Episode 11: Ashley Skidmore

Home Town: Norfolk, Virginia

Current Town: Los Angeles, CA

What are you working on now?: I’m working on a very fun very gay show for netflix — pickup isn’t official yet so I don’t wanna jinx it by spilling the beans... but you’ll be the first to know when it is!!

Tell me, if you will, a story from your childhood that explains who you are as a writer or as a person: Do you remember the movie Harriet the Spy? I was obsessed with spies when I was a kid — everyone from Harriet to James Bond. I did all this research on how I could become a spy FOR REAL… then it became glaringly obvious to me that the logistics are very complicated when it comes to becoming a spy. I was like, what’s close enough to satisfy my urges to trick people into thinking I’m some woman of mystery and play pretend for a living? then it came to me… writing.

If you could change one thing about television, what would it be?: MORE FEMALE ANTIHEROES.

Who are or were your television heroes?: Shonda Rhimes, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Anna Konkle and Maya Erskine

What kind of television excites you?: I’m obsessed with female led comedies — the kind of stuff that makes you LOL when you’re alone and makes you feel empowered with the same joke.

What advice do you have for TV writers just starting out?: find yourself, be yourself. nothing can stop a woman who has a crystal clear voice.

Any Plugs?: Check out my new favorite book ORPHANS OF CANLAND by Danny Vitale, coming spring 2022!!

ASHLEY SKIDMORE wrote on on all seven seasons of TV Land’s critical darling YOUNGER created by Darren Star, along with 16 episodes of Freeform’s THE BOLD TYPE. Currently Ashley is writing on a new Netflix series, and is developing several projects. Previously she’s sold pilots to MTV, Amazon, New Form Digital, and wrote the short film Feminist Pigs. She is a UCB alum and Tisch School of the Arts grad.