In the summer of 2008, 15 year old Kitty Jones and her mother moved into an apartment complex in Shoreline, Washington and became the new neighbors of filmmaker Oliver Tuthill. Within a few days Tuthill noticed this very charming intelligent girl who would often leave with friends to demonstrate for animal rights while wearing a bright yellow duck outfit.
Kitty's mother offered to help Tuthill on the current film he was in production on at that time and she began asking him to consider doing a documentary on Kitty and the work Kitty was doing to help animals. Four years later, in the fall of 2011, Tuthill went into production on his full length documentary film, The Girl Who Loved Animals: Kitty Jones and the Fight For Animal Rights which follows Kitty for almost a year as she advocates for animals at her high school, hands out leaflets at farmer's markets, volunteers at a cat neutering clinic, and spends time with all the different animals at the Precious Life Animal Sanctuary where abused and neglected animals have been given a safe haven to live out their lives. Additional footage for the film was also supplied by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and The Humane Society of the United States.
Tuthill spent some time looking for financial backers but was offered no support. People in the television industry said there was no demand for a film like this and it could not be placed or positioned on a major network or television station. After the 2008 recession the film and television industry was hard hit and many people were losing their jobs as independent distribution film companies began closing their doors. Tuthill was urged by his closest advisors to shut down his company and concentrate on teaching. (Tuthill teaches at the Seattle Film Institute, the only film school in Seattle that offers a Master's Program in film studies).
But the more he learned about what Kitty was doing with her work to help animals the more determined he became in getting the film started. He decided he would pay for the filming out of his own pocket. Tara Walker, a writer/producer from Portland, Oregon soon came aboard as a producer and came up to Seattle on weekends to help Tuthill with filming. She also served as an editorial consultant and is now helping to promote and market the film.
Tuthill, a long-time advocate of children's rights, who founded and operated a non-profit educational film corporation for 10 years, has long believed in speaking up for those who have no voice, and Tuthill was quickly won over by the work Kitty was doing. In 2002 Tuthill won the Governor's Award in Media from then Governor Gary Locke for his work in educating the public about emotional child abuse, and he believes just as children need to be treated with love and compassion, all animals deserve to be treated the same.
Working with a small crew Tuthill would film Kitty mostly on weekends as she leafleted at farmer's markets throughout Seattle and demonstrated with different organizations who want to help animals live a cruelty free life. He followed her to school on a school day, filmed her jogging and even dumpster diving for food. Kitty has experienced homelessness at various times during her life and learned to dumpster dive for her food in order to survive.
Production was wrapped in August of 2012 and Tuthill went into post production as Kitty left to start college at UC Berkeley in the San Francisco area to continue her education. Tuthill spent three months editing the film and designing the sound. Bad Animals of Seattle, a world class post production sound facility that has won numerous Emmys, supplied him with sound loops for his company logo which he layered into the film.
Brad Liszt of Disc Replications in Southern California, who has manufactured music CDs for Tuthill's record company, Blue Pony Music, was so impressed by the theme of the film he has offered to do all the manufacturing for Tuthill at cost. He has also offered valuable marketing and publicity guidance.
Tuthill and Walker plan on a long term coordinated marketing effort to see the film reach into the youth market.
"We believe this is a film that young people will relate to and be moved by," Tuthill said. "They are our future, and they are more open to change than folks who are older. We believe that Kitty Jones will become a world leader in educating the public about the rights and the welfare of all animals, regardless of their species."
