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Otter 501 Press Kit

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Otter 501 Press Kit Otter 501 Press Kit • Film Summaries • About Otter 501 • FAQ • Bios • Contact Us • Photo Contact Sheet A Sea Studios Foundation Production Story by Mark Shelley Written and Produced by Josh Rosen Directed by Bob Talbot Executive Produced by Mark Shelley and Clint Jones Contact: Mark Shelley 831 649-5152 x201 [email protected] Sea Studios Foundation • (831) 649-5152 • www.seastudios.org Film Summaries Long Film Summary (138 words): A storm grows, a sea otter pup is separated from her mother, and a young woman bound for adventure blows in to town. On a wild, windswept beach these lives collide and an entire species’ survival gets personal. Through Katie’s eyes you will see our playful pup, otter number 501, get an amazing second chance at life in the wild. As the two learn to navigate the opportunities and risks of life without anchor we see the incredible efforts people have undertaken to return sea otters from the brink of existence. Framed against the strikingly beautiful Monterey Bay coastline, the last stronghold of these iconic animals, Katie discovers just how serious this threat remains. Their adventure, unexpected as it was, illustrates what we can do to contribute to the growing movement to protect the southern sea otter…and ourselves. Short Film Summary (108 words): A storm grows, a sea otter pup is separated from her mother, and a young woman bound for adventure blows in to town. On a windswept beach these lives collide and an entire species’ survival gets personal. Katie and our playful pup, otter number 501, learn to navigate the opportunities and risks of life without anchor while we see the incredible efforts people have undertaken to return sea otters from the brink of existence. Framed against the strikingly beautiful Monterey Bay coastline we discover just how serious this threat remains. Their adventure, unexpected as it was, illustrates what we can do to protect the southern sea otter…and ourselves. One-liner: When an adventuresome young woman discovers a sea otter pup stranded on the beach and in desperate need of a second chance, an entire species’ survival gets personal. Sea Studios Foundation • (831) 649-5152 • www.seastudios.org About Otter 501 OTTER 501 is a unique hybrid that combines elements of the classic wildlife documentary with a fictionalized drama about a young woman who learns important life lessons. Otter 501 aims to reach a broad family audience about an animal on the edge – the threatened Southern Sea Otter. In a time of doom and gloom for the environment, this is an uplifting story about the power to recover. Three elements come together to make Otter 501 unique: Innovative format: Otter 501 weaves new media directly into the fabric of a traditional feature film. Our main character Katie, an aspiring marine biologist and recent college grad, tells her story of discovery through Facebook video posts. But that’s just the surface of the project. A central Facebook presence, brought to life before the film’s release, and kept by our main character throughout the film, offers additional in-depth web videos, first person reportage, Flickr sets, geo-tagged Google Ocean components, outreach events, cross-links, and educational resources connected specifically to national informal learning organizations such as aquariums. Trans-Media distribution: a theatrical film release complimented by a novel outreach campaign that features grassroots strategies such as creative, original social media content, international outreach efforts and targeted regional-partner programs. The entire transmedia project will incorporate traditional and modern elements and be told through the semi-fictionalized personal experiences of Katie. This bright young woman lends a personal element to the project, telling the story of the incredibly charismatic southern sea otter - an at-risk but ecologically important animal - in an organic?? way throughout Otter 501. Programs for Young Women in Science and Latinos will be targeted specifically. In this way, social media and web-based digital storytelling will build a following for the film prior to its release. And these very tools will be maintained after release, creating a web-based hub to follow the story of California sea otters’ survival as it unfolds. National partnerships: Otter 501 has been developed partnership with the national most prominent aquariums and marine conservation institutions. With major additional funding from the National Science Foundation and The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and others, the project has been able to add the extensive educational outreach and social media components. A production of Sea Studios Foundation, Otter 501 was brought to life by Clint Jones, one incredibly dedicated volunteer at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. After retiring from his dermatology practice in Louisiana, Clint moved