Cooking Up A Story

Rebecca Gerendasy

I have been shooting stories for television news since early adulthood. I started out when videotape was relatively new to the marketplace, having worked for a brief time at two news station (including Portland’s, KOIN) in 16mm film and videotape, as both a shooter and editor. Most of my career was at KTVU Fox in San Francisco, where I can honestly say, I worked with incredibly talented people at a time when KTVU was a great place to do creative work. Shooting multiple stories almost everyday has helped me tremendously to produce the work I do for this show. In the process of producing Cooking Up A Story, I have grown so much as a filmmaker and entrepreneur.

News taught me what constitutes a good story, and how to succinctly capture all the necessary elements. But I needed to also draw on my roots as an artist to craft these stories beyond just from a news perspective. It’s really an amalgamation: my formal art background, professional career in television, keen interest in personal stories, and my concern for the environment.

My background has also helped me in my teaching, both (one on one) as a mentor to students throughout my news career, and at the university level. Currently, I am on the adjunct faculty at Washington State University, and at the Northwest Film Center in Portland. I guess you can say that producing stories and teaching are the two endeavors I love most in life besides being a mom.

Fred Gerendasy

Being a small company, Rebecca and I wear many hats; I am involved in the marketing and business development side of the company, the writing for the website (excluding the director’s journals), as well as, always holding an open ear for potential FOOD NEWS segments. On the production side, the buck stops with Rebecca. We work with other professionals, and have a rich network of veteran filmmakers, producers, editors, and other craft specialists to draw upon, when needed.

You may notice that we are different in style than most other shows on the web. This is not by accident. Rebecca’s strength is shooting without a script, and coming up with magic from a simple story. Hearing a person tell their own story lends an authenticity, that seems to get lost, or diminished, with a narrator or host. Our stories skew toward everyday people.

We have only begun to scratch the surface in terms of growing an audience. Through our existing partnerships, we have received millions of views for our show, and as this young video market continues to mature, we see only brighter pastures ahead.