reads the note, she decides to keep on driving to her destination. Dear Emily was funded by EVEO.com after Brooks won a pitch contest for her feature film, Loving Annabelle. Despite being given only 6 weeks from conception to completion, and just $1,000 to make it, the film, to date, has made back over 500% of its profit.
Loving Annabelle
The film was summed up by Variety magazine as a "Guilty Pleasure", and has won numerous awards on the festival circuit, including the Outfest Award for Best Actress, and the Outfest Award for the Audience Choice. The film sat in the top five list of videos rented by lesbians according to Wolfe Video's website. It is recommended by 100% of readers on scene-OUT.com and is ranked on the bestseller's list in its category on Amazon.
Waking Madison
Waking Madison is the story of a young woman's battle with mental illness.
As part of research for the topic, Brooks locked herself up for 30 days and underwent the same process as the character Madison. Waking Madison was shot on location in New Orleans in Winter 2007.
Face 2 Face
Brooks completed a documentary with the director doing a three-month summer trip around the country, meeting 50 of her Facebook friends who said yes when she posed the question as her status, "Who would like to spend a day with me and I'll come visit you". The idea was born after the director had surgery, and despite having 4700 friends on Facebook, stated that she felt alone.
Filmography
Features
- Lost In Time (2017)
- The Boys Club (pre-production)
- Face 2 Face (2012)
- Waking Madison (2009)
- Loving Annabelle (2006)
- Surrender (2003)
Short films
- Finding Kate (2004)
- Dear Emily (2001)
- Luna Butterflys (2000)
- Outtakes (1998)
Television
- There & Back: Ashley Parker Angel (TV series) (2006)
- My Own (TV series) (2006)
- Meet the Barkers (TV series) (2005)
- Love is in the Heir (TV series) (2004)
- He's a Lady (TV series) (2004)
- Wanna Come In? (TV series) (2004)
- The Simple Life 2: Road Trip (TV series) (2004)
- Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica (TV series) (2003)
- The Real World: San Diego (TV series) (2003)
- The Osbournes (TV series) (2002)
- The Complex (TV series) (2002)
- Sexcetera (TV series) (1998)
See also
- List of female film and television directors
- List of lesbian filmmakers
- List of LGBT-related films directed by women
