Oil & Water

Laurel Spellman Smith is a two-time regional Emmy Award-winning producer of national and local programs for PBS, including The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer and the documentary Faith & Fear: The Children of Krishna. She became an independent producer in 2003, and in addition to Oil & Water she co-directed and produced the women's health documentary Busting Out, which aired on Showtime, and the Iraq War documentary The Corporal's Diary, seen on PBS stations, Al Jazeera English, and Link TV. She is also an annual juror for the News and Documentary Emmy Awards. Laurel grew up in Los Angeles and Kauai before making a home in Seattle with her husband and cat. She graduated from The Evergreen State College, where she studied film and cultural anthropology, pursuing her interest in the latter by traveling to over 100 countries.

Francine Strickwerda is an award-winning director, writer, and producer of documentary films and websites. She co-directed the feature film Oil & Water for PBS and the women’s health documentary Busting Out, which aired on Showtime. In addition to working on local and national shows at Seattle’s KCTS Public Television, she produced and executive edited national PBS websites including Don't Buy It, Videogame Revolution, and Exploring Space, and was a senior producer at HealthTalk.com. She currently runs Hullabaloo, a Seattle video production company with her husband, and has created videos for clients including the United Nations, Fortune 500 companies, and the Seattle Fire Department. Strickwerda began her career as a reporter for newspapers in Washington and Idaho. She studied journalism at the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication at Washington State University.