The Craft of Comedy and The Delicate Dance of Collaboration with Ashley Armitage

Known for her razor-sharp eye and soft-focus satire, Ashley Armitage draws on her background in photography and deep-rooted love for nostalgic pop aesthetics to bring a distinctive visual language to every frame.

Ashley’s approach is unmistakably her own; equal parts dreamy and playful with a splash of fashion, she lives at the intersection of intimacy and irony. A curated, kitsch-laced universe where hyper-femininity is wielded with both reverence and subversion.

Name: Ashley Armitage

Location: Chicago + LA

Repped by/in: Golden for US. Caviar for UK/Amsterdam/Brussels. Radke for Canada.

Awards: Shortlisted for a Glass Lion at Cannes in 2019 for Billie - Project Body Hair.

LBB> What are some of your upcoming projects that you're excited about? Tell us a bit about them.

Ashley> I'm working on five different short films right now. Four of them are in post and one is in pre-production. Three of them are anthology films that will live together and I am beyond excited to release them to the world.

LBB> What elements of a script set it apart from others and what sort of scripts get you excited?

Ashley > I love things that make me laugh! The scripts that are the funniest to me are always the ones that make me think, "it's funny because it's true". Things that are relatable are hilarious because we've all been there.

LBB> How do you approach creating a treatment for a spot?

Ashley> I usually start with the writing first. As soon as I get off the initial call, I start getting my ideas down. I like my treatments to be fun and colourful and full of visuals. Image research is another one of my fav parts of the process.

LBB> If the script is for a brand that you're not familiar with/don’t have a big affinity with or a market you're new to, how important is it for you to research and understand the strategic and contextual side of the ad? If it’s important to you, how do you do it?

Ashley> This is incredibly important! A few months ago, I bid on a Tinder commercial for the Korean and Indian markets and I spent two days just researching gen z trends in Korea and India.

My IG algorithm was feeding me Korean influencer content for a month after that.

LBB> For you, what is the most important working relationship for a director to have with another person during the process of making an ad? And why?

Ashley> Oooh there's so many! It really is a massive collaboration between so many important brains! I tend to work with the same DPs and PDs on most of my jobs. I think it's important to have a shorthand.

LBB> What type of work are you most passionate about – is there a particular genre or subject matter or style you are most drawn to?

Ashley> I loooooove comedy and am trying to break further into that genre. All I want is to laugh my way through my jobs!

LBB> How do you strike the balance between being open/collaborative with the agency and client while also protecting the idea?

Ashley> It's a delicate dance of knowing when to push and when not to. It's a practice of listening! Commercials evolve all the way into the edit and I think it's important to stay open to ideas and the possibility of change.

LBB> Which pieces of your work do you feel showcase what you do best and why?

Ashley> This project for Keke Palmer was a dream. I directed a bunch of videos for her latest album release. This one was a teaser and we made an infomercial for a fake Keke doll. Keke is truly so brilliant and hilarious. We just laughed all day.

I love this Converse job I shot last fall. It was a fever dream with choreography and Alex Consani dancing on tables all day. We found the cutest retro Italian restaurant in LA and just danced for the whole shoot. I got to work with choreographer Ryan Heffington, who I've been a fan of since I was 17 years old. And we got to shoot on 35mm film.

This one for Meals on Wheels was also really fun. The agency approached me with the idea a year ago and we finally got to make it together. The premise was a bunch of senior citizens going crazy while waiting on hold. They slowly become possessed by the music and start dancing.