Rising Stars is The Stargazer’s interview series where we sit down with young entertainment professional to discuss their projects, inspirations, and goals. We recently had the opportunity to speak with writer, director, and producer Ashley James about her time at Florida State, her short films, and her theatre work. Note: The following are excerpts.
Content Warning: brief mentions of miscarriages, abusive relationships

The Stargazer: To start, I'm going to give you the desert island question. If you were stuck on a desert island with only one movie to watch, what would it be?

Ashley James: It would have to be Smokey and the Bandit. It’s one of my favorites, it’s a go-to movie. I love it. Your tastes change, but that’s one movie where I can watch it now and still laugh. It’s the same moments. I know what's coming. I know exactly. I could probably quote it from memory at this point, but it makes me laugh. It's a good memory. It also holds a lot of good memories of my family, and us watching it together.

That’s a funny answer. Okay, now let’s get into some more serious topics. What has been your journey as a filmmaker? How did you get to where you are now?

I kind of avoided all things film for a long time. I applied to FSU initially, for the film program, and I didn't get in. I got into the theatre program. I knew I wanted to do something creative. But coming from where I came from, I had no experience in theatre, no experience in film. And so when I got into the film world, or into the theatre world and the theatre program at FSU, I just followed that. It was definitely a good journey for me – I followed it and I started directing there. I still was kind of teetering on, “Okay, I want to do film.” Initially, when I came to the program, I was like, “Oh, I'll just try to transfer into the film program after that first year, because they take a lot of transfers,” but then I was really engrossed in what I was doing. And I liked that. I stayed with theatre for a while, but I would make friends who were in the film department. I would help them and cast some of the actors. So it was always in the back of my mind as my original goal and something I wanted to do, but I just followed the journey of creativity. And then a few years ago, maybe four or five years ago, I made the decision that I wanted to pursue it more heavily, after being in theatre for a while and starting to converge those two things for myself. And so then it was like, “Okay, let's try this again.” I eventually got back to FSU and their film program. It was great, because I felt like when I entered there, I already had a lot of creativity, as far as directing, knowing how to work with actors, knowing how to develop a story from beginning to end, and how to break down a story. So it was a long journey. I feel like I'm still not quite there. But now, at least I have that knowledge and that training about how to make movies.

And you actually made a couple of shorts in your time at Florida State. Can you give us a quick pitch of your thesis short, Fo[u]R, as well as Deep Space?

Essentially, I always start my work with a question. [With Fo[u]R] I had had a lot of family members who had dealt with miscarriages and things like that, so it was a question for me as a young woman, who was married at the time and in my late 20s. There's this question that you always get asked: When are you gonna have kids? Do you want kids? And so it was kind of converging how these questions of age and fertility are questions that come to women, and putting that into a story. How can I answer these questions in a real way, that completes all of those stories? It's less about finding an answer – maybe finding an answer for that character – but just presenting what it might be like in that situation. Deep Space was also different questions that I had from different stories that I've read, actually, about desire and feminism. There’s a quote from a play: “Beating or lovemaking, it's all one to a woman.” That's a quote that I heard years ago, and I wrote it down. I kept coming back to it. It's always been a question. So that was the spark that led to Deep Space, where a young woman is questioning her place in her relationship as it continues to grow more and more abusive. She also has desires that she's battling with. It's not as simple as pick up and go on. 

Both of those shorts deal with some heavier themes. As a writer and a director, what is your approach to talking about such sensitive topics?

I did a lot of talking to other people. I remember during the auditions for Deep Space, even during a lot of our rehearsals, it was, “Well, how can we break this down.” Deep Space incorporated a lot of women from different generations. It was talking to my mother, talking to my sister, talking to my friends about their experiences. Talking to friends who I know, who have been in abusive situations, whether it was physical, mental, or emotional abuse. Gaining as much research as I can and talking to people. Buffering questions from people who would be willing to talk about it that weren't necessarily within my circle as well, because I think that's important. And it was a similar approach to my thesis film, Fo[u]r. I actually had something really beautiful happen with one of my classmates at FSU. We were doing a yoga class together, and I was talking about my film to someone, and she said, “I have someone, if you want to talk to her.” Her mother had been through a miscarriage and she got me in touch with her. I just remember that conversation. It was so beautiful to be trusted with her story. That really meant a lot. 

That is really nice, you being able to connect people like that, with your art. And I know you've been doing some theatre work that is kind of in the same vein. Can you talk about what you’ve been doing with 7 Stages Theatre recently?

Well, I worked with another theatre company when I was just out of FSU, and they were a part of the same consortium, which has this idea of ensemble work and building together over a period of time. So when I got to Atlanta, I immediately connected with them. And it was a little short lived, because shortly after, I went back to FSU. Since I've been back [with 7 Stages], a lot of theaters are struggling right now with the pandemic and having to be in this virtual world. And I think there was the urge, well, the necessity for 7 Stages, to continue to create and connect with their community, which is one thing I love about them. And they knew, from previous conversations I had with the artistic director and the managing director, of my urge to kind of combine theatre and film. I'm the one person who won’t watch a play filmed. You know what I mean? It’s just not the same connection as when you're in the audience. So figuring out how to really find that thing that's special about theatre, and translate it, is moreso the question. And so with this, they do a homebrew series every year about workshopping new works. For this year, all of them were virtual, and I got a chance to direct one that was based on a book of poetry called Blood Flow. And that's how the film came about.

So do you, in your film work, try to replicate that connection that you have in an intimate theater setting on the screen? How do you navigate that?

