Ashley Maria

Ashley Maria is a filmmaker known for her work as an award-winning writer, director, and location sound mixer for feature & short films and television commercials. 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.

Ashley has a passion for helping filmmakers understand the value of recording great production sound. As a sound instructor for directors, Ashley helps her students be prepared for sound on their film set so that they can have less sound work to do 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. Ashley is also a sound instructor at the American Film Institute’s Young Women in Film program and the Directing Workshop for Women.