Ep549 - Ashley Jay Sandberg, Producer ‘Twisters’

“I want to pursue the industry. I don’t know what it looks like. I don’t have connections. But I knew I was interested in development,” thought Ashley Jay Sandberg while pursuing journalism. “I tell people to follow what you’re curious about because you don’t know where that’s going to lead.” Ashley’s latest film is Twisters, a re-imaginging of the original film, where a retired tornado chaser and meteorologist (Daisy Edgar-Jones) is persuaded to return to Oklahoma to work with a new team (Glen Powell) and new technologies. Twisters was also written by Mark L. Smith who was on the show back in Episode 512. In this interview, Ashley talks about working with Frank Marshall (Gremlins, The Goonies), the difference in docs versus fiction work from a studio perspective, making a movie based on “science theory,” pitching to Steven Spielberg, and unproduced scripts she still thinks about. As a special note, this was part of our new LIVE interview series in partnership with Buzztown, a community for serious screenwriters, where students also participated in this interview. You can learn more or join the waitlist here: https://forms.gle/RNaoVrdU9afWpykWA If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts? It only takes about 60-seconds and it really helps convince some of the hard-to-get guests to sit down and have a chat (simply scroll to the bottom on your iTunes Podcast app and click “Write Review"). Enjoy the show!