Ashley Williams Teams Up with Hallmark to Launch Reciprocal Director Mentorship Program

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Ashley Williams Teams Up with Hallmark to Launch Reciprocal Director Mentorship Program

Thanks to an idea from veteran character actress Ashley Williams, Hallmark Media is upping its support of women directors. A press release announced that Make Her Mark, a reciprocal director mentor initiative and “passion project” for Williams, will launch next year.

Spearheaded by Williams, and developed alongside Hallmark execs, Make Her Mark will see the company actively hiring more female directors as well as leveraging the talent and experience of its current directing roster. “The program will allow women to shadow established directors on Hallmark sets to learn the process,” the release details. “In the Make Her Mark program, after a woman shadows a director-mentor through the full pre-production, production, and post-production processes, the network will employ that woman as the director of their own movie, with her former mentor now ‘shadowing’ her as their creative producer. Each participant will have access to mentoring, career coaching, and help in developing her subsequent works.”

Hallmark will announce the first mentorship pairings in the next few months. These teams will collaborate on movies airing on the Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries.

“I am where I am today because of the women and men who mentored me and lifted me up along the way,” said Lisa Hamilton Daly, EVP of Programming at Hallmark Media. “And now we will pay it forward as an organization and help arm aspiring women filmmakers with the tools and experience they need and want to take their careers to new heights. I cannot wait to see the incredible work that will result from this new program.”

“Hallmark is a brand built around giving to and connecting with others, and The Make Her Mark program is our gift of opportunity experience, coaching, and guidance for such deserving and talented women in our field,” stated Wonya Lucas, President & CEO of Hallmark Media. “I hope one day, when she accepts her Emmy or Peabody or Oscar, that she fondly remembers that Hallmark Media gave her that first shot…and then she pays it forward.”

Williams emphasized, “My gratitude to Hallmark Channel for the years of supporting me as a storyteller runs deep. And now, to work in concert with Wonya Lucas, Lisa Hamilton Daly, Randy Pope, and the executive leadership team to create this same support for other female storytellers is some of the most fulfilling work I’ve ever done. This new program is one of several ways Hallmark is committed to diversifying its stories and its storytellers.”

Williams’ many credits include “The Jim Gaffigan Show,” “How I Met Your Mother,” “A Most Violent Year,” and “Sequin Raze,” the short that was later adapted into the series “UnReal.” She wrote, directed, and starred in the Sundance short “Meats” and is set to direct a Hallmark film this year.

In a guest post for Women and Hollywood, Williams wrote about her journey to the director’s chair. “The truth was, I’ve always wanted to direct,” she revealed. “Years of being directed by (mostly) men who were telling stories meant (mostly) for women had worn on me.” She continued, “In recent years as an actress, my ideas on set for fixing a glaring plot hole or an uneconomical blocking choice were always met with a raised eyebrow and then, seconds later, ‘She’s got a good idea, here, guys.’ For the last decade I hadn’t wrapped a job without the director hugging me and saying, ‘You should be doing my job.’”