Meet Beth Ashby | Writer/Director

We had the good fortune of connecting with Beth Ashby and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Beth, do you have a favorite quote or affirmation?
“Funny how ‘question’ contains the word ‘quest’ inside it, as though any small question asked is a journey through briars.” -Catherynne M. Valente

This quote from one of my favorite authors (of seemingly boundless energy) reminds me of the tendency that propels me to keep creating: the tendency to ask questions. Things I don’t know or things I wonder about are the things I find most energizing to keep exploring, to keep probing through a story until I find either a satisfying conclusion or a larger question to ask everyone else. Every question begins a story, and often pursuing that story leads to more questions, more discoveries, more details and mysteries that swirl around it like a galaxy. I like to play with answers, but my work doesn’t necessarily have all the answers – that’s the joy of art, it’s reaching out to other minds and hearts and trying to find out if they see, feel, experience what you do.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
As a storyteller and a filmmaker, I love to find the inherent contradictions and absurdities in the world—because in those strange coexisting opposites you find truth. I pride myself on working to find the worthwhile in what seems unsalvageable. I’m an upcycler.

I’ve taken a wonderfully winding road as a filmmaker and artist. For years before I earned my MFA in Cinema Directing, I studied English, Theatre, designed costumes, dabbled in music, cobbled together creative projects out of friendship and hope. All these pursuits have helped develop my aesthetic sense, my ability to collaborate, my dramatic instinct, my rhythm and timing, my refusal to accept anything as impossible.

My body of work weaves together all of those influences, bringing a dark absurdity, a musicality, and a visual shapeliness to stories that break open and examine what lies beneath our cultural mythologies. Now, I’ve made 7 short films, several of which are currently in the festival circuit, and I’m working toward my award-winning script becoming my first feature, Broken Sinclair, about a 13-year-old boy who was born empty – literally – and whose parents decide to sell him to a collector of oddities just as he makes an unlikely promise to his first-ever friend at school. I’m also incredibly excited about my most recent short, Astronomical Units, which brought together my love of space, my memories of my grandmother, and a fantastical sense of wonder that interweaves with the real and mundane.

I often focus on misfits, as well as LGBTQ and neurodivergent characters, and childhood and loneliness often play prominent roles – since how we cope with both helps to form who we are. I take our social norms to their extreme logical conclusions and survey the damage. I draw juxtapositions between the compassion we teach our children and the cruelty we assign our gods. I pepper all of this with lightness and humor. In the midst of a broken world, I look for moments of true connection between people. And I hope to do this in collaboration with people whose visions and perspectives I believe in as well.

Most importantly, my work doesn’t happen alone, but in collaboration with others. Others’ talents and perspectives enrich work that I originate, and I bring what talent and resources I have to projects originated by others, especially those most marginalized. I intend to be a contributing part of an ever-growing creative community that centers those at the margins, and for my collaborations to be healthy and affirming, never exploitative or destructive. We grow together, mourn together, dream together – and at our best, we take the pieces of the broken world and imagine the world we hope for into existence.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
So I have to admit, I’m a huge Die Hard fan. Even though it’s not the kind of movie I want to make, it was a gateway into a lot of films I love. So my top priority would be to take a friend visiting me to the Nakatomi Tower – that is, the Fox Plaza in Century City. If we find someone willing to take us to the 30th floor, it’s a pretty spectacular view – and the elevators and stairs have NOT changed since the 80s. I would definitely build in some beach time, some sushi, some scenic walks in the hills, and maybe a road trip far, far out of the city to see more mountains and the darkest skies around so we can stare up at the real stars.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
There are so many people who have helped and supported me along the way, but I have to give a shoutout to my partner, Shualee Cook, a playwright, musical theatre writer, and incredible human being who has been a support to me every step of the way for 15 years. She has sat across from me through many writing sessions and believed in me through many crying sessions thoughout my various film projects, through grad school, even through the mundane laundry days and side gigs. We are mutual copilots, first readers, critics and cheerleaders.

Website: bashbyfilms.com

Instagram: @bashbyknows

Other: vimeo.com/elizabashby You can also follow my most recent short film on Instagram: @astronomicalunits

Image Credits
Kateryna Sazonova, Leah Wellman, Brian Peters