OPTING IN: AFTER HAVING KIDS, TV WRITER/PRODUCER SARIT CATZ GETS BACK TO WORK

Indy Pilot “What She’s Having” Becomes Official Selection of the New York Television Festival

NEW YORK, NY – When three-time Writers’ Guild Award-winning sitcom and comic screenplay writer Sarit Catz and her husband decided to have children, Sarit took a hiatus from Hollywood. “It wasn’t by choice,” declares Catz. “Being a bi-coastal couple is no big deal. But if your baby poops on Tuesday, it’s not like you can fly back to New York and change it on Friday.”

Having once written and produced hits like “Full House,” “Coach,” “Soul Man” and other series, plus optioning two comic screenplays, Sarit now spent her days making playdates, pushing strollers, and trying to survive Check E. Cheese’s.

Still, television production was her first love. When she heard about the New York Television Festival, Sarit put together a team and produced one of her scripts, “What She’s Having.” “When I approached my director and stars on this project,” explains Catz, “I had nothing to offer but the hope we would be accepted to the New York Television Festival. And lo and behold, we were. Now I look like a genius, a psychic, or like I paid someone off.”

Held annually each fall in New York City, the New York Television Festival is the industry’s first recognized independent television festival, uniting artists, executives, industry figures, and fans. In past years, pilots that debuted at the Festival were purchased by networks such as NBC Universal, A&E, and Versus.

“What She’s Having,” very closely mirrors Sarit’s experience, and the experience of many women in America today, both single and married. Stephanie and Barbara, are in very different places in their lives, having taken different paths. Stephanie is married and has traded her career as a District Attorney for a life of family responsibilities. Barbara is a successful magazine editor and single, partly by choice and partly from a lack of men who meet her ever-rising standards. Through them, “What She’s Having” looks at today’s women and the lives they build through the choices they make.

Now, it seems that what Sarit Catz is having, is perhaps the best of both worlds.

“What She’s Having” will screen Saturday, September 8th at 2:15 pm and Sunday, September 9th at 5:45 pm. Screenings will be held at New World Stages, 340 West 50th Street, New York, NY.

About Sarit Catz:

A recognized comedy expert, Sarit Catz began her comedy career in radio, creating, writing and producing three award-winning comedy services for ABC Radio Networks and other nationally syndicated services bringing her jokes, voices, song-parodies, and other bits to every market in the nation, from New York’s WPLJ to LA’s KLOS. Sarit went on to become a television writer/producer with credits that include “Coach,” “Full House,” “Soul Man,” “Talk to Me,” “The Crew,” “Café Americain,” and “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.” In the feature film arena, Sarit wrote and sold options on two original screenplays currently being marketed to studios by producers. She has won three (3) Writers’ Guild of America Awards and been named a semi-finalist in the ScriptapaloozaTV screenwriting contest. When Sarit’s children were born, so was her stand-up comedy career. Not only do the kids drive Sarit crazy enough to run screaming from the house and into the clubs, they also provide her with plenty of material. She has played numerous comedy clubs including The Comic Strip, Stand-Up New York, Gotham Comedy Club, Comedy Cellar, New York Comedy Club, Boston Comedy Club, Rascals, Jenkinson’s, Uncle Floyd’s, Yuk Yuk’s, Upstairs at Danny’s, and many more. Sarit has been named a semi-finalist in “The Great Canadian Laugh-Off” and is a three time winner of “Clash of the Comics.” She is currently in pre-production on “The Buzz,” a talk show which Sarit will be hosting. For more information, visit www.princessofcomedy.com.