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. Sea otters are exposed to a number of pathogens through their food, pathogens that are often linked to land-based pollution. Malnutrition and illness can make sea otters more vulnerable to other threats such as the stresses of rearing a pup, mating, direct competition with other otters, disturbances during rest times and attacks from people or sharks. In addition, the threat of a major oil spill such as that from the Exxon Valdez in 1989 still looms along the California Coast.

What Can People Do To Help Sea Otters? Join our community of people who want to protect sea otters. “Like” “Otter 501” on Facebook, visit our “Otterly Adorable” Tumblr page or website at www.otter501.com.

Sea Studios Foundation • (831) 649-5152 • www.seastudios.org

Biographies

Katie Pofahl, Main Character Katie’s got a thing for animals. Big and fluffy or wet and squishy, she can’t contain her enthusiasm to know more about the creatures she meets living in Pacific Grove, California. Encountering fascinating and mysterious animals while swimming, surfing, tidepooling, kayaking, and getting to know our incredible coastline is one of her greatest joys. She is also driven to find ways to protect these animals through research, education, and outreach.

Be it waiting tables, tagging fish, feeding dinner to sea lions, leading backpacking trips, or editing Seafood Watch pocket guides Katie brings this mission to all of her work. At home, she finds the kitchen to be another adventure in environmental awareness. Sample her home-canned organic plum jam, fresh seared Monterey Bay sardines, backpacker’s granola or live sauerkraut and you might walk away inspired to eat your way to a healthier planet.

Katie came to this area from Wisconsin, where she was given an early start on environmental ethics. Katie’s agronomist dad nurtured her love of animals by bringing her out to the farm and she believes that the wilderness of our coast provides similar opportunities for amateur biologists of all ages. Katie’s Wisconsin heritage also inspired her to learn the Beer Barrel Polka on her accordion. Her happy but hydrophobic dog, Seabiscuit, loves to accompany her on vocals when he’s not running on the leash-off area of Asilomar beach.

Otter 501 Otter 501’s remarkable real-life story is central to the feature film, “Otter 501.” Separated from her mother before she was a week old, 501 was found washed ashore on June 10, 2010 at Cayucos State Beach in San Luis Obispo County, California. Quickly rescued by the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Sea Otter Research and Conservation program, she was immediately treated for the issues resulting from early maternal separation and cared for around the clock by Aquarium staff and volunteers.

Having been saddled with incredible challenges early in life, 501’s luck changed when the Aquarium determined that she would be able to participate in their groundbreaking sea otter surrogate program. After being cared for by humans for approximately 6 weeks, 501 was introduced to her surrogate sea otter mother Toola. 501 remained with Toola almost constantly for around 20 weeks while developing the skills she needed to survive in the wild – including grooming, feeding, foraging and socializing. As special as she is, 501’s life became even more extraordinary when Sea Studios Foundation began documenting Otter 501’s experience during the early weeks of her care at the Aquarium. 501’s story will inspire thousands of people to care for her species, the places they inhabit and to protect our natural world.

Sea Studios Foundation • (831) 649-5152 • www.seastudios.org

Mark Shelley, Executive Producer/Director of Photography, Executive Director of Sea Studios Foundation Sea Studios Foundation is the culmination of Mark’s lifelong ambition to harness the power of film-making to spotlight some of the most pressing issues of our times – from climate change to invasive species, from the loss of biological diversity to the loss of large predators and landscape fragmentation, and the vital role of our oceans in Earth’s life support systems. A visionary, and a passionate advocate for issues affecting our planet’s health, Mark strongly believes that the first step towards inspiring action is to help the public appreciate the science that underlies our understanding of the earth’s systems.

With Mark at the helm, Sea Studios Foundation has developed a unique capacity to identify issues that need public attention, and create compelling visual narratives that educate, inspire, and lead people to action. A producer of many award-winning films, Sea Studios Foundation is best known for its award-winning National Geographic prime-time series, Shape of Life, and Strange Days on Planet Earth, hosted by Edward Norton and Mark, as the executive producer. Mark’s vision shaped Strange Days on Planet Earth into a unique production that integrates cutting-edge research, state of the art graphics and globe spanning investigations, all presented as a high-tech detective story, with a rich web experience, a set of related multi-media deliverables, programs in science centers around the nation, and a series of live public events.

Mark graduated from Stanford University (B.Sc., 1972) with honors in Biology. Mark is an expert SCUBA diver, submersible pilot, and an airplane pilot with an instrument rating, and with his wife runs a grass fed beef business, Tassajara Natural Meats. He lives a very rural life with his wife Elizabeth, daughter Lucy and dog Phoenix.

Bob Talbot, Director As a world-renowned marine photographer, award-winning filmmaker and dedicated environmentalist, Bob Talbot has combined his unique visual style and storytelling ability with state-of-the-art entertainment technologies to create intimate ocean experiences on film.

