Monday, June 16, 2008

Lights, Camera, Picketts !!!

There's a reporter in my living room.
As some of you have heard (and maybe seen)the IBKC had a couple of visitors last week. Our local NBC station, King 5 stopped by to film a little segment on the blog and kitties for Evening Magazine.

The news was exciting at first, but then as it got closer to the shoot, the reality of it all set in, and the excitement turned to nervousness.

The Picketts can be real 'fraidy cats at times. Often big things or big noises will send them scattering. I feared most of the footage shot that morning would be of me, trying to fish a kitten out from behind the sofa with a feather wand. Fortunately, the kittens proved me wrong.

The Picketts were right in the middle of their post-breakfast rumble when the crew arrived. The timing couldn't of been better. They were too busy to be scared, so they just played and played while the camera man set up all the lights and camera and started filming their antics. They were bouncing all over the place, chasing their toys, wrestling, and pouncing on each other. I don't think they could of been cuter if they tried.

filming the floofiness

Charlene was tucked away upstairs. She's loving to the kitties, but she doesn't always take kindly to strangers. I didn't want the camera man to capture her taking any swipes at the reporter on film, so she stayed upstairs until things were winding down, then I let her join us.

She sauntered into the middle of the living room and rolled on her back, all four paws up. She paused for a moment, stretched, then rolled onto her side. Lovell dropped what he was doing and ran over to her. She flung her arm over him and pinned him down for bath. Next, Twyla joined them and it turned into a cleaning, purring fest. The reported shouted "mic the cat!", so they did. They only recorded a few purrs before Charlene decided to take a bite out of the microphone. It looked like a cat toy,, tiny plastic thing on the end of a cord,,any cat could make such a mistake.

I have to say, Charlene really stole the show. I was hoping that this touching, funny, moment would of made it into the segment, but these fifteen minutes of fame belonged to the kittens, not her.

The timing of the feature is really good. The Humane Society is bursting with kittens right now. Hopefully this exposure will inspire some others to try fostering.

If you didn't happen to catch it live, you can see the Evening Magazine segment here.

Is there anything you would like to add to the story, Ruth Anne?

53 comments:

  1. Ruth Anne looks so darling as she stares up at Saint.

    I wouldn't be surprise if you announced he was going home with a kitten...he looked pretty comfortable with the gang :-)

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  2. Its great to see the Picketts actually moving!!

    So Twyla got a new home to goto then???

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  3. fyi,,, they got the story wrong,, twyla is the one who hasn't found a home yet,, not ruth anne.

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  4. Just too cute - gotta love all the noise they were making and little Ruth Anne looked precious starring into the camera. Lovell looked so sophisticated on the couch at the end.

    Ruth Anne's run is particularly funny. It's good the camera crew caught them at their busiest.

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  5. Ah OK - Thanks Laurie I'm sure Twyla will have a good home soom even though I wish it was with me!

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  6. What great coverage! Chanter, the kittens are doing exactly what Laurie describes, bouncing and playing and wrestling all over the place. Seeing them in action with people is a reminder of how tiny they actually are.

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  7. When are the Pickets going to be giving paw-tographs?

    What a complete delight to see all of them romping and playing. Lovell - what a camera hog! He was like the bystander you see whenever there is a camera on the street, trying to get himself on film.

    Laurie, you gave a great interview!

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  8. Laurie - you are wonderful. And the kittens too.

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  9. It's so fun to see them playing! It's really too bad that Charlene's contributions to fostering weren't featured, though.

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  10. It's fantastic to see how you take the pics, and a larger view of the backgrounds we've seen before. BTW, I love your place.

    The Picketts were, of course, insanely adorable. I expected no less, from the wonderful pics we've been seeing all along. I hope the shelter is flooded with calls for adoptions!

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  11. Loved the whole thing, but especially loved actually seeing Laurie!

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  12. OK, I'm out of the loop here -- is there somewhere to go to see this footage, from somewhere ELSE (like on our innertubes here in south-central Wiscsonsin?) But the pictures are adorable, and it must have been delicious all around!

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  13. Laurie you are amazing! What great publicity. You are wonderful at fostering and masterful with the publicity. I hope I can find some adoptive parents soon. The Berries will be going to the S.P.O.T. (Stop Pet Overpopulation Today)clinic on July 14th but we'd all sleep better knowing their families are waiting. Especially since the nursery has been taken over by a new South American bunch..mama Brazil and her little ones Chili, Peru, and Bolivia.

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  14. OMG! That was the cutest thing ever.

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  15. I love the last photograph... the kitten's looking right at the guy!

