Katy Garretson facts for kids

Kathleen Garretson (born May 15, 1963) is an American director and producer for television. She also hosts a podcast. Katy, as she is often known, has directed episodes of many popular TV shows. These include funny sitcoms like Frasier, 2 Broke Girls, and Fuller House. She even directed the final episode of the first season of the new Punky Brewster show in 2021. Besides directing, she also produced the Garage Sale Mystery movies for the Hallmark Channel. In 2012, she received a special award called the Frank Capra Lifetime Achievement Award from the Directors Guild of America (DGA). Katy also hosted a popular podcast called "Mojo Girl Madness."

Early Life and Education

Kathleen Garretson was born on May 15, 1963, in Nuremberg, West Germany. Her father was a Captain in the U.S. Air Force and was stationed there. Her parents were John Thomas Garretson and Elinor Van Haltern.

Katy went to the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles. She earned two degrees there: one in Journalism and another in Business Communications. While at USC, she was part of the Delta Delta Delta sorority. She was also a talented member of the USC Speech & Debate Team, winning awards for her skills. Her interest in the film industry began when she worked as a tour guide at Universal Studios during college.

A Career in Television

Katy Garretson has had a long and exciting career in the entertainment world. She is not only a TV director but also teaches directing at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts.

Starting in the Industry

After graduating from USC, Katy worked briefly as a production assistant. She then joined the Directors Guild of America (DGA) training program. This program helps people learn how to become directors. After two years of training, she became a full member of the DGA as an assistant director. In her first few years, Katy worked mostly on TV movies and feature films. Some of the movies she helped with include Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Clifford, and Switch.

Directing Popular TV Shows

Katy continued working as an assistant director on TV movies, feature films, and commercials for several years. Then, she was hired as an assistant director for the famous sitcom Frasier. She slowly started to direct more and more. Her first time directing an episode was during Frasier's sixth season. She was even nominated for a Directors Guild of America Award for "Best Comedy Director of 1999" for her very first directing job! She kept directing episodes of Frasier until the show ended in 2004.

Katy has directed many other TV shows too. Some of these include:

• The new Punky Brewster reboot for Peacock
• Carol's Second Act with Patricia Heaton
• Broke with Pauley Perrette
• The Cool Kids
• Alexa & Katie
• Fuller House
• 2 Broke Girls
• The Odd Couple
• One Big Happy
• Young & Hungry
• Sullivan & Son
• Titus
• Reba
• Girlfriends
• George Lopez
• Freddie
• One on One
• True Jackson, VP
• The animated series Sid the Science Kid

Awards and Leadership Roles

In January 2012, Katy Garretson received a very special honor: the Frank Capra Lifetime Achievement Award from the DGA. She was the 26th person to get this award since the Guild started. Director Michael Apted presented the award to her.

Katy has been very active in the Directors Guild of America. She served on their National Board and was the Council Chair for three terms. She also worked on many committees. Currently, she helps the DGA as a member of several important committees, including the PAC Leadership Committee and the Frank Capra Award Committee.

Work Beyond Directing

From early 2012 to 2014, Katy took a break from directing. During this time, she served as the CEO and Executive Director of a non-profit organization called the I Have A Dream Foundation - Los Angeles. She had been a mentor and volunteer with this group for many years. She was asked to help rebuild and improve the foundation, which she successfully did by the end of 2014. After this, Katy returned to her creative work in film and television.

Katy is also a television producer. In 2011-2012, she found and helped develop a TV movie called Garage Sale Mystery for the Hallmark Channel. This movie, which aired in September 2013, was a huge success and broke many viewing records for the channel. Because it was so popular, Hallmark decided to create a series of "mystery movies" led by new Garage Sale Mysteries. Fifteen Garage Sale Mysteries movies aired. More were planned, but the series was stopped by Hallmark due to issues with the star of the show.

Katy has always been involved with the Directors Guild of America and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. She often speaks on panels and at seminars. She has also taught classes on directing sitcoms at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. She is a guest speaker for courses at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, where she now teaches a graduate course on directing, and at UCLA. Katy also stays active as an alumna of USC, supporting the university and being a big fan of USC Trojan Football.

Filmography

Film Roles

Television Roles