Parent Teacher Conference

“Let’s start filming our sketch!” a 9 year old Ashleigh is overheard saying on the VHS video of her birthday party. Her girlfriends were joking around about boys and belting out, “A Whole New World.” But she wanted to add in a dance number, drop the lights, and punch up the story arc. I mean how often would there be a birthday party full of extras? She had to work quickly with the budget she was given - pizza. Years later, Ashleigh Stanczak went on to study at NYFA, attained a B.A in film production from Emerson College and has directed content for Refinery29, iO West Network, UCB, Discovery Channel, History Channel, MTV, and A&E. She studied sketch comedy at UCB and learned how to lean in from walking Steve Martin’s dog. "Girl Brain," a short she shot & directed, was a 2018 semi-finalist in the NBCUniversal Shorts Fest. Ashleigh’s female centric stories are something she brings to all of her work. When she was head writer & director at iO West Comedy Network, her comedic shorts Planned Parenthood Going out of Business & Monthly Beauty Box by Trump were featured on WhoHaha, Funny or Die and tweeted by Elizabeth Banks. Her feature script, “The Life of Fat Girls,” placed in the Austin Film Festival, while several shorts were featured on Funny or Die and have been finalists in the LA Funny Women’s Festival, The Austin Short Comedy Fest, the Colorado Short Circuit Film Fest, the Philly Short Comedy Fest, and the Houston Short Comedy Fest. Currently, she is producing and directing a digital series for Funny or Die. But, her greatest accomplishment remains at age 8 when she taught her guinea pig to roller-skate. Butterscotch died the very next day.