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  16. dale-harriet, look right above the last picture. There is an orange link titled "here". You can see the full report...there.

    BTW....the reporter's name is Saint Bryan???? What were his parents thinking? LOL!

    Laurie...love the report, loved getting to see the kitties in action, great to see you "in person" and your beautiful home.

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  17. Absolutely Love it!It is so great to see the Picketts jumping,bouncing,pouncing... around..that is soooo cute.Thanks Laurie for doing such a great job and hope many people will be more responsible when adopting an animal.. Your house must be so much fun..The interview and video is great..Thanks for sharing it with all of us -- Jeanne

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  18. I'll bet Saint Bryan has family in Virginia. I know lots of "Saints" and lots of "Bryans", most of them related to each other. Here in Richmond VA we just expect that sort of thing. Great name!

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  19. To anyone in the Seattle viewing area who missed it yesterday, Evening Magazine repeats at 2 p.m. on KONG Channel 6.

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  20. So cute. I hope Twyla gets her a home from this segment. :) You do good work, Laurie.

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  21. I died 10 billion times from cute overload after watching this video!

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  22. Aww! What a great piece! I wish they had flashed the blog website at the bottom of the screen though, or that for the humane society (such as, if you are interested in learning more about fostering kittens... go here!)

    Plus Charlene would have been a fabulous poster-princess for fostering! I wonder if there's any way to get the extra footage left on the editing floor? :-)

    I do wish they had gotten the the kitten that needed the home right, though... it would have been great publicity for Twyla to make a little "mew" for a home. But Ruth Ann was very, very adorable. All of them were cute and so playful!

    Great work, Laurie, for continued publicizing of the fostering program.

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  23. That was wonderful! Thank you for sharing it with us.

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  24. How fantastic! I love how they married the light-hearted kitty play with the need for more foster families and the pet overpopulation issues. What terrific way to raise awareness.(Of course, incredibly adorable too.)

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  25. so great! I can only hope that because they misspelled your last name and mixed up Twyla and Ruth Anne that the Humane Society stat from last summer was an error, too... so sad. Thanks for everything you do to help find homes for the little guys.

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  26. Well even tho' the news folks may have mixed up some of the info (as news crews ALWAYS do), it is still GREAT that the information about kitties needing homes got out there. It all works toward educating people and getting them to adopt, foster, spay or neuter. Dear Animal Guardians Laurie, Kim, Tacoma SPCA staff, Craig and so on and so on - congratulations! You are really making such a big difference in this world. Thank you , thank you, thank you.

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  27. This was wonderful, wonderful, wonderful! (Even with the Twyla/Ruth Anne mixup!) Hope it boosts interest in the Tacoma Humane Society and fostering programs in general!

    Making it even better, we got the chance to see Laurie and the kittens in actiom!!!!

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  28. I confess. I've watched this video about ten times. Fess up! How many times have ya'll each watched it?

    Laurie - I keep trying to figure out which one is the squeaky one when the whole pile is wrestling. Do they play hiss and mew when they are wrestling - or is one more vocal than the rest?

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  29. Laurie

    This was fantastic! Thank you for opening your door to the TV crew, thus generating great publicity for the plight of homeless kitties everywhere. Evening Magazine, produced locally in Seattle, is part of a consortium of similarly named programs around the country. I believe that they all contribute stories to a pool that can be dipped into by any of the shows, so the IBKC may be getting some national attention. It was great to see the kitties, yes, and Laurie, it was terrific to finally
    'meet' you.
    This has been a sad time for many of us with the news about Tim Russet,and of the people facing floods and tornadoes in the midwest - it has helped me tremendously to be able to watch the kittens and switch my mind to fun thoughts.
    Twyla, your new parents are out there! Just you wait (and it won't be long!

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  30. awen, I've only watched it 3 times so far, but that won't be the end of it.

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  31. i confess, i've watched it about 6 times now **sheepish grin**

    can't get enough of the picketts in action.

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  32. Laurie:

    It was SO awesome to see the Kitties (and you!) in action! I hope it brings more foster families to take care of more IBK!

    Purry Hugs,

    Robin

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  33. Oh they are UTTERLY ADORABLE (but we knew that)!
    Laurie, three cheers and congrats on getting the best kitty publicity going. Our shelter is in the middle of Kitten Season, too, and I lose my heart 15 times every time I'm working the afternoon... Oh heck, more than 15 times, I'll confess. What great coverage for the blog _and_ the Pickettses :)

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  34. It was great to see your video! I enjoy the daily posts from way over in Georgia...and think you're doing a great service for all of the adorable kitties in Washington. My kitties, Barney and Theo, say thanks.

