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DIRECTOR

Ashley Maria

Ashley is committed to innovative, immersive storytelling that inspires people to take action.

— IMDb CREDITS — 

BIO

Creating fun and exciting content -- including narratives & documentaries, social media videos, and museum-level video/audio projects!

Ashley Maria is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker, director, and writer based in Los Angeles whose work spans documentary, narrative, and genre filmmaking. She has built a portfolio of funny (and fun), scary, musical, and impactful films with superheroes, singing neighbors, and screaming television characters — to highlight a few!
 
Her directing credits include the San Diego Comic-Con fan favorite Super Human Anxiety; the acclaimed documentary Pioneers in Skirts, a powerful exploration of ambition that earned a standing ovation at SXSW EDU, received an Emmy nomination, and is now streaming on Amazon Prime and Apple TV; and the comedy-horror film Friday Night Fright, which earned her a Directors Guild of America award.
 
Ashley’s latest drama, Nearly Departed, supported by the prestigious Big Sky Film Grant, is set to begin its festival run. She is also in-development of the comedy-horror feature The Motel Between.
 
A graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Ashley earned her MFA from the USC School of Cinematic Arts, one of the nation’s premier film programs.
 
As she expands her portfolio, Ashley works as a production sound mixer on viral and promotional videos for brands such as UGG and BuzzFeed, as well as on Take Every Wave: The Life of Laird Hamilton, Night Shift, and Phoenix Rising—all official Sundance selections.
 
In addition to her creative work, Ashley serves on the board of the Alliance of Women Directors and teaches a directing intensive at UCLA, championing emerging voices in film.

Affiliations

Television Academy: a nonprofit organization devoted to the advancement of telecommunication arts and sciences and to fostering creative leadership in the telecommunication industry.

Alliance of Women Directors (board member): a non-profit organization dedicated to achieving gender parity by substantially increasing the number of women and gender-expansive directors working in the entertainment industry.

Film Fatales: a non-profit arts organization dedicated to improving the careers of filmmakers of all marginalized genders.

Women of Cinematic Arts (board member): the official women’s alumni organization of USC’s School of Cinematic Arts — focused on creating community and striving for parity in the entertainment industry.

INSTRUCTOR

Ashley has a passion for helping filmmakers understand the value of recording great production sound. As a directing intensive instructor at UCLA and other organizations*, Ashley helps her students get better prepared for recording sound on their film set — resulting in less sound work in post-production and less ADR.

*Examples of other organizations: USC, Will & Jada Smith Family Foundation’s AFI Young Women in Film Program, AFI Directing Workshop for Women+, Film Independent’s Future Filmmakers Showcase, Girls Voices Now, Woodbury University, Mount Saint Mary’s University, Alliance of Women Directors, Canon Burbank.

Capturing Great Production Audio Intensives

Students leave her course understanding:

  • the importance of location when thinking about sound,
  • equipment options, and
  • how to better communicate with the sound mixer.

An instructor who engages and inspires her students, Ashley was recently awarded the Associated Press Robert R. Eunson Distinguished Lecturer Award at Northern Arizona University.

COMEDY WITH HEART

Ashley’s extensive experience and innovative vision has led her to carve out a genre of comedy, youth, and self-empowerment that audiences have come to love.

With an uncanny ability to see the humor in just about anything, Ashley understands the nuances of comedic timing when writing and directing a script. That same sense of humor and openness also makes her a remarkable talent for making content for children and teens — as well as writing, casting and directing kids for family-friendly films & television.