That’s why we were excited to sit down during NAB 2015 to chat with CA in LA (aka Courtney Birk and Ashleigh Coffelt), a dynamic multidisciplinary film and content creation duo based in Los Angeles to learn more about their journeys and see what advice they could share for everyone else launching their own channels, brands, and careers.
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NFS: Thanks for chatting with us here at NAB 2025! Could y’all introduce yourselves and tell us a bit about what CA in LA is all about?
Ashleigh Coffelt: We’re Courtney and Ashleigh, CA in LA, and we're best friends, filmmakers, musicians, and variety streamers. We co-own a multimedia company together that spans live broadcast, film, music, film education, and fine art. We're just trying to find a way to move forward with storytelling, and we really feel like interactive broadcast is the way of not only the present, but also the future.
Courtney Birk: Yes, and we're really excited to talk about
Mommy Issues today. It’s our newest short film. It's an absurdist comedy, which we all desperately need, and it's about a woman checking in on her ex and finding out he created a Temu AI version of her. It’s really fun, and this is just one of
200 short films we've made up until now. We're really thankful to be here and talk more about our projects.
Ashleigh Coffelt and Courtney Birk
Credit: CA in LA
NFS: Could y’all tell us a bit about your backgrounds and how y’all got into filmmaking and content creation?
AC: Yeah, so I was a psychology and business major at Towson University in Maryland, and I was like, I really want to pick music for movies. Luckily, Towson had an EMF (electronic media and film) track that I applied to and graduated with an audio degree. The industry was in a really interesting shift, it was a lot of the sound engineers and mixers who were picking music for movies. I got on a couple of sets in Maryland and was like, okay, this is not working out the way that I thought it would. So I was like, "I want to make movies. In 2013, I'm going to make 13 short films." Courtney overheard me in a Ruby Tuesday. She messaged me on Facebook overnight, and it was like, "Hey, put me in one of your movies."
And that kind of set off our trajectory. We made a ton of films. We were making 12 to 20 films a year in Maryland, really just trying to explore what our voice was, what our storytelling methods were, and what defined us as creatives. We found that it was a very collaborative and sandbox approach.
We moved out to Los Angeles in 2017. Our film pace slowed down dramatically, but the quality and the production design, everything just skyrocketed. So the trade-off was that we had to stop making as many films, but we started making high-quality films. We got a lot of that out of our system early. But yeah, a lot of the ethos of our film is collaboration, sandbox approach, working with friends, working with people we love, respect, who are artists that still have that childlike play and imagination. We tend to steer towards absurdist comedies and psychological thrillers that focus on the human connection and exploring what it means to be human.
CB: I also want to touch on this. I feel like as soon as someone says collaborative and we want everyone to be passionate, people assume that they are not being paid. And I just want to say for the room, Ashleigh and I, our ethos when it comes to filmmaking. We always, if we're able to, take care of our crew. Obviously, they'll eat very well, but taking care of our crew is the most important thing because without them, we cannot even make a movie. We just need them to have that childlike mentality of, “I'm willing to play, I'm willing to jump in and get as quirky or weird as possible”, because I think that that's what makes the best films.
My background in film, I've been making films since I was a kid. I would make short films with my friends, with a VHS recorder, and we would edit by rewinding the VCR and stopping it where we thought we needed to retake something. It was horrible, but it was amazing. I've been acting all throughout school, and after I graduated, I didn't know if I was ever going to act again. That was when I collided with Ashleigh and overheard her. I was like, this is a chance for me to act again, but I was doing wedding photography and internships. Ashleigh was like, "You're going to make movies with me, you're just not there yet." Now, we're here making a bunch of different types of films, but as Ashleigh was saying, much better quality and more intentional with what we're trying to say, too.
Credit: CA in LA
NFS: Awesome, circling back to your short film, Mommy Issues, where are y’all at with your journey with the film?
AC: We set out to do a trilogy of films focused on human connection and technology, and how we just kind of get it wrong. Black Mirror is a huge influence, but the world is a very dark and bleak place, and we wanted to bring a lighthearted approach to it. Originally, we were imagining that we were going to start with this one film and this story around AI dating. This story resonated because someone at Bumble was saying the future of dating is actually that we don't have time to date anymore. We're going to send AI avatars out into the ether to date for us, and then if they connect, that will prompt the users to match in real life. So we're saving you guys time by sending AI versions of you into the universe. It was really fascinating that we've gone that far that we can't even date.
And dating is difficult, don't get me wrong, but it's so bizarre that a dating app is like, you don't have time, we're going to take care of this for you. So, we really wanted to explore that essence. And then Mommy Issues kind of just came into play, of us saying, okay, we've got one location, we've got two actors. What is a really outlandish story that we can do? And there was a lot of talk, as there has been, about AI, and we wanted to explore what that looked like in real life. What if you had an AI robot that's just not quite there? It passes, but only up until a certain point.
