“Laurie Kirwan-Ashman (they/them) is a writer-director with a queer, femgaze, hopepunk approach to storytelling.

They were chosen for the Betty Box and Peter Rogers Comedy Writing programme, BBC Comedy Writersroom, Channel 4 Commissioning Mentorship, the 2018 BFI NETWORK @ LFF programme, and are a 2020 BFI Flare x BAFTA Crew Mentee being mentored by writer-director Kate Herron.

They have spoken on panels, taught, programmed, and shown work at the V&A, ICA, LSFF, LOCO Film Festival, Underwire Festival, and the BFI.

Laurie’s directorial debut MAGIC, a short doc about self-care and Black women, won the Eye Want Change smartphone filmmaking competition. Their second short doc, PXSSY PALACE, was funded by Converse who chose them as one of 25 community leaders for their Spark Progress campaign.

They wrote and directed the queer horror series SOUR HALL for Audible in 2021 and wrote two episodes of Audible’s THE STRANGE CASE (2024) audio series created by Derek Kolstad (JOHN WICK franchise, THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER) starring Vanessa Kirby and David Oyelowo.

Laurie has two feature films as a writer-director in development with the BFI and Home Team respectively, and have TV projects in development with Home Team, Other Productions, Teen Club and Rapt.”