Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashley Wilson.
Hi Ashley, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
About a year ago, my sister remembered her password to her iPod Nano, unlocking the foundation of us as creatives—self-taped videos with hazardously thrown together stories and outlandish characters from the minds of an eight-year-old and seven-year-old going bigger and bigger in every take.
We’ve continued to go bigger; we never stopped making videos. Instead, we transitioned to YouTube, where we made parody videos of our favorite shows, entirely cringe-worthy and entirely a choice that defines me today. Around the same time, writing became an outlet for me, and I began my first novel, a story that is centric on overdramatic teen angst but nevertheless spiraled into my current chosen career. And so, I continued. I wrote. Poems. Short stories. Monologues. Then my first short film, written in a motel in-between softball games. It sat untouched for years until I graduated and decided upon graduating that not only was I going to major in English, but I also was going to minor in Screenwriting. Yes, it was absolutely absurd considering the only screenwriting I had done was an unfilmed short film, but there was never another choice.
I found myself at Clemson, delving into Shakespeare, Jane Austen, and Toni Morrison. Writing one rhetorical analysis essay after another and one short film after another as I discovered Clemson had a film club and a campus short film contest coming up. I approached the film club president. He wanted to use one of my short films for the contest. My first short film. The one I wrote in high school. The very first screenwriting I had ever done. I said yes. Then he asked me if I wanted to direct… I said why not.
For SINS OF A FATHER, I won best director at the campus level and was nominated nationally. And so, I continued. I wrote more short films, filming them with my college film club and then branching out and putting short films on our now 70,000 subscriber-strong YouTube channel. Yet, it wasn’t enough. Go bigger. My sister and I decided to film a web series by ourselves. We did everything: casting, location scouting, costuming, catering… I wrote ten episodes centered around my sister’s crazy idea. Then I directed the episodes in the summer and edited the episodes with only a month turnaround. WHITE GIRL APOKALYPSE was posted on our YouTube channel in September 2020, and my direction was cemented.
Now I am the co-founder of the production company Salty Quill Studios LLC. I have directed two feature films and have an abundance of projects that I wrote on the way. Trusting myself, my sister, taking the risk to do it ourselves, putting pen to paper, going bigger. It’s how I’ve moved along, and it’s how I’ll continue to move along.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Failure and critique are givens in an industry centered on opinion. What’s good writing look like? What’s a good film? What’s a great film? What’s bad writing? My writing? Until high school, I never had a teacher that liked my writing style. Robotic, detailed, too much. Perhaps, but it’s me. Yes, criticism certainly was a struggle. However, I’ve learned to thrive off of criticism. Think of it as feedback. There is something of value in there, something to be used to make the next thing I write better. I don’t know how many times I’ve been told that I can’t do something. “WHITE GIRL APOKALYPSE is just not possible. You can’t film it in 11 days.” But we did. Is it perfect? No, not at all. Everything I make is flawed. It didn’t come out how I wanted it to. It got bad reviews. Yet, it is something I’m proud of. It’s a starting point. I keep going, and I’ll get better. Just don’t stop.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Screenwriting is my passion. I love writing character-focused stories grounded in reality and relationships. My focus on the characters and how they connect is not only what drives my scripts but also is what informs my directing. I want to understand. I want to collaborate. I want to work with my actors, let them set the tone, and ask questions to prod them in a compromised direction. A film is a mixture of personalities, inputs, insights, and opinions. In directing, I make this mixture coherent. I give it the illusion of looking solid, complete, not a mixture. I take the utmost pride in knowing the moments that came from me, came from my actors, and came from us all.
SINS OF A FATHER, WALK A MILE, WHITE GIRL APOKALYPSE, and KARMA are a few of the projects I have worked on either as the screenwriter, director, or both. WHITE GIRL APOKALYPSE is currently available on Amazon Prime. KARMA, which I directed and helped edit, is currently in post-production and will be doing a film festival run. By following Salty Quill Studios, you can see all the projects I am working on. There are a lot of projects coming.
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
You’re not owed anything. Most scripts that are written are never filmed. So what? Film it yourself. Putting yourself out there, giving it your all, that’s how you make it in this industry. There are tons of people with more talent than me, but I can work harder than them. That’s what makes the difference.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://saltyquillstudios.weebly.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wilson_ashley_wilson/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiwTbQbxHOcmCM4IZgGiwWQ
Image Credits
Sara Davis Photography, Ruby Brown, and Rhonda Wilson
