Emmy winner has ties to Virginia Beach

By Will Harris
Correspondent

When "Mad Men" won an Emmy on Sunday night for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series, series creator Matthew Weiner stepped to the microphone and said, "Only one of us is allowed to speak, so I'm going to speak for both of us." But it was former Virginia Beach resident Kater Gordon - who co-wrote the nominated episode, "Meditations in an Emergency," with Weiner - who got the laugh when she stepped into the shot, took the Emmy from him, and said, "And I'm going to hold it."

Gail and Roy Gordon were watching the ceremony at their home in Virginia Beach when their daughter's name was announced. "I jumped up and just started saying, 'She won, she won, she won!' " Gail Gordon said in a phone interview Monday. "It was pretty amazing, to be honest with you."

Kate Gordon graduated from First Colonial High School in 2000, where she picked up the nickname "Kater-Nator" that evolved into her pen name, and from the University of Virginia in 2004, participating in theatrical productions at both schools. S he later moved to New York, where she worked as a production assistant on various films and on the NBC series "Third Watch," meeting people and building connections.

"Everything is really networking in that line of business," said Gail Gordon. "When she got a job on the film 'Enchanted' as the assistant to the producer and director, I believe was a case of word of mouth, where a friend said, 'You really need to contact her, she's really organized and works hard and has a good work ethic.' "

Gordon's reputation eventually led her to "Mad Men." "She came in as the assistant to Matthew Weiner," Gail Gordon said. "Within a very short period of time, he put her in as his writing assistant, and at some point in time, he said that he wanted her to write the final episode of Season 2 with him, which she did. I'm assuming he was pleased with her work, because he asked her to become one of the staff writers."

Gordon received her first solo writing credit for "The Fog," the fifth episode of Season 3 of "Mad Men."

"Kate's an extremely creative person and always has been, since she was little," said Gail Gordon. "She always had to have a creative outlet. For her, busy is better, and she's also an extremely organized person. Some creative people have trouble with that, and I think that's been a help to her over the years."