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  35. They're painfully adorable, but I wanted to see Charlene in action! She sounds like such a sweetie. And Beautiful Beulah too! Oh well, I guess the story isn't about them so much as the IBKs.

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  36. Great piece. But it's sad to hear about the 1000 kitties who had to be put down in one county alone. I don't want to THINK about how many that could be nationwide (FYI don't tell me, this is one instance I'd rather remain ignorant).

    I'm not worried about how the blog URL wasn't posted. I don't think it would fit and if you google "itty bitty kitty committee" the first result is this blog. I hope all your kitties find homes soon. Ideally in pairs so they can be together. My parents once had a sibling pair and they were very happy.

    Myself, I made a promise to myself to only adopt adult kitties and give them a second chance for a happy home.

    Keep up the good work!

    JasonInIllinois

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  37. Congrats Laurie! That must have been so exciting - and such great exposure for the IBKC! Yay!

    Sarah O. text messaged me last night telling me that you were on the news, but I missed her text until late last night so I was happy to see your post today.

    The kitties were so cute and funny on video...I would have loved to have seen the footage of Charlene too!

    -Sarah

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  38. Awwww. *meeelts* Those tiny little mews! I'm in love all over again. And it's so true, you don't need television when you have kittens!

    Publicity for homeless kitties is a wonderful thing, and who better than the IBKC cats and humans? *applauds*

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  39. I bet that was such a fun assignment for the whole TV crew.

    Bah! If my living situation allowed a second cat, I'd snap up Twyla in a nanosecond. My girl is a tortie too, they'd be a match from heaven.

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  40. P.S. - Laurie, what do you think of asking the TV people for some of the footage they shot of Charlene? Or do they scrap it as soon as the segment is done?

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  41. That's the best news story I've ever seen :-D

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  42. I work in TV and HATE it when people mess things up (makes us all look bad!)... I so wish that they had gotten most of the story right. BUT it's great that they even did the story in the first place and have people thinking about all the wonderful things that you and your "group" do. I always think that one bit of info is better than nothing at all.
    I know where I work, we bend over backwards to get the video that people ask out to them. Worth a try, right?
    BRAVO kitties, you look so, so, so wonderful. It makes me want new babies, but alas, I don't have the time... not to mention I would become "that cat lady".
    Anyway, back to you.
    CONGRATUALTIONS
    YOU ARE WONDERFUL
    EVERYTHING YOU DO IS GREAT!

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  43. OK, color me "dense"; had I but clicked on "Evening News" I'd have gotten to see the film along with the rest of you (smarter) folks! But I HAVE seen it now...about 4 times, but I have to go to bed. I'll watch again in the morning. Oh yeah - also, what *they* said!

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  44. Oh that was BRILLIANT!
    Thank you so much for including the link, it was so great to see "our babies" all the way over here in Australia.
    It was great also to see them in their home with you ... thanks for doing that Laurie ... I hope it really encourages people to adopt all the babies that need adopting.

    thanks again for all the hard work ALL the Itty Bitty Kitty Committee do, you guys are TOPS!

    Jenny in Australia

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  45. Laurie, I sent a thank you for the piece to the TV station, and also thanked them for allowing internet viewing with out downloading a special player. I'm very proud of you and now that your through your first TV spot it will get easier. The nerves won't go away, but you get used to it. The crews usually are excellent at making those they interview look good. And they know their target audience. They usually talk to you as they set up and may get a slightly different angle to show in their piece. It was a filler piece but I did suggest that the crew check back as new groups come through and maybe get a bit on Charlene. (I'd use my blogger name but they upgraded and my account is lost)

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  46. Anomymous who sent a thank you note to the television station--what a GREAT idea! If we all do that, it might encourage them to run more pieces like this.

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  47. Wow, the kittens were adorable and such great footage! I must add that Laurie looked quite striking!!! Way to go IBKC! From Roosevelt and Mabel in Iowa!

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  48. Yay! The kitties and Laurie were both adorable!

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  49. These little ones are adorable. It would be nice if every kitten was so fortunate as to be loved and cared for in a home.

    Keep up the good work!

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  50. OOoooh Dey is wittle... Dids Twyla gets a home yet?

    Bootsie Woo and Katie Too

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  51. I'm so impressed with all of your performances! If I were a casting director for kitten chow commercials, I'd have a tough time deciding who has the most screen appeal. And Laurie, ya did good.

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  52. Congratulations on the recognition, you totally deserve it!

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  53. They are all so adorable...thanks for posting the link!

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