His photographs of whales and dolphins have been reproduced into millions of lithographs distributed around the world, and his motion picture work has appeared in many television, film and special venue productions. Talbot filmed the wildlife sequences for the Warner Bros. series of FREE WILLY feature films and Universal Pictures’ FLIPPER. He directed and photographed the IMAX(copyright symbol) Ridefilm(TM) motion simulation system film DOLPHINS - THE RIDE, and acted as a director and cinematographer for sequences in the Academy Award-nominated MacGillivray Freeman IMAX film, DOLPHINS. Talbot also directed and photographed the award- winning IMAX(copyright) film OCEANMEN - EXTREME DIVE about world champion free divers Pipin Ferreras and Umberto Pelizzari.

Talbot has worked on several Cousteau Society productions, and continues to collaborate with Jean Michel Cousteau on Ocean Futures projects. He serves on the board of governors for Oceana, on the boards of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and the Earth Communications Office and is Chairman of the Board of Trustees for The National Marine Sanctuary Foundation.

Sea Studios Foundation • (831) 649-5152 • www.seastudios.org

Talbot also works with many environmental groups on marine conservation issues.

Clint Jones, Executive Producer Clint Jones developed a keen interest in wildlife while growing up in rural Louisiana near Baton Rouge, where being outdoors and playing sports were his only options. After graduating from LSU School of Medicine and completing training as a dermatologist at Tulane, he served as a clinical professor at LSU School of Medicine in Shreveport and also enjoyed a private practice there for 20 years.

Upon retirement in 2001, Clint moved to Carmel because of all the places he had traveled, he liked this area the best for the geography, the climate and the people. He volunteered as a wildlife rehabilitator at the Monterey County SPCA for five years and currently serves as a volunteer at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, where he learned to appreciate sea otters and the people involved in helping them. What Clint enjoys most about the otters is their ability to constantly demonstrate the joy of life even while working hard every day to survive under duress-- a lesson for us all.

Josh Rosen, Producer/Editor Josh is a documentary writer/producer/director specializing in long form non-fiction science and nature programming. Josh began his film career in the early 1990s in feature length documentary, including work on legendary German film director Werner Herzog’s award winning “Little Dieter Needs to Fly,” and “My Best Fiend: Klaus Kinski.” He spent the next ten years writing, producing and directing a string of international hour-long documentaries, traveling from Antarctica to Abu Dhabi. These programs currently air on The Discovery Channel, National Geographic Channel, The Learning Channel, The Science Channel, and The History Channel, and are distributed internationally by RDF International, Granada International, and Beyond Entertainment.

In 2006 he was brought into the PBS system as startup Series Producer to run a team of producers charged with the goal of creating a weekly science series out of the San Francisco station KQED. Since then he has written, produced and directed numerous specials and segments, all of which focus on hard science, environmental issues and nature/biology. His work on the series, Quest, and on the series NOVA has garnered him 5 Emmy Awards. For the last 2 years Josh has worked as writer/producer/director on Brian’s Greene’s ground-breaking physics and cosmology mini-series for WGBH’s flagship strand, NOVA. The project, called “Fabric of the Cosmos,” will air on PBS in late 2011. Josh lives in San Francisco, where he tries to stay close to the water.

Sea Studios Foundation Sea Studios Foundation is a non-profit team of award-winning filmmakers, respected scientists and communication experts who work together to raise public involvement in solving the major threats to our planets health. We are dedicated to raising awareness of all the ways human life is entwined with the natural environment, and exposing the complex web of connections of

Sea Studios Foundation • (831) 649-5152 • www.seastudios.org

Earths life support systems. We believe that lasting solutions demand an informed, engaged public as well as government and business leadership. In all our work we rely on cutting-edge social science research, extensive scientific and public opinion research, and we rigorously evaluate everything we do.

The Foundation received international acclaim for two recent projects produced for PBS in collaboration with the National Geographic Society: The Shape of Life, a primer for understanding the evolution of the animal kingdom and animal biodiversity, and Strange Days on Planet Earth, One and Two, hosted by Academy-award nominee Edward Norton. Both projects were praised for the quality of their science-based content, style, storytelling and pioneering techniques in underwater and deep-sea filmmaking.

Strange Days on Planet Earth is the recipient of fourteen international awards, including Wildscreen, the environmental equivalent of the Academy Awards®. Building upon the Strange Days Two episode Dirty Secrets, Sea Studios spearheaded the Think Beyond Plastics Social Activation Campaign, which won Best 360 Campaign at the 2009 Jackson Hole Film Festival. The Sea Studios film Once Upon a Tide won Best Children’s Film at Jackson Hole.

Sea Studios Foundation • (831) 649-5152 • www.seastudios.org

Contact Information

For more information regarding the film, please contact:

Mark Shelley, Executive Producer [email protected]

Sea Studios Foundation (831) 649-5152 x 201 810 Cannery Row Monterey, CA 93940

For more information regarding distribution of the film, please contact:

Mark Shelley, Executive Producer [email protected]

Michael DeLapa, DeLapa Consulting [email protected]

Sea Studios Foundation • (831) 649-5152 • www.seastudios.org

Sea Studios Foundation • (831) 649-5152 • www.seastudios.org

Sea Studios Foundation • (831) 649-5152 • www.seastudios.org