Classes
Hybrid and immersive classes designed to provide foundational filmmaking skills and the opportunity for more advanced filmmakers to refine their craft.
Whether you’re shooting a short film, documentary, or commercial, Ashley’s expertise will help you capture polished sound that enhances your visuals.
Understand the steps for creating your short film! Learn about taking your film from production to post and the decisions you’ll need to make in order to get is seen!
A new class is in the works!
BIO
Based in Los Angeles, CA., Ashley Maria is an Emmy-nominated & DGA award-winning director known for creating a range of funny (and fun), scary, musical, and impactful films with superheroes, singing neighbors, and screaming television characters.
Ashley hails from the Tar Heel state of North Carolina, received her undergrad degree from UNC-Chapel Hill, and earned her Master’s in Fine Arts (MFA) from the USC School of Cinematic Arts in California.
Her numerous credits include directing the award-winning and Emmy-nominated film — Pioneers in Skirts, a feature documentary about ambition, as well as Friday Night Fright, a comedy horror that won a Directors Guild of America (DGA) award. As she continues to build her portfolio of funny (and fun), scary, musical, and impactful films with superheroes, singing neighbors, and screaming television characters, Ashley also works as a production sound mixer for viral and promotional videos for companies like UGG and BuzzFeed, and for Take Every Wave: The Life of Laird Hamilton, Night Shift, and Phoenix Rising – all of which were official selections at Sundance.
When not on set or running her own production company – Ashley Maria Productions, she is a directing instructor at UCLA’s Film School and a sound instructor at the American Film Institute’s Young Women in Film program.
Production Sound
Ashley has a passion for helping filmmakers understand the value of recording great production sound. As a directing instructor, Ashley helps her students be better prepared for recording sound on their film set — resulting in less sound work in post-production and less ADR. Her 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 awarded the 2023 Associated Press Robert R. Eunson Distinguished Lecturer Award at Northern Arizona University.