Your Story Club Podcast
Your Story Club Podcast
A Journey from Childhood Dreams to Producing Television: Ashley Williams Allen, Producer & Showrunner for Magnolia Network's "Happy to Be Home with the Benkos"
What does it take to transform a creative concept into a beloved television show? Join us in the debut episode of the Your Story Club Podcast as we sit down with the phenomenal Ashley Williams-Allen, lovingly known as "The Bosser" by my sons, Miles and Memphis. With over two decades of experience in the television industry, Ashley shares her journey from modeling to becoming the executive producer and showrunner of Magnolia Network’s "Happy to Be Home with the Benkos." Get an inside look at the creative evolution of the show, which began as "Ferris Does Faces," and discover the importance of collaboration and friendship in bringing a project to life.
Our chat with Ashley isn’t just about professional achievements; it’s a deep dive into her personal story, including her upbringing in Columbia, South Carolina, and her childhood dreams of becoming Miss America. Ashley opens up about the challenges she faced, from bullying to feeling out of place, and how these experiences have shaped her approach to storytelling and problem-solving. We also touch on the creative dynamics of working with friends and offer heartfelt advice on handling bullying and feeling out of place. Tune in to be inspired by Ashley’s incredible journey and gain valuable insights into the world of unscripted television production.
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@EmilyRoseLA
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Hello world, I'm Miles and I'm Memphis. Welcome to the your Story Club podcast, a place where stories are told and legends are made. That was cute, but I'm here for the interviews and not the jokes. Sorry, oh guys. And, by the way, his nickname on the podcast is the Lame Joke Dude. Hey, I'm watching you here.
Emily Rose:And so am I. I'm also watching you. We're going to be interviewing every week all kinds of creatives, and you guys are going to be asking them awesome questions about what?
Boys:Their childhood.
Emily Rose:I think that if we can chat with people about their childhood, you creative two will be inspired and then we can pass it on to other people.
Boys:Should we call you dinosaur dude or lame jokes guy?
Emily Rose:I think we're going to call you nickname maker. That's what we're going to call you.
Boys:I actually don't like that nickname, mr Nickname maker no.
Emily Rose:Okay, okay, everyone, we want to welcome you to.
Boys:The your Story Club, where everyone has a story.
Emily Rose:All right, so we are going to get started with our first interview on what's the name of our podcast Miles the your Story.
Boys:Club podcast.
Emily Rose:Yes. So I'm so excited for our first episode and if you're joining us this early on on our very first debut episode, then you most likely know that I am Emily Rose. I'm an actor and a voiceover video game person, a creative, but one of my most favorite titles that I have is Mom to my Kiddos and I'm so excited to be doing this fun project of a podcast with my two boys, miles and Memphis. So we came up with this idea because we wanted to listen to more podcasts together and I felt like there was a space to have kids interview creatives and musicians and writers and thinkers and ask them what their beginnings were like, what were their childhoods like, what made them into who they were, you know, good or bad. So today, for our very first episode, we have a wonderful guest with us. Today we have. I guess I should ask you this, ashley how do you want me to introduce you? Ashley Williams-Allen.
Ashley Williams Allen:That's great, ashley, the boss lady Ashley Williams-Allen. That's great, ashley, the Boss Lady Williams-Allen.
Emily Rose:Ashley the Boss, lady Williams-Allen.
Ashley Williams Allen:Well, actually, you know what I think? Miles should give me a nickname, because he's the nickname man.
Boys:Wow, miles, memphis.
Emily Rose:I'm trying to think what's her. I think her nickname. What's her nickname going to? Be, she's already given you a hint that she's a boss lady.
Boys:Big boss lady, no, no, the bosser.
Emily Rose:Okay, so the bosser, yes, the bosser. Well, that actually doesn't do you justice, though, ashley. Okay, boys, listen up.