CB: Looking at where AI is right now and then watching it eat itself and the output, and people are like, this isn't right, I don't think. And that's what we really wanted to capture, along with how important human connection is. We do need it, we desperately need it more than ever, and AI is not going to fix that. So yeah, it was a really interesting thing from Bumble, and at the first thought of this concept, we were like, this is a drama, and we're going to be really angry, there’s some catharsis in here that we need. And then we're like, no, it has to be a comedy so that people pay attention to it and take it seriously. But then, it's not doom and gloom, it's more lighthearted, but we're still saying something. That's how we leaned into the absurdist comedy of it all as well.
Credit: CA in LA
NFS: With y’all being co-filmmakers, what’s the post-production process like for y’all? What has been the editing process for projects like Mommy Issues?
AC: So, when we did all of our previs stuff, we were in Resolve and we were using it for grading to kind of see what the latitude of the camera was - how far can we push, how much lighting do we want to do practically on set verse what is the capability in post. We did the color grade in Resolve. Our colorist, Lana Dedova, did a phenomenal job, and she and Courtney were working in tandem to develop that look and to develop the language because, as you know, when you film something, you have three different films. You have the script, you have what you shot on set, and then you have the edit. And so it was just really combining all of those different versions to find what the story here was — what did we actually get versus what did we hope we got.
CB: And we knew that we wanted to really punch up the color. Our location was just white walls with these dark brown wooden beams that we wanted to focus on, but then we wanted a pop of color as well. Our costume designer, Claire Mildred, did an amazing job of dressing the actors in bright mustard yellow, and those were the pops of color all around the room. We were able to really punch up the highlights in the space without blowing anything out, and bring up that saturation on the yellow. It gives it a whole new life, but it's not like —I don't want to say a standard film, but everything pops a little bit more.
AC: We wanted to play with contrast and time of day because it's not really established if this is taking place in the real world or if it's adjacent to the modern world. Is it a little bit futuristic? Is it an older timeline? We're leaving that to the audience, but we wanted to create just a little bit of a stylistic image that when you're watching it, it's not a normal project, if that makes sense. We did a lot of work with our gaffer, Paula Crichton, to try to develop where those spotlight moments would be, especially with Claire doing a fantastic job with costuming. And then our production designer, Hayley Hughes, did such a great job making sure that there are pops of color throughout the set.
CB: Bland-looking location and Resolve gave us such an amazing opportunity to really, really punch up those colors and bring in the shadows where we needed them. But it's beautifully balanced and we think it looks wonderful.
AC: Yeah, shades of brown are very difficult to make sure that they pop, and then both of our actors, Chris Zash and Courtney, have brown eyes, and we're talking about white walls and brown beams, so it was really, really important to get that color right with results.
Credit: CA in LA
NFS: That’s awesome, and very helpful insights for those looking to find the right color and tones for their own projects. If you could talk directly to any aspiring filmmakers or content creators looking to launch their own brands, what advice would you give them?
AC: Always be in a student mentality. Always be looking to learn. If you are eager to get more into film production, look around at local groups, look around on Facebook, they are everywhere. There are always people who are looking to film that want help, and you can really learn things that you like, things you don't like, tips, and tricks. Just put yourself in a lot of experiences that you can learn both bad and good, but always be willing to learn and jump in because it will help you so much in the long term when you know a little bit about everything, and you're making your own project.
CB: And always remain curious. That's the most important thing. Don't let your gear stop you. I know everyone talks about shooting on an iPhone, and we all want to shoot on the most beautiful cameras available. Absolutely. But like Ashleigh was saying, you have to have a skillset of just understanding how production runs, and I found limitations to be super helpful for Ashleigh and me. That's where innovation happens, and when we're in an indie film space, things are going to fall apart. You're not going to know what goes where, and you're going to have to problem-solve a lot.
And if you start with something smaller, start with what you have. Like Ashleigh said, we had one location, two actors, what can we make with this? There are endless possibilities of what you can do with that. And maybe all you have is a phone. Maybe you are able to have a beautiful Blackmagic camera, but you don't have all of your grip gear. That's okay. What do you have, and what stories can be told? Be passionate about that. The story is what matters. Ultimately, people are going to be more willing, especially in the film festival route, to pay attention to your story than be like, oh, well, they really used this one light and they used it so well. It's like, what does the story mean? Focus on that.
Credit: CA in LA
NFS: Great advice. To wrap things up, what’s next for CA in LA?
AC: We want to finish out the two films left in the connection trilogy. One is a feature called “We Did This to Ourselves.” That's about a couple that has 48 hours to decide if they're going to stay together or they're going to divorce, with very fun technological complications. And then we're going to be doing a short film - the AI dating project - working with Black Magic on that one. Hopefully getting to use the URSA Cine Immersive because oh my gosh, how fun would that be?
We're also right now in the middle of recording a studio album, and we're trying to do 10 music videos to go in tandem with its release in the fall. We've never shot a music video for ourselves, and we've been musicians since 2016, so this is the perfect time to jump in. We're also playing a bunch of shows around LA, so come out and see us. We stream on Twitch four days a week. Would love to have you with us.
CB: Yes. And Mommy Issues. We're just wrapping it up, getting it sent for film festivals, keeping our fingers crossed, yeah, and then we'll be on to the next one. Thank you so much for having us!
