Taking the term ‘Betty’ from the people who used it as an insult, this wasn’t a story of skaters who thought they could hang with the others it was a story of a group succeeding to do so while also guiding through life’s many problems.

Two years later, Moselle and company returned with Betty, a television series based on the same group. The performances were praised as gritty and real, while the inclusion of the actual skaters meant that the action in the movie didn’t need camera trickery and stunt doubles. While the film wasn’t a smash at the box office, making less than $300,000, it became a hit on the home market.Ĭritics loved the raw portrayal of New York City through the lens of the six skaters.

While the cast was rounded out with working actors like Jaden Smith, most of the film was performed by non-professional actors to add to the sense of realism. Upon hearing a group of young women talk about skating on a subway train, creator Crystal Moselle spoke to them about possibly making a documentary about them,Įventually, that idea evolved into a scripted film where the skaters played characters very much like their actual selves. Skate Kitchen was the brainchild of Crystal Moselle, a New York filmmaker looking for ideas on a bus, according to the Los Angeles Times. To talk about the history of Betty, one also has to speak about Skate Kitchen.

Skate kitchen movie website