Emily Rose:Ashley, I know you know her as Miss Ashley, but Ashley is a film and television producer who is currently executive producing and show running Magnolia Network's amazing, colorful, successful show Happy to Be Home with the Bancos, which we are going to be talking about today, and she's worked in this industry for over two decades and has been involved in producing and contributing to some of the most popular, high-list rated reality series that I know our listeners have heard of, including America's Got Talent, the Bachelor, dancing with the Stars, hell's Kitchen.
Emily Rose:I mean, she's done so many of these reality shows Ashley is, she's awesome and has such a passion for storytelling and is one of our dear friends who is doing this thing that she loves producing, so we're so excited to learn more about your story, ashley, and you know, guys, we go so far back with Ashley that I think she actually has a nickname for you, memphis. Can you tell us what that nickname is? Ashley senator, the senator? Oh yeah, I forgot, she called you the senator because you had these big, big, chubby cheeks and big, curly hair I did.
Boys:Do you have a nickname for me?
Ashley Williams Allen:no, I love nicknames. I love giving people nicknames. I have about a million nicknames for my kids miles. Your name is like your name needs to. You have to say your first and your last name together, like that's how we, that's what we call you in our house. We always have to say your name together your full name is your nickname anyway.
Emily Rose:Anyway, we are so excited. We are so excited that you're here with us today. You are an original OG champion of this podcast. A adult is an amazing creative, but maybe not your typical creative. You know. We're going to learn about what aspects of her job are creative. She's been in television for so long. I'll let you guys take it away and go ahead and get to know Miss Ashley.
Boys:And we are live. Thanks so much for being here. Can you tell us a little bit about what you do?
Ashley Williams Allen:Yeah, I would love to tell you about what I do. So I am a television producer. I've been producing television for about 20 years, whoa, and I know that means I'm old.
Boys:Yeah, you're an old lady Whoa bro, old lady, we'll have to edit that part out no, we are not editing that part out.
Ashley Williams Allen:I love that part yeah, and so right now I'm the executive producer and showrunner of a show on the Magnolia Network called Happy to be Home with the Benkos uh, what is a producer for the kids?
Ashley Williams Allen:who don't know. Well, you know, a producer means a lot of different things. There's a producer for films, there's a producer for scripted television and there's a producer for unscripted television. So I am a producer for unscripted television and for the show that I'm currently working on. I helped develop it and create it and pitched it to the network and sold it to them, and so now I'm involved in every part of production. So at the beginning of the season, during pre-production, I'm getting everything organized and ready for the shoot. When we're filming, I go into the field and I direct the cast and the cameras and then, once we get into post, I work with our edit team to take all the footage that we shot all season and craft a really beautiful story. So yeah, I kind of am a jack of all trades, I guess.
Boys:That's interesting. How long did it take?
Ashley Williams Allen:How long did it take to?
Boys:do what To get TV show up and running Well this particular TV show.
Ashley Williams Allen:It took a while because when we started developing it it was about something completely different and it probably took like a year and a half of a development process from conception to it really getting sold and then us filming it. What was it originally about? It was originally a show called Ferris Does Faces. That was about like a 10-year-old girl who would paint people's faces as if they were artwork and as she was painting their face she would learn really interesting things about them and she did faces of like astronauts and movie stars and famous country singers and stuff like that. So that's kind of what it started off as and then it just sort of developed and developed and developed and became a home renovation show. Isn't that wild, that's?
Boys:a big change and it sort of reminds me of this podcast. We're just learning stuff about people. Yeah, totally, did you get creative with a group of friends?
Ashley Williams Allen:Like when I was a kid.
Boys:Yeah, and right now. Yeah, we're about to take a dive into your childhood.
Ashley Williams Allen:Well, right now, yes, I am creative with a group of friends. I actually you guys, this is crazy, but I actually get to work with my best friend and you actually know her. I get to work with my best friend and you actually know her. I get to work with my best friend. We've been best friends since we were in high school. Isn't that crazy? That's incredible, can be kind of crazy, and we need organized people to keep us in line and make sure that we're doing all the things that we need to do. So it's it's really fun to have a group of friends and everybody has different strengths so that when we work together, we can produce something really spectacular.
