Ali Scher

After graduating from USC MFA Film Production program in 2011, she directed the short film THE MAIDEN AND THE PRINCESS that received its World Premiere at the 2011 Palm Springs Film Festival and has gone to play Austin, Cannes and over 100 other film festivals worldwide. MAIDEN won a Student Emmy, the DGA Jury Award for Best Female Filmmaker, and the USC Faculty Award for Best Director. Ali has since directed numerous commercials, co-created/written/directed a satirical web series called CANDYLAND, and directed a series of web shorts for DreamworksTV. In 2016 Scher directed an adaptation of Megan McCafferty’s popular tween novel JESSICA DARLING’S IT LIST, now playing on Netflix.

“One of the things I’m most excited about in POPULAR THEORY is the opportunity to tell a superb and entertaining children’s story featuring a strong, intelligent female protagonist. I want Erwin to be a role model for little girls – one who cares more about science than her looks.  Male characters still outnumber females 3 to 1 in family films. This is disturbing considering that females comprise over 50% of the US population. Unfortunately, many female characters are still just there as eye-candy. I hope that Erwin will be a step towards changing the way girls and women are portrayed in children’s entertainment. Part of the job being a filmmaker is that you get to create the world how you want it to be. I’d like the world to be a place where little girls grow up dreaming of becoming more than just eye candy; of becoming Nobel Prize winning scientists, doctors, or even film directors.”