World Summit on Women and Girls Panel

Ashley Lea-Ann

Ashley Maria & Lea-Ann W. Berst featured on panel for the World Summit on Women and Girls, along with:

  • Moderator: Zarin Hainsworth, Director, National Alliance of Women’s Organisations, UK
  • ZiphoZihle Ntlanganiso, Member Generation Equality Working Group and Ambassador, Justina Mutale Foundation, South Africa
  • Rima Mori, Film Maker, India
  • Larisa Miller, CEO, Phoenix Global LLC, USA
  • Meeta Joshi, Board Member, Justina Mutale Foundation
  • Chereena Miller, Global Ambassador, POSITIVE RUNWAY, UK

What’s your logline?

Build your personal logline

What’s your logline?

Logline: A brief (usually one-sentence) summary of a story that states the central conflict of the story, often providing both a synopsis of the story’s plot, and an emotional “hook” to stimulate interest.

This weekend I sat in on a Festival Strategies and Creative/Business Development Master Class with Kathleen McInnis. It’s something special she hosted for us as part of her Emerging Filmmaker’s Facebook group. We discussed the business aspect of branding our creative selves and our creative work to better fit how the industry and our audience could market us. 

It’s very similar to the work we’ve done on “Pioneers in Skirts“. When we first started making the film there were so many assumptions of what the film was about — so much so that we had to quickly hone in and fine tune our marketing to make sure people knew our goals with the film.

It helped that my mom, and the producer of Pioneers in Skirts, had a career as a global brand & activation marketer. I mean, no big deal. So she really spear-headed making sure we were on point with our materials – our logline, our synopsis, our tone in social media, our photos and articles shared – everything.

Which brings me back to Kathleen’s class, which was a nice refresher that you MUST be this way in your life as well.

You have to watch how you market yourself –

  • Your logline – how do you tell people about yourself? are you assured? or are you floundering, wishy-washy?
  • Your synopsis – what defines you as a filmmaker? what aspects of your life make you uniquely qualified? what makes up your voice?
  • Finally, your tone in social media, photos & articles shared – are you keeping in tone with your goals and your voice? are you adding value? showing people what you can do?

These are a lot of questions to ask yourself, so I’ll share with you some of my conclusions as you ponder your own. 

In the class, I workshopped my personal logline —

As ambitious women are forced to maneuver a work-world built for company men, Ashley wastes no time planning her escape while clearing a path for the women coming up fast behind her.

I was lucky – I made a movie about my experiences so I could very easily apply the lessons-learned to my every day. But I’m also defined by where I come from (North Carolina), my humor (weird), my experiences (wild), my outlook on life (everything is random / honesty). So, the idea is to have this all ready to go at the tip of your tongue. Practice it. Make sure the content you share relates to this somehow.

​I think we are all striving for authenticity and connection. So, if I could give you one suggestion for your logline – make it unequivocally you. ​

Now your turn – What’s your logline? ​

 

And, remember – you can watch Pioneers in Skirts right now!

Circle City Film Festival Directors Panel

Circle City Film Festival

In September I was featured on a Directors Panel to represent my unique experience of directing in both the scripted space (FRIDAY NIGHT FRIGHT, VOLCANO GIRL) and the unscripted space (PIONEERS IN SKIRTS, BUSINESS & PROFESSIONAL WOMEN).

Each panelist had danced in both realms of this business and shared their experiences. We discussed the nuts and bolts of what it takes to direct in each genre, what are the differences, similarities, and what it takes to get from here to there! Enjoy!

Panelists: Ashley Maria, Faith Pennick, Karl Jason, Thomai Hatsios, Nimisha Mukerji, & Moderated by Nikki Cole

UNC Student Television Alumni Panel

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to speak to your alma mater and pretend like you’re really cool? I do. It was all an act, but I did it!

In July, I was asked to speak with UNC Student Television recent grads about life after school. What is our career like? What was our path? There were a few of us on there that represented various angles of the film industry – talent representation, commercials, news, documentary, and film. And, we were all from different years of graduation, too – so some of us have been in the industry 2 years, 10, or 30! The coolest part for me was ‘meeting’ Adam Reist who was the creator of General College, a show I also produced while at STV. General College would get a revamp every few years with new storylines and characters, but always stayed ‘General College.’ I really hope it keeps going – it’s kind of a staple for UNC, especially since Billy Crudup was one of the original actors. And, here’s one of my General College episodes. (You may also see a familiar face… before I committed to “Ashley Maria” as my professional name)

I hope you enjoy this interview – we answer questions about our careers, film school, advocating for your career, and yes I talk about Pioneers in Skirts.  Enjoy!