Emily Rose:So you're talking about that. You get to work with your friends and I. Is that something that you felt, like you and Tracy when you guys first met were creative together, or is this something that you've kind of discovered as your friendship has gone along?
Ashley Williams Allen:Well it? No, we never really did creative stuff together. We were always just friends and always had a great time. But she's always been somebody in my life that I really trusted and that I knew that I could count on. She's very dependable and also I, knowing her for so many years, I knew that she was really organized. And when I started producing this show, I realized that there was a gap in what we were doing and we needed somebody who was super organized to jump in and help us get things sorted out. And so I just thought you know what I trust Tracy and she knows me in and out and she's the perfect person to bring onto the show to work with me.
Boys:Where were you born? Is that where you grow up?
Ashley Williams Allen:Yep, I was born in Columbia, south Carolina, and I grew up in the Columbia area.
Boys:Nice yeah. At what age did you decide to do your job?
Ashley Williams Allen:Well, not until I was pretty old, not until I was about 23 years old.
Boys:Not until you were an old old lady.
Emily Rose:Memphis stop old lady memphis, stop well I guess that was really when I was like an old lady and now I'm an old, old lady, right? Yeah, there's no room for old lady jokes on this show.
Boys:No room for old lady jokes when did you first realize you were creative? As a kid, I was about to ask that question.
Ashley Williams Allen:I don't think I really ever saw myself as creative. When I was a kid I was in a lot of like. I guess I was in a lot of creative type school classes and stuff like that. Like we had, um, uh, a little program called odyssey of the mind where you would do kind of creative things with your classmates.
Ashley Williams Allen:But honestly, I don't really ever think that I consider myself a creative, and even as I started producing um, a lot of times producers are problem solvers. That's really sort of what we do. We look at a situation and think what are possible problems and how can we go ahead and think about how we could solve them, whether it's, you know, in something that's being written, something that's being produced and filmed in the field, or something that's being written, something that's being produced and filmed in the field, or something that's in an edit. So I think I saw myself more as like a problem solver, and it wasn't until really the last five or 10 years that I really understood my capacity for like true creativity when it comes to writing or adding music to a score or, you know, really setting up shots visually. I think it's something that I don't think I realized as a kid.
Boys:If you didn't know you wanted to be a producer. What did you want to be as a kid?
Ashley Williams Allen:Well, memphis, I wanted to be Miss America when I was a kid. Yes, the moment has arrived and I actually was Miss South Carolina. Yeah, so the early part of my career I was a model and I traveled all around the world modeling and that's what actually brought me to Los Angeles was I was pursuing modeling and acting and then, shortly after moving to LA, I sort of fell into the role of casting and producing, and that's how I got my start as a producer.
Emily Rose:Wait, so no, hold, hold. This is. I need to park here for a second nice, so now don't park here. So so you wanted to be Miss America as a kid, and you, you achieved that. You, while you achieved, you know being a part of that entire thing. You achieved being Miss South Carolina yes, that's right, which was a big deal. Do you feel like there were glimpses of what you do now in that that you saw? Now, as you look back on things, you know what Interestingly?
Ashley Williams Allen:yes, so a big part of. Sorry guys, I know this is probably not going to be super interesting to you, but I'm just gonna we'll blaze through it.
Emily Rose:It's very interesting because I think it's important that sometimes kids want to be things and it ends up turning out to be little shadows of maybe what they will become, like the fact that maybe a kid would want to be like I wanted to be a singer, an astronaut and an artist. And now I look back and I say, well, that's an actor getting to do all those different things, right. So there's shadows, I think, of things that you are now, that maybe you wanted to be as a kid. So if you could tell us more about that, I think that's kind of interesting.
Boys:Did you ever get braces as a kid?
Emily Rose:We'll come back to that, because I want her to tell me about this part old lady needs to answer my question.