to Carmel, California and began volunteering at the aquarium. Taken by the sea otters on exhibit, he noticed that visitors were also immediately attracted to their antics, energy, and cute looks. He felt that people couldn’t help but be drawn into a film about sea otters and the story they have to tell, particularly as he learned more about their precarious existence. Clint approached Sea Studios Foundation with the idea and agreed to finance the film. Sea Studios Foundation • (831) 649-5152 • www.seastudios.org FAQ Why Katie? The story of Otter 501, and the story of the southern sea otter in fact, would be difficult to tell in the absence of humans – people have been both the cause of the population roller coaster this species has experienced as well as the cause for it’s current upturn. Katie engages us in Otter 501’s incredible recovery, humanizes the troubled history of this species, brings enthusiasm to the complexities of sea otter science and shows us where a common hope lies. In addition, Katie’s life parallels the discoveries and challenges little Otter 501 faces. By weaving these two coming-of-age narratives together, a task that strays from the terra firma of traditional natural history filmmaking, Sea Studios will reach a greater audience with an inspiringly simple message – in youth there is a chance to begin again. Why Are Sea Otters Unique? Sea otters have a number of unique adaptations to their environment. Because they need to stay warm in cold water, sea otters have incredibly high metabolisms, eating an average of 25% of an individual’s body weight in food a day. Additionally, sea otters have the thickest fur on the planet, with over a million hairs per square inch in places. This thick fur prevents water from touching their skin, which is critical since, unlike most other marine mammals, sea otters do not have a layer of blubber to keep warm. Despite this fact sea otters spend almost all of their time in the water, including while they are giving birth and resting, making them more fully aquatic than many other marine mammals. Sea otters are one of the most recently evolved marine mammals having made the evolutionary move from land approximately 5 million years ago. Nearly all of their closest relatives live primarily on land, build dens and have no anal scent glands – all characteristics that are common to the mustelid family. Sea otters are the second largest member of this family, though sea otters are the second smallest marine mammal. How Are Sea Otters Like Us? Sea otters are highly intelligent animals that behave in interesting and complex ways. For instance, sea otters are one of the few animals that have developed the ability to use tools – individuals often carry around a tool to assist during a feeding bout. Sea otters also have complex social behaviors, commonly setting hierarchies, learning behaviors from one another and engaging in familiar behaviors like grooming, wrestling and begging. In addition, sea otter pups are born virtually helpless and require a strong commitment from their mothers while they learn what it takes to survive in a harsh environment. Sea otters even eat some foods that humans enjoy such as crab, clams and mussels. Where Do Sea Otters Live? In spring 2010 southern sea otters were found to range between Gaviota State Park in northern Santa Barbara County, California to Pigeon Point in San Mateo County, California. There are 3 subspecies of sea otters, the other two living in Russia and the Pacific west coast between Alaska and Oregon. Sea Studios Foundation • (831) 649-5152 • www.seastudios.org How Many Southern Sea Otters Are in the Wild? As of spring 2010 there were over 2,700 southern sea otters. This number has been growing slowly over the past decades but has begun to decline in recent years. How Do Sea Otters Tell Us About the Health of the Ocean? Sea otters live very close to the physiological limits of a mammal and depend on robust, healthy ecosystems to survive. As an “indicator species”, the health of the sea otter population reflects the health of the nearshore ecosystems they inhabit. How Do Sea Otters Help Nearshore Ecosystems Stay Healthy? Sea otters are considered a “keystone species” – animals that have a disproportionately large effect on the ecosystems they inhabit. Without sea otters, it has been shown that herbivorous animals such as purple urchins can proliferate, potentially overgrazing huge areas of complex habitat. By eating these herbivorous animals sea otters keep the entire ecosystem balanced. What is Preventing Sea Otters From Recovering? There is no “smoking gun” as to why the southern sea otter population isn’t recovering as quickly as scientists estimate it could. However, what is certain is that sea otters live close to the physiological limits of a mammal and, as a result, are very sensitive to their environment. If there is not enough food sea otters may switch to less nutritious food sources or they could starve very quickly.
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