Katherine Barfield
Emmy-nominated writer & producer
THINGS I LIKE
Aaron Copland's symphonies | Dave Brubeck’s Blue Rondo a la Turk | Chance the Rapper’s Coloring Book | Madeleine L’Engle’s Austin Family Chronicles | Yu & Me Books | Beverly Cleary’s Ramona Quimby | Gertrude Chandler Warner’s Boxcar Children | Tina Fey’s wit | Gustave Holst’s Planets | Broadway musicals | Personifying animals | Trees in general | Pickle Patch Bookstore | National Parks | C.S. Lewis’s sentences | Long haired mini dachshunds
ABOUT
I've been producing since I was nine years old (see picture) and had the distinct advantage of being four years older than the other kids in the neighborhood. Many poor, unsuspecting children were dragged into original musicals written by, starring, and produced by me. Our publicity campaign consisted of riding our bikes through the neighborhood yelling at parents to come to our show.
I've always wanted to "put on a show" and I've taken that attitude to every job I've had: from producing on set with reality TV, to the agency world with BBDO. I've produced commercials and digital content for: AT&T, HP, the GA Lottery, REI, and Voya. I've produced at a VFX house where my main clients were Lowe's and HBO. Recently, I was thrilled to see a dream come true as I worked as a development coordinator for Pixel & Pebble, a development company specializing in the kids' market. I spent many dreamy days coming up with show ideas with my co-workers to pitch to buyers. After that, I stayed on the kids' media track - moving to Noggin (under Paramount) where I had the honor of producing the Emmy-nominated series "Rhymes Through Times," original music by Christopher Jackson. I also had the pleasure of working on several animated series for social-emotional (Pop-Up Problem Solvers), math & reading (The Noggins ABC/123), and live action series (School of Yum & Yoga Friends).
I've known storytelling is what I've wanted to do since I read my first chapter book, The Boxcar Children, and said: "yes, but what if their grandfather had never found them?" To honor that question, I am pivoting my career from producing to writing & directing. My aim is to write and direct shows for 8 to 12 year olds. I am excited for this next phase; to see the producer skills I learned as an adult meet the artistic skills I've honed since I was a child. My aim is to make work that's approved by that nine-year-old producer from all those years ago.