Boys:No time for old lady jokes. You can tell other jokes. No, old lady jokes.
Ashley Williams Allen:Since I am an old lady, I'll quickly answer your question, memphis. So I don't forget, I did have braces as a kid, um, but I to answer your mom's question. So, being in a pageant, a huge part of it that people don't know about is you go through a really intensive interview process, and I worked and worked and worked with interview coaches to learn how to interview and to learn how to speak to people, because I'm naturally introverted, naturally pretty shy and don't love public speaking. And now my job as a producer a huge part of my job is interviewing people. I'm the interviewer and they're the interviewees, and we use those interviews all throughout our episodes to narrate the stories that we're telling. So interacting with people in an interview setting was definitely something that I learned as I was going through pageants.
Emily Rose:Wow. So there's interview coaches. Huh, do you guys want to? You want to do some interview coaching?
Boys:Speaking of braces, I saw a deer in a patch yard. That really needed braces.
Emily Rose:Oh yeah, what kind of deer was that, memphis? It was a deer who had buck teeth. Oh wow, you're hilarious. That was good. Oh my God, that was a really good pivot into that moment, Memphis. Thank you.
Boys:Hello, this is our commercial break segment called the Creative Corner.
Boys:The Creative Corner is all about being creative. So, memphis, what have you been doing to be creative lately? Well, miles, what I've been doing to be creative is I made a TV, because mom doesn't let us watch TV all day, kids, we don't know how that feels. You made a TV. That's impossible, dude. You're not in an engineering class. That's literally impossible, miles, I did, I actually did. I made it out of a shoebox, a shoebox, some duct tape, toilet paper roll and stuff. So you went to the bathroom. No, a used toilet paper roll that I did not use. Ah, I colored some pictures, I put them inside and I'm not actually done with them yet. So it's an incomplete creative project. Yeah, pretty much.
Boys:Miles, what have you been doing to be creative lately? Well, I have not been making any TVs, aw, but I am pretty big into drawing planes right now. Nice, what made you want to draw fighter jets? A little movie called Top Gun, maverick. Okay, some of the kids haven't watched that, so let's not encourage that. Let's not encourage them, kids. It's a great movie. You should totally watch it. Miles, what kinds of things do you learn when you draw? You have to take a couple tries to do it, because the shape of the wings and the uh mach 9 uh engine is very hard to draw. Yeah, it took me a couple times to get my design right. Well, that was a good creative clue. So there's a couple ways to be creative this week. You can uh, draw a shoebox. Make a tv. Draw a shoebox.
Boys:No, make a shoebox tv yeah, I just wanted to make sure we were getting that right well, there you have it.
Emily Rose:There's some ideas from the creative corner. If you want to see this cardboard box tv or these plain drawings, go ahead and head on over to our instagram at your story club podcast. Give us a follow and tell us what you think. Okay, back to our show here's the million dollar question. Take a few guesses on what it is. Oh my goodness, what is million dollar question? She has to guess first, okay oh, the million dollar question.
Ashley Williams Allen:She has to guess first. Oh okay, million dollar question. Million dollar question. I don't know, I'm bad at this.
Boys:He doesn't even have a million dollars, so don't answer it. This is the million dollar question. Are you a dog person or a cat person?
Ashley Williams Allen:I don't even. Oh, miles, miles. I don't think you want to know the answer to that. The answer is neither all right then.
Boys:Are you a durable person? Are you a hamster person, a rabbit person?
Ashley Williams Allen:no, I'm a nothing. I don't like animals. I do not like really any animals, but you know what I do like is humans.
Boys:Old lady offends me.
Emily Rose:I would just like to state for the record you're the most gorgeous old lady that has existed, so let's not put her in that category, okay, so what? What question? Oh, I have a question. Okay, is it about her? Is it about her childhood? Yes, go ahead.
Boys:Childhood? Yeah, Did you have a character from a movie or game that you looked up to and admired?
