Anderson Productions is owned by Kathy Anderson. She is a photographer, video producer, writer, director, and editor. In 1993, she joined the Oklahoma Route 66 Association while producing and shooting the video "Cruisin' OK Route 66." From 1995 till January 2001, she served as Secretary of the Oklahoma Route 66 Association and started the Association’s Trip Guide publication. In 2001 she became President. In 2003, she stepped down from the presidency in order to spend more time on Anderson Productions, her side business. Today she is still a member of the Oklahoma Route 66 Association, the National Historic Route 66 Federation, a Friend of the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum in Clinton, and a supporter of the Route 66 Interpretive Center in Chandler. In 2008, she was inducted into the Oklahoma Route 66 Hall of Fame.

Over the years, Anderson has penned articles for Route 66 Magazine and the National Historic Route 66 Federation. She has also collaborated with Jim Ross and Jerry McClanahan of Ghost Town Press in 1998 to co-produce the video “Bones of the Old Road.” Her part was to do the shooting and editing.

Anderson's day job is at a “business-to-business” advertising agency that specializes in heavy earthmoving equipment. There she writes press releases, industrial job site stories, and writes, produces, and edits a variety of sales, training, and trade show videos. Past job experiences include a stint as a VISTA volunteer in New Orleans, a clerk in a Christian book store, and a whole gamut of jobs at several television stations in Louisiana and Oklahoma. She also worked in the video department of “Feed the Children” – a Christian relief agency headquartered in Oklahoma City.

So how did someone who double-majored in television production and Ancient/Medieval History get involved in Route 66?

Anderson blames George Maharis.

"As a little girl, I had a big crush on him. I watched the TV series 'route 66' every week. When the film crew came to Pennsylvania to a nearby town to do a show, I was so excited. I kept dreaming that somehow I’d get to meet him. That, of course, never happened." More on that later.

After Anderson moved to Oklahoma in 1980, what finally got her out on the Mother Road was a friend’s birthday party. It was the 66th Anniversary of Route 66 and the theme for the friend’s party was "36 on 66." Since Anderson owned a video camera, she and one other co-conspirator traveled from Chandler to El Reno cajoling 36 total strangers to wish their friend a happy birthday on tape. Kathy then interwove their wishes with traveling footage of the various sights and put the end result to music. The video was the hit of the party and, for Anderson, a love of Route 66 was born.

About a year later, she showed the video to the past president of the Oklahoma Route 66 Association. He suggested that she should consider doing a real Route 66 video, because none had been produced and he had gotten a lot of tourist requests for one. Anderson knew she couldn’t afford to do one that covered the whole Route since she would have to finance this project herself, but one that covered Oklahoma was a distinct possibility.

While doing research, she realized what the theme of her video would be: that without Oklahoma, there never would have been a Route 66. So many pivotal events and characters in the national story of the Road centered on Oklahoma and Oklahomans that the more she studied, the more convinced she became of the worthiness of her project. Amy Rollins, sister of the "birthday girl," agreed to be the on-camera host.

So in 1993, Kathy began writing then shooting "Cruisin’ Oklahoma 66." It was finally released in late 1994, the same time PACCOM/John Paget’s and Michael Wallis’ Route 66 videos also hit the shelves.

The video couldn’t compete with the other two videos, which covered the entire Route. "Cruisin' Oklahoma 66" stopped being sold in 1993 - and to this day she's still paying off the debt incurred.

Undeterred, in 1995, Anderson introduced a spin-off line of tee-shirts, caps, etc., based on the unique logo design developed for the video cover. She ultimately put them up on the web where today people from all over the world can see and hopefully purchase.

During the course of producing "Cruisin’ Oklahoma 66," Kathy met Jim Ross and Jerry McClanahan of Ghost Town Press. She also became a member of the Oklahoma Route 66 Association and a founding member of the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum in Clinton.

In late 1997, Jim, Jerry and Kathy began collaboration on "Bones of the Old Road," a decidedly different approach to Route 66 videos. Anderson had been reluctant at first to undertake another Route 66 video since her first one was still very much in the red. But with Jim and Jerry willing to share costs and Kathy now having access to some additional video gear that lowered production costs, she agreed to do the project. The video was released in December 1998 amid positive reviews.

In 1999, at the urging of fellow Oklahoma Route 66 Association member Carol Duncan, Anderson entered a photo contest held by Oklahoma Today – the state’s award-winning travel and tourism magazine. She submitted four Route 66-themed photos. Much to her astonishment, two of the photos placed in the top 9 finalists – one being the first-place winner (1st Place).

Also that year, the state’s largest newspaper – the Daily Oklahoman – sponsored a time capsule. Postmark artist Ken Turmel urged Ross and Anderson to submit items. So she submitted a VHS copy of "Cruisin’ Oklahoma 66" and the two newspaper articles the Oklahoman had run on "Cruisin’" and "Bones." Although the tape was not accepted, the articles were – along with Ross' “Oklahoma Route 66: The Cruiser’s Companion” and Turmel's "Route 66 and More" postmark art.

In 2003, Anderson Productions began launching products utilizing the 1934 Highway 66 Main Street of America design. Rootie^TM was launched in late 2008.

Additional Route 66 videos from Anderson Productions include the “The American Dream and the American Drive” video, co-produced with American Road magazine, for exclusive use by the National Route 66 Transportation Museum in Elk City, Oklahoma, and several videos for the Route 66 Interpretive Center in Chandler, Oklahoma, co-produced with Jim Ross and American Road Magazine. She has also developed a proposal for a national billboard museum and is in the process of finding a home for it.

And now, for the rest of the George Maharis story. In late 2002, Route 66 Magazine was able to obtain an interview with the normally publicity-shy Maharis. After the interview, as they were putting the article together for the Spring 2003 issue, Paul Taylor, the publisher, called Anderson seeking permission to use her "crush" story as a sidebar. She agreed. As the conversation wrapped up, Taylor casually mentioned that while they were interviewing Maharis, they told him the crush story and he replied, "Tell Kathy I said hello." After she heard those words from Taylor, you could hear her teenager-like squeal a mile away. The fact that the phone call was just a day or two before Valentine's Day made it even more memorable.