Katy Garretson

Kathleen Elizabeth Garretson is an American television director, producer and podcaster. Garretson has directed episodes of the sitcoms Frasier, 2 Broke Girls, Fuller House and the season one finale of the Punky Brewster reboot in 2021, among others, as well as producing Hallmark's Garage Sale Mystery movies. She received the Frank Capra Lifetime Achievement Award from the Directors Guild of America (DGA) in 2012. Garretson also hosted the hit podcast "Mojo Girl Madness."

Early life Kathleen Garretson was born in Nuremberg, West Germany, where her father, a Captain in the U.S. Air Force, was stationed. Her parents were John Thomas Garretson, of Tucson, Arizona, where he earned his business degree from the University of Arizona, and Elinor Van Haltern, from Dallas, Texas, and a graduate of Southern Methodist University (SMU). Garretson is a graduate of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, earning degrees in both Journalism and Business Communications. At USC, Garretson was a member of the Delta Delta Delta sorority, and was an award-winning member of the USC Speech & Debate Team. She became interested in the film industry while working at her college job as a tour guide at Universal Studios.

Career A TV director and a professor of directing at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, Garretson has had a long career in entertainment. Following graduation from the University of Southern California, and a brief run as a production assistant and stand-in, Garretson was accepted into the Directors Guild of America training program. Following a two-year trainee period, she then fully joined the DGA as an assistant director. During her first few years as a DGA member, Garretson worked mainly on made-for-TV films and feature films. Her credits include the feature films Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Clifford, Switch and The Specialist.

Garretson continued to work as an assistant director on "movies of the week", features and commercials for several years, until she was hired to be an assistant director on the sitcom Frasier. She slowly segued out of being an AD on "single-camera" productions as her credit list on "multi-camera" shows grew. Garretson then made her directorial debut during Frasier's sixth season. She was nominated for a Directors Guild of America Award for "Best Comedy Director of 1999" for her first directing assignment. She continued to direct episodes of Frasier until the show's end in 2004. Her other directing credits 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 and the animated series Sid the Science Kid.

In January 2012, Garretson was awarded the Frank Capra Lifetime Achievement Award from the DGA. She was the 26th recipient of this award since the Guild was founded, and it was presented to her by director Michael Apted. Garretson served as an Associate National Board member and three-term Council Chair at the DGA, and on numerous guild committees. She currently serves the Directors Guild of America as a member of the PAC Leadership Committee, the Frank Capra Award Committee, and the Western Directors Council Ethics Committee.

Garretson took a three-year hiatus from directing from early-2012 through 2014 to serve as the CEO/Executive Director of the non-profit I Have A Dream Foundation - Los Angeles. She had been a mentor and volunteer with the organization for many years, and was asked to oversee a rebuilding and revitalization of the foundation. This was accomplished by the end of 2014, and Garretson returned to her creative roots in film and television production.

Garretson is also a television producer, and in 2011-12, found, developed and was the supervising producer on a TV movie, Garage Sale Mystery, for Hallmark Channel. This movie, which aired in September 2013, broke nearly every ratings record for the Hallmark Channel, and in March 2014, Hallmark announced it would re-brand its movie channel to be the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries Channel, and would have a "wheel" of mystery movies led by new Garage Sale Mysteries. Fifteen Garage Sale Mysteries have aired and four new ones were scheduled to air in August, 2019, however midway through shooting of the seventeenth GSM, the star was indicted in the college admissions scandal and the movie series was cancelled by Hallmark.

Garretson has long been active in the Directors Guild of America and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, speaking on numerous panels and seminars. She has also taught classes on sitcom directing at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles and has been a guest speaker for multiple courses at both the USC School of Cinematic Arts, where she now teaches a graduate course on directing, and the Screenwriting Program at UCLA. Additionally, Garretson has remained active as an alumna of USC. She served on the inaugural Alumni Board of Directors for the Annenberg School of Journalism and Communications, and is a booster and avid fan of USC Trojan Football.

Filmography Film Year Title Role Note(s) 1988 Cop Stand-In 1989 Black Rain DGA Trainee 1991 Switch Second Assistant Director Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country 1994 Clifford Double Dragon The Message Producer Short 2008 Arctic: Change at the Top of the World Writer/Producer

Television Year Title Role Note(s)1989 Third Degree Burn DGA Trainee TV movie L.A. Law 2 episodes 1990 Columbo Second Assistant Director 3 episodes1992 Dear John Episode: "Poor John: Part 1" Bob Episode: "Mad Dog Returns" 1992-93 Love & War 2 episodes 1993 Rio Shannon TV movie 1994-2004 Frasier First Assistant Director/Second Assistant Director/Director/Voice of "Computer" 204 episodes 1995 Kidnapped: In the Line of Duty Second Assistant Director TV movie Hudson Street Episode: "Pilot" The Pursit of Happiness First Assistant Director Episode: "Pilot"1996 Lush Life Episode: "Pilot" Pearl Episode: "Pilot"1998 Encore! Encore! Episode: "Pilot" Better Days Episode: "Pilot" 1999 Love & Money Episode: "Pilot" 2000 Welcome to New York Episode: "Pilot"2002 Titus Director Episode: "The Visit" In-Laws First Assistant Director Episode: "Pilot" Bram & Alice Episode: "Pilot" Reba Director 3 episodes 2003-05 Girlfriends 5 episodes 2003-06 One on One 3 episodes 2003 The Pitts Episode: "Squarewolves" Still Standing Episode: "Still the Bad Parents" Wanda at Large Episode: "They Shoot Reporters"2005 The Bad Girls Club Episode: "The Guide to in and Out" Love, Inc. 2 episodes 2006 Cuts Episode: "The Love Below" Living with Fran Episode: "The Whole Clan with Fran" Freddie 4 episodes George Lopez 2 episodes 2007 Lovebites 2 episodes 2008-2015 Sid the Science Kid 42 episodes 2008 Rita Rocks 2 episodes 2009 True Jackson, VP 2 episodes 2011 Shake It Up Episode: "Heat It Up" 2013 Garage Sale Mystery Producer TV movie2014 Sullivan & Son Director Episode: "You, Me, and Gary" Garage Sale Mystery: All That Glitters Producer TV movie2015 One Big Happy Director Episode: "A Tale of Two Hubbies" Young & Hungry 5 episodes Garage Sale Mystery: The Deadly Room Producer TV movie Garage Sale Mystery: The Wedding Dress TV movie2016 2 Broke Girls Director 4 episodes The Odd Couple 2 episodes Fuller House 5 episodes Garage Sale Mystery: Guilty Until Proven Innocent Producer TV movie Garage Sale Mystery: The Novel Murders TV movie 2017-18 School of Rock Director 3 episodes 2017 Garage Sale Mystery: The Art of Murder Producer TV movie Garage Sale Mystery: The Beach Murder TV movie Garage Sale Mystery: Murder by Text TV movie Garage Sale Mystery: Murder Most Mediveal TV movie Garage Sale Mystery: A Case of Murder TV movie 2018 Alexa & Katie Director 3 episodes Living Biblically Episode: "Thou Shalt Not Covet" Garage Sale Mystery: Pandora's Box Producer TV movie Garage Sale Mystery: The Mask Murder TV movie Garage Sale Mystery: Picture a Murder TV movie Garage Sale Mystery: Murder In D Minor TV movie 2018-19 The Cool Kids Director 2 episodes 2019 Cousins for Life 2 episodes Garage Sale Mystery: Searched & Seized Producer TV movie Carol's Second Act Director Episode: "Therapy Dogs" 2020 Broke 2 episodes