Ashley Williams Allen:Well, yeah, my favorite movie was Girls Just Want to have Fun with Sarah Jessica Parker. I haven't seen that one and I don't want to.
Boys:Yeah, I don't want to either. Anything that involves girls, I hate. I don't want to. Yeah, I don't want to either. Anything that involves girls, I hate you like jurassic world? Especially princesses. If it involves princesses, I'm out no way all right.
Emily Rose:How about let's listen to her answer?
Ashley Williams Allen:go ahead um, yeah, I would say, girls just want to have fun. Um, it was just like a really fun movie about dancing. I used to love to dance when I was a little kid and that was sort of a I don't know what it was about that movie, but I just I loved it. I think maybe I loved it because it was a little bit of a story of an underdog and I kind of felt like an underdog when I was a kid because I got made fun of a lot.
Boys:Oh, so you're saying you were bullied?
Ashley Williams Allen:Yeah, kind of.
Emily Rose:So you felt left out and you felt different and you felt bullied. What did you do when you experienced those things? How did you deal with that?
Ashley Williams Allen:Well, when I was a kid, the kids in my school, they were pretty mean to me and all the boys would call me fish lips and and I could go home oh so boys, don't call people names, sticks with them I can still tell you the names of the people that called me fish lips right now okay, tell us it's okay, I'll beat them up to smithereens.
Emily Rose:Oh, memphis thank you, go ahead, sorry, go ahead, ashley, oh no, I was just gonna say I would.
Ashley Williams Allen:Miles was asking how I dealt with it and I would. Just. I would go home at night and cry every night.
Emily Rose:When do you feel like you were able to kind of I don't know move over that or get past that, or did you feel like getting into the pageant side of things helped with that?
Ashley Williams Allen:you know, the summer between middle school and high school I really sort of blossomed, I got taller and like I think I just kind of grew into myself. But you know that stuff for me it took a really long time to go away and I think even now you know it, sometimes it still bothers me. Even now you know it, sometimes it still bothers me and a lot of times I see myself as an underdog or feel like I don't fit in. Especially if I walk into a room with new people, you know I'll feel uncomfortable and feel like, oh, maybe I won't fit in or maybe they won't be nice to me so what advice would you give kids that feel that way?
Boys:Like me, I am kind of getting old right now.
Ashley Williams Allen:You are, I am Well, I would say number one always talk to a grown-up about it, like if it's your mom or your dad or you know a grown-up that you trust. Always talk to somebody about it. Um, me and my kids, we, we talk about darth vader a lot. If you think about anakin, like what a sweet boy you know and he went through some really hard times, and when you think and you realize that he grew up to be Darth Vader, it's kind of wild. But you realize that when bad things happen and we let them fester and they get into our hearts and we don't deal with it, we don't take care of it, it can have a really bad effect. And so that's the same advice that I would, that I would give anybody who's feeling bullied is talk to a grown-up about it and you know kind of work through it and deal with it, because you don't want to let that hurt, get bigger and bigger and bigger, and then we become darth vader.
Boys:Darth vader was actually a good guy, and I think the part of him also turning bad was maybe the fact that he got eternally burned by lava. Maybe, as all kids hate them. But what was your favorite vegetable?
Ashley Williams Allen:My favorite vegetable.
Boys:For the record, I don't have one.
Ashley Williams Allen:I eat broccoli pretty much every day here in my house.
Boys:So, speaking of vegetables, oh no, oh no. Do you know how I know that carrots are so good for you?
Ashley Williams Allen:How.
Boys:I never once seen a rabbit wearing glasses. Again, I emphasize his nickname as the lame joke dude, you are so mean Memphis.
Emily Rose:I like the jokes We'll be here all week. We'll be here all night. He'll be here all night, ladies and gentlemen. All right, memphis, we got to wrap, or Miles, we got to wrap this up. So what are the last couple questions about creativity and childhood that you would ask Miss Ashley?
