Behind The Scenes

“Look at how a single candle can both defy and define the darkness." - A.F.

Whitney Clinkscales was born on a Naval Base in Portsmouth, Virginia and travelled the world with her parents who both served in the U.S. Navy, but she broke rank and is now an episodic television director. Her work emphasizes the beauty of inclusion and the richness of intersectionality and she has a wide variety of experience directing A-list talent in commercial and promo campaigns for ABC, Cadillac, Billboard, FX, Disney Plus, Disney Channel and more.

Whitney was chosen as one of seven directors in the 2023 Disney Directing Fellowship where she made her television directorial debut on General Hospital on ABC, directing several segments and episode 15218. Prior to that she directed two short films for Hulu’s anthology docu-series, Your Attention Please. Her latest project, a 3-part docu-series now streaming on the Black Experience on Comcast/Xfinity explores the collision between Hip-Hop and House Music in the late 80s/early 90s.

She initially launched her career working in creative/physical production for the Disney/ABC Digital Media Studio where she directed and produced digital derivative content for Shondaland, Marvel, and ABC, while also producing live events, including the Emmy winning Oscars: All Access Red Carpet and Backstage Live show. Her psychological thriller short film, Hush, screened at over 30 film festivals around the world including Urbanworld and the inaugural Revolt Film Festival.

Now, she is a fellow in the Directors Guild of America Women’s Steering Committee Squad. She was recently selected as one of eight directors in Jennifer Warren’s Directing the Actor Lab for the Alliance of Women Directors and she recently shadowed Bethany Rooney on episode 1709 of Criminal Minds: Evolution on Paramount Plus. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Film Production from Florida State University’s College of Motion Picture Arts and a Bachelor of Science in Public Relations from Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

She is a proud member of the Directors Guild of America, The Alliance of Women Directors, Film Fatales, The Producers Guild of America and The Television Academy.

PRESS

AWD Presents the Fellows for 2024’s Directing the Actor Lab

300 Studios and Black Experience on Xfinity Team Up to Produce Original Docuseries ‘In Our DNA: Hip House’

DGA Women’s Steering Committee Sets 2023 Class For WSC Squad Mentorship Program