Aimée-Lee Xu Hsien on Comedy, Crazy Problems and Criminal Ideas
Aimée-Lee Xu Hsien is an AACTA nominated writer and director. Proudly Chirish (Chinese-Irish), she grew up in Sydney and is committed to telling inclusive stories that champion authentic, diverse representation on screen.
Her work combines off-beat comedy with emotional depth -- the result is irreverent, playful, and unexpectedly moving, with a lavish visual style that elevates everyday reality.
Aimée-Lee has directed commercial campaigns for some of the biggest brands in Australia and the world, including Uber Eats, Volkswagen, MLA, and Honda. She has been invited to judge at the D&AD Awards, AWARD Awards, and CICLOPE Asia-Pacific.
Her screen credits include the smash-hit online webseries 'Pleasant Avenue' (2024), which reached over 1 million views on Facebook and saw Aimée-Lee nominated for an Australian Directors Guild Award for Best Directing; and 'Not Russian Anywhere' (2025), which has had over 1 million views on Instagram. The series was nominated for a 2026 AACTA Award and won Best Comedy at the Australian Women’s Film Festival 2025.
NAME: Aimée-Lee Xu Hsien
LOCATION: Australia / UK
REPPED BY:Rabbit (AU), Rattling Stick (UK)
LBB> What are some upcoming projects that you're excited about? Tell us a bit about them?
Aimée-Lee> I’m attached to my first feature film, a comedy heist called 'The Nest Egg' starring Deborra-Lee Furness. It’s a wildly fun feminist romp about sticking it to the man and not giving a f-ck because you’ve got nothing left to lose. It centres around six small-town egg factory workers -- all women -- who become high-stakes criminals despite being radically unprepared for the job.
LBB> What excites you in the advertising industry right now, as a director? Any trends or changes that open new opportunities?
Aimée-Lee> Audiences are calling out bullshit a lot more. My 73-year-old mother is the first to yell out, “AI!” in the family group chat when someone sends a suspiciously inhuman video. But she’ll also