Boys:What you said. This would be a 30 minute podcast it's going quick, it's going quick what advice would you give? So would you give a kid who wanted to produce his own films like an iMovie?
Ashley Williams Allen:I would say just just get going, don't don't wait, don't feel like you have to learn or go through all of the school, don't feel like you can't do it. Just get started. Start filming something, start using iMovie on your phone to create little movies and you will learn as you go. And if there's adults in your life who can help, you ask them for help. But I think the biggest thing is to just do it Like just jump in and try, just like you guys are doing with this podcast.
Boys:Thank you so much. It was so good talking to you, and now it's time for the recap of the your Story from Mom.
Emily Rose:Oh yes. So this is where we move to a special part that I think I just forgot about, but now I remember. Thank you for reminding me. As our podcast is called the your Story Club podcast, we like to wrap things up at the end and maybe reflect a little bit of your story back to you, reflect a little bit of your story back to you. So we say once upon a time there was a little girl named ashley and she was created to create and she felt sad sometimes because she was called fish lips and felt now we can laugh at it, but at the time it was not funny and she would go home and cry and cry and cry and dream like darth vader Vader.
Emily Rose:She felt like she could become Darth Vader if she didn't deal with it. But she dreamt of maybe one day being Miss America. She worked so hard and so long and she learned how to talk to people and she became interested in people and she even achieved her dream of becoming Miss South Carolina and going through that process. But even more, she became an incredible producer because she's learned through all of that how interesting people are and with her creative heart she has gone on to tell great, great stories and be great friends with great people and we'll live happily ever after.
Boys:We have one final ask. Oh, what's the ask? Can you get us to Chris Pratt? Oh, can anybody that listens to this podcast get us to Chris Pratt? We have them on the list. Or Dude Perfect, we have them on the list. So anybody just email us and we will send you anything you want.
Emily Rose:Well, I don't know about that, but we do have a running excel spreadsheet of all the people that we're excited to interview, and so that is on Memphis' list, although I don't know if he'll be able to even speak, if he ever gets Chris Pratt on the yeah, so it will be my interview. Oh my gosh, I love it.
Boys:What does a shark say after it eats a cloudfish?
Emily Rose:Oh, dear Lord.
Boys:That tastes funny.
Emily Rose:You can't get all of your jokes out now. It's only the first episode. Well, thank you so much, Miss Ashley.
Ashley Williams Allen:Oh my, gosh, it was my pleasure. I have a question for you. Do you guys have anything you want to ask me about interviewing people, since I've done it for many, many years and you guys are just taking your first steps into it?
Boys:I'll take memphis for the first uh question. If, say, he was to have chris pratt on show, what would you suggest for someone who has a hero fright?
Ashley Williams Allen:Who has what Hero fright. The thing that takes away your fear is preparation, and so if you were gonna have Chris Pratt on, then I would do some research about him, learn a little bit, so that you would have some talking points for him. And then, once you guys do this a few times, you'll be like old pros and you'll be prepared. And so when Chris Pratt does come on, it'll be easy peasy lemon squeezy.
Boys:I'm pretty sure I'll still just faint. Yeah, he'll probably just faint. Thanks so much for being on the podcast. Ashley and everyone. Check out our show Happy to Be Home with the Bancos. We've watched it and it is awesome. It airs Saturdays at noon and you can Stream it on Max Magnolia or Discovery Plus. What do you call a Crownfish with a messy room?
Emily Rose:Okay, I'm going to have to put a little muzzle on him. Thank you so much, and we're going to end it Good job.
Boys:A slobster. Thank you, ashley.
Emily Rose:Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this episode and you'd like to help support the podcast, please share it with others, post about it and share our Instagram at your Story Club Podcast. You know the drill leave a rating and review, especially so other parents, kids and creatives can find us. To catch all the latest from me, you can follow me at EmilyRoseLA to visit our production company at North Rose Pictures and we hope you were inspired by listening today because remember everyone has a story.
Boys:This has been a North Rose Pictures podcast.