How Sweet the Sound

Amazing Grace, 2018.

Get thee to the movie theater now, gentle reader, to see Aretha Franklin’s concert film Amazing Grace.  To see it on the big screen is to be transported back to 1972, to the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles where Franklin recorded her Grammy-winning gospel album.  In search of authenticity that a studio recording could never achieve, Franklin brought the studio to church in every sense of the word with the support of the Southern California Community Choir, her band, and Rev. James Cleveland, one of the most renown gospel figures of the time.

2019 NYWIFT Summit: Inclusion, Equality and Safety

NYWIFT Presents “2019 NYWIFT Summit: Inclusion, Equality and Safety” at the Ford Foundation for Social Justice

Sexual Harassment Panel: Jericka Duncan, Correspondent, CBS News; Amber Tamblyn, Author, Actress, Director, TIME’S UP founder; and Leslie Silva, Actress, Photographer, TIME’S UP founder. (Not pictured: Sharyn Tejani, Director, TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund)

For the past few months, I’ve been working with NYWIFT to organize our first annual Summit for Inclusion, Equality and Safety.  Check out the press release about the June 27th event below! (all photos by John Dallas Phelps)

Doing Justice to True Crime

Death Row Stories explores the fallibility of the ultimate criminal penalty, capital punishment. Told by current and former death row inmates, each episode of Death Row Stories seeks to unravel the truth behind a different capital murder case and poses tough questions about the U.S. capital punishment system. Sundays at 8pm, ET/PT on HLN.  My episode “Body of Evidence” premieres June 30.

I directed two episodes of the series for Jigsaw Productions. This was my first foray into the true crime genre, which I’ve been following as a growing phenomenon over the past few years.  Studies show that women consume the most media about true crime.  There are many theories about why: whether it’s escapism or it’s a way to interact with our worst fears, many people are looking for reasons to why bad things happen. Death Row Stories premiered in 2014, and has since been at the forefront of true crime’s popularity exploring capital punishment in a way that’s more palatable for people who might not think they’re interested in social justice issues.

On the set of “Death Row Stories” for CNN.

Food Oscars!

Samin Nosrat accepts the James Beard Media Award for “Best Television Program on Location” on behalf of the Salt Fat Acid Heat team. April 2019.

We won a James Beard Media Award for Salt Fat Acid Heat, our four-part documentary series on Netflix!  Coming from the food community means a lot.

I am thrilled, honored, humbled, and happy for everyone who gave so much of themselves to make this beautiful show.

Thank you for watching, and thank you for loving it as much as we do!

Women Making History Month

Happy Women’s History Month!

This year Mellini Kantayya and I focus on women making history in our series for New York Women in Film & Television.  Check out these inspirational women!

 

Ai-Ling Lee.  (Photo credit: Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Ai-Ling Lee: first Asian woman to be nominated for an Academy Award for sound editing for her work in “La La Land.”  She was nominated again this year for “First Man.”

 

“Ask for what you want because sometimes people may not be aware of what you are capable of.”

 

 

Ruth E. Carter.  (Photo credit: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

Ruth E. Carter: first African American woman to win an Academy Award for costume design for her work in “Black Panther.”

“Women still have to fight to show people that we know what we’re doing. That change is still in the works, but at least there’s more of us.”

Rachel Morrison.  (Photo Credit: rachelmorrison.com)

Rachel Morrison: first woman nominated for an Academy Award for cinematography.

“I try to see what is at the heart of the story and the character at a given moment, and let story and emotion be the factors that inform the technique.”

 

Jessie Maple.

And back by popular demand…

Jessie Maple: filmmaker, director, editor, producer, writer, cinematographer, and pioneer.

Maple is the first black woman to join the union of International Photographers of Motion Picture & Television (IATSE) in New York.

“You can’t stop progress. You can hold it up for a minute, but you can’t stop it.”

NYWIFT Muse Awards

2018 Muse Honorees: Ellen Burstyn, Tricia Brock, Maysoon Zayid, Sarah Jessica Parker, Lisa Nishimura. Photo by Flor Blake Photography

For 38 years,  New York Women in Film and Television has organized the Muse Awards annual gala holiday luncheon to celebrate women of vision and achievement.  And each year, remarkable and accomplished women are honored with this prestigious award.

Backstage lineup: NYWIFT Board Members Margarita Sophia Cortes, Rachel Watanabe-Batton, and KOK with honoree Lisa Nishimura of Netflix. Photo by Rowena Husbands

It was my great pleasure to accompany one of the honorees, Lisa Nishimura, Netflix VP of Original Documentary and Comedy.  With the success of “Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat” on Netflix, this was a full circle moment for me.  We hadn’t yet met when I greeted Lisa at the entrance, and her first words to me were “Congratulations on the show!”  What a classy lady.  Also attending on behalf of Netflix was Zana Lawrence, who played a big role in our series as an EP.

The Art of Directing and Running a Show

UPDATE: Thank you to everyone who came out last month to hear Annetta Marion and me talk about show running and directing. We had a blast sharing our stories with you.  Thank you New York Women in Film and Television for supporting women calling the shots!  Special thanks to Roz Murphy and Duana Butler for organizing the event at such a lovely space.

KOK and Annetta Marion, October 25, 2018. Photo: Katrina Medoff

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This Thursday, October 25, I’ll be speaking with my friend and colleague Annetta Marion about directing and show running for nonfiction television.  For more information, see below.  It’s nearly sold out!

This intimate conversation between director/showrunner Annetta Marion and director/producer Kathryn O’Kane will highlight the unique roles and creative inspirations of directors and showrunners who bring stories to life on screen.  The discussion will give a behind ­the­ scenes look at the craft of filmmaking, explore culture and creativity in their body of work, as well as allow these producers to share their passions for the work, both on and off the screen.

Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat Press!

Special thank you to everyone who is watching!  We are thrilled with the amount of positive press.  Here is a small sampling which I am continuing to update…

Food Glorious Food

Becoming the Showrunner of a Netflix Food Series

Host Samin Nosrat and DP Luke McCoubrey. Liguria, Italy. 2018.

When I was 13 years old, part of my allowance came from preparing dinner for the family once a week.  This corresponded to my mother returning to work that same year, so it helped her to have a night off.  I loved it, in part because it meant that I didn’t have to do the dishes, a loathsome duty for the rest of the week.  That summer I also had a steady babysitting gig. The oppressiveness of Tidewater heat and humidity made it impossible to stay outside for very long, so the kid and I were often cooped up indoors with the AC on and the shades drawn. But the mother had a stack of Southern Living magazines filled with beautiful photos of recipes both traditional and fancy.  From those each week I’d develop the menu and add ingredients to my father’s grocery list, which he bought without question. My mother remembers the first dinner – meatloaf roulade with a swirl of broccoli and cheese.  Armed with Jacques Pepin’s step-by-step illustrated cookbook, La Technique, I tried my hand at choux pastry, and voilà, my first cream puff swans were born.

#SummerHours Books to Read

Photo by Bridgette Mathews

This summer Mellini Kantanyya and I returned to #SummerHours, a series about fun books, movies, and television shows by or about women.  The series is running all summer long on the New York Women in Film and Television blog.  Below are excerpts of my book picks, which are memoirs of NYWIFT Muse honorees.  You can click on the links to read the full postings.  Be sure to check out Mellini’s picks in her category “BingeWatch-Worthy Comedy Picks.”