Katerina Gerlach

Katerina Therese Gerlach, a freelance producer, director, and assistant director was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on March 11, 2002. Katie spent her early years living in Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, and Michigan. At 11 years old, Katie began making short movies with her friends, shooting and editing on her iPad and later on her Nikon 3500. Throughout middle school, she was given permission to attend acting and film classes at the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota. At the age of 17, she moved to California to pursue filmmaking at John Paul the Great Catholic University. During her time there, she was involved in over eighty short films and two features, working mainly as a producer and assistant director. In 2021, she won the audience choice award at her school's film festival for a six-minute one-shot. At 18, she produced her first budgeted short film (as opposed to the average student film), raising $6k to create it. A year later, she produced two more, The Purple Heart (budgeted at $7k) and The Treasure Within, a project she wrote, directed, and produced on her own (budgeted at $12k). She graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in film producing and directing in August 2022 and lives in Los Angeles, working as a freelancer.