It's really interesting. I don't know if I've quite succeeded in doing it yet. Even when I watch Blood Flow… it was such a quick thing. I mean, we pretty much put that thing together in a week, as far as getting people there. Safety was such a big issue with filming, because it happened pretty early [in the pandemic], even before people were figuring out how to make it work. There’s something about doing that, being in that space. So I watch the movie and I remember the energy that was in the space. And I'm not sure if someone who wasn't there would connect with this, necessarily. All of them in Blood Flow were not actors, for the most part. They weren't working from a script, it was very improved and devised. So I connect, because I remember the energy that was there. I'm not sure if it translates. There's also this fine line between a beautiful image and a story that's really going to connect to people. That, I think, is always something you have to play with, particularly in the film medium.

So besides maybe aspiring to have the same kinds of energy in film, do you think there are other ways that having a theatre background has influenced what you do in your film work?

Yeah, definitely. Honestly, I wouldn't change anything about my journey, because I really feel like I became a director in theatre. I got this idea of how do I connect with actors, how do I push them? I don't want to misquote this, but I used to read all these quotes from movies. And one of my favorite stories, I want to say maybe it was a Martin Scorsese moment, or Steven Spielberg, where one of the actors was trying to get really emotional and trying to cry for this scene. The director came up to her and was like, “Why don't you try laughing? Why don't you do this?” And she was like, “No, it's not this moment. Oh, no, I don't think that's what the character needs.” Of course, the next take, she burst out laughing, and it's the take they used. Those things are about how you work with actors and about learning about people, and what they need. Every actor is different, especially in the theater that I did, which was very intimate and ensemble-based. It's a lot of training. We break down the lines of the director and the actor, we work more as an ensemble, and we train together. When I'm working in that way, I know how to uplift my actor, I know when they're reaching a point where they maybe need some direction, or I know when I can just let them fly. Coming into film is such a different process, because in all the pre-production, you're planning and planning out the shots, and planning out your locations, and your camera angles, and all of these things, and there is a little bit more distance between you and the actors. So having that theatre background was helpful for me because when I was filming, when it was time for us to get in there and shoot, I had a lot of tools in my belt to know how to try what this character or this actor needs, at this moment. How do I try this, try this, try this.

Were you also an actor, or did you mostly direct and write?

I only act when people make me. As part of the theatre program, we all had to take Performance I. Then when I got into Ensemble and Devised Theater, I did do a little bit of performing. With Double Edge Theatre Company in Massachusetts, which is where I went just after graduating, I was a part of their artistic ensemble, so I performed with them during their summer spectacle events. It’s interesting. I wouldn't say it was acting, because it wasn't necessarily a character. It was a lot of devising, figuring out, and building a character around what you were doing. It was definitely nerve wracking, but because it was a part of the group, you just do it. But I would not consider myself an actor.

So switching gears a little bit, if you can talk about this, what are you working on now, or in the near future? 

Well, I have a couple of projects. I work now as a producer/manager, for the most part. I'm working with a couple of directors to fine-tune their material. So I work through story with them, when they're in the writing process. It's not that I'm taking a step away from directing, but I'm really interested in story and independent film versus more mainstream commercialized film. We can focus on those harder stories or those more genre-bending and medium-mixing stories. I've been doing that pretty much since I got out of school last summer. It's been great just reaching out, figuring out how to make the work, and how to keep the artist autonomy, as well. I'm also working with 7 Stages Theatre. They actually just announced me and a couple other young women as new Associate Artistic Directors. We’re starting to collaborate on a new project that is really interesting. They are also filmmakers and theatre-makers, but from very different places, so it’s a nice convergence of talent. And then I have a personal creative project that I'm doing, which I thought of about a year ago with one of my collaborators. We just did a photoshoot with it, recognizing that we're in a pandemic and the way we would like to work would be to get into a space together over a period of time and train, but we really can't do that now. It was like, “How can we still be creating in some stage of the work?” So we had a photoshoot and now we’re figuring it out. It may turn into an installation piece, or some kind of film work, depending on where we want to go next.

This is my last question for you. What is your ultimate mission as a filmmaker and artist, and what kinds of stories that you want to tell?

Ultimately, I'm investigating whether it's in theatre or film, but it’s the human condition, which I know is obviously so wide-ranging. I definitely lean towards the more dramatic things, I guess, even though that's not what I like. I'll watch anything. But I know that my stories lean towards a lot more of the dramatic and asking questions on a deep, human level. Both of the directors that I work with now are exploring in the horror genre, in the vein of drama with a tinge of the really psychological, which I find really interesting. It’s a genre I never thought I'd play in, but I’m really fascinated by it now. It’s the questions as they come up, and I think for some artists, the questions remain the same, it's just the angle at which you come at them and investigate them. My work is a lot about how we can traverse our differences to really connect on a level as human beings.

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Ashley James (she, her, hers) received her B.A. in Theatre from Florida State University. She attained her MFA from the Florida State College of Motion Picture Arts in August 2020. Ashley was also accepted to the American Pavilion Student Program with the Cannes International Film Festival prior to COVID-19. Having recently graduated and returned to Atlanta, Ashley is tackling film work from various avenues, working in production and managing two writer/directors. She was also recently invited to join a cohort of Artistic Directors for 7 Stages Theatre. Among some of her directorial accolades, her second short film with the College of Motion Picture Arts, Deep Space, continues to do well on the festival circuit and was named a finalist for jellyFEST in LA this March. Her thesis film, Fo[u]R, has so far been selected for the Toronto Black Film Festival, Through Women’s Eyes International Film Festival, and Black Warrior Film Festival. Follow her on Instagram and Twitter at @ajfrombama

Written by: Cassidy Elibol