Kaye Kittrell won the 2017 award for Best Reality Series with her urban garden web series 'Late Bloomer' at Vancouver Web Fest 2017.

 'Late Bloomer' exists to inspire people to grow their own food. It premiered on Earth Day, April 22nd, 2012, and is in its fifth season with 100 episodes on YouTube. An accompanying vlog began a year ago.

'Late Bloomer' won Best Edutainment Series at the Miami Web Fest 2015, and was nominated for Best Reality Series three years in a row at Vancouver Web Fest, Canada’s premiere digital festival.

'Late Bloomer' was an Official Selection at Sicily Web Fest 2016 and is an Official Selection at Die Seriale in Germany in June. Check out Kaye's fundraising campaign.

Interview by Michaela von Schweinitz

Janet, you’ve been a member of the Writers Guild for 25 years. What’s the low down of last weeks development that keeps us all in suspense?

Before we took the strike authorization vote, what we were asking for was 1/3 of 1% of the 51 Billion Dollars in profits that companies made last year, record profits. One third of one percent of that to be spread over three years. Record profits. Remember these are Hollywood profits, so these are profits they couldn’t hide. What they offered was 1/25 of 1% of the 51 Billion that they made in profits last year to be spread over three years. That’s the gap that has to close this week. If it closes sufficiently we don’t strike. If it doesn't close sufficiently then 96.3 percent of us said we will strike. And we will.

Just in time before a possible writer’s strike you signed a contract?

That was an option on a script already written. So they can go forward with that historical drama around the 1960 Kennedy-Nixon Debates on election and make offers to directors and to stars. It started to go out to some movie stars. Also, we are executive producers on that. We’ll be involved as producers. We’re also EP'd over the last year a little Indie shot in Hawaii. It’s in post right now. It’s called ‘Jo’ and it’s set about a hundred years ago on a coffee plantation in Hawaii, so it’s taking us into a world of what we’ve really never seen. It’s a world of extreme racial prejudice. The star is a young man who is half white, half asian, so nobody would talk to him because of that. He is shunned, he is an outcast, and he falls in love with the daughter of the plantation owner. It gets complicated.

How did you get involved?

We have actually seen the script, we were asked to look at the script. It was structurally a mess but it had moments that were so lyrical and so beautiful, we’re like, we want to see those moments on the screen. We got involved, we helped sort of shepherd the script through several drafts. Wonderful to give notes and have them taken and see it all come together. We’re waiting to see the rough cut at any moment. And we can sort of comment on editors notes as producers, that’s not a writer task. We can work as producers, but no, we can not write, we can not meet, we can not do any writerly duties during the strike. And again: maybe there will not be a strike. And if the studios make the right offer before the contract ends, there will not be a strike. They make an acceptable offer, no strike.

How much of your writing for Hollywood is business versus creative work?

That’s a great question. I’ve talked to actors who say their job is not to act, their job is to audition. Acting is the payoff they would get if they audition well. I think in many ways it takes longer, you put in more time trying to get a job or sell something than actually creating it. Much longer. And you can spend two years trying to sell something, going through various permutations of it and then have it go nowhere. You can also spend that time writing something and have it go nowhere but at least you have something to show for that time. I write with a partner. It generally takes us anywhere from three to nine month to write a script, depending on the project, how difficult it is. Some are just harder to write than others.

Do you have a particular strategy?

There are really two paths that we try to be pursuing simultaneously. We’ll have things that we are pitching. Right now we out pitching a serialized legal drama. So we’re holding our breath with the strike because they’re places we're supposed to go with it and we don’t know if we are. We’ll talk to our producers next week, depending on if we are on strike or not, to see how we are proceeding. That’s something we’ve been out pitching, we continue to go out pitching, where we have the preliminary deal but we’re looking for the deal where it is set up. That’s one kind.

Click here to read the entire interview with Janet Scott Batchler

You've seen the ads. You've read the emails. Produced By 2017 is playing host to everyone from Queen Sugar producers Oprah Winfrey and Ava DuVernay, to Netflix content chief Ted Sarandos, to the directors of two of the signature films of the past year, Damien Chazelle (La La Land) and Jordan Peele (Get Out). Finally, this year's conference closes for the first time with the Producers Mashup, a tremendous new mentoring initiative that will put you face-to-face with top producers and development execs.

Obviously, you're going, right?

If you haven't yet registered for Produced By 2017, this is the moment. Prices go up after Monday, May 1, for both general admission and industry/student rates. So register today.

Wherever you are in your profession, whatever format or medium you work in - or whatever format you're hoping to transition to - Produced By will help you take your career to the next level. It's the only conference created by producers, for producers, and it sells out every year. If you're going to go, you may as well go for less money, right?

Make the most of your budget, and register for Produced By 2017 by May 1 to lock in your discount. Just click on www.producedbyconference.com to register. We'll see you on the 20th Century Fox Studios lot on June 10 and 11!

Come watch AWD member Justine Raczkiewicz's directorial debut screen at the IFS Film festival. 'Waste' has screened as shorts showcases sponsored by WIF and AWD, as well as at the Atlanta, Vail, Rincon, Minneapolis, Newport Beach and Beverly Hills film festivals. 

'Waste' is an absurdist short about extreme foodiesm, love, the dangers of consumption and unsatiated curiosity. Roger lives a grim and detached life, picking up medical waste for a living, but looks forward to his evening conversations with his quirky roommate and foodie, Olive. But as the meals become increasingly strange, and push the limits of curiosity, Roger must ask himself how far he will go for love?

Local 600 and Alliance of Women Directors

Sunday, May 7, 2017 from 3 PM - 6:30 PM

Please join us for a panel and cocktail mixer in this collaboration between Local 600 and the Alliance of Women Directors. Our panel of female Directors and female Directors of Photography will discuss the relationship between Director and DP from prep to post and the challenges working women continue to face on set and beyond. 

Panelists:
Directors of Photography Amy Vincent and Lisa Wiegand
Directors Mary Lou Belli and Stacey K. Black*
Moderator: Wendy Calhoun

Wine and hors d'oeuvres will be served after the panel discussion.
For questions and RSVP's please contact Kate Rees Davies.

*Panelist subject to change based on availability.

One of the greatest challenges of filmmaking is finding the right crew, but once you do, they often stick with you for life. This class will provide advice about different ways to find a great crew, even at the last minute, and keep them happy so they keep coming back when you call.

We'll talk about crafty, organization, morale and all the other elements that don't always find their way to the priority list but make a huge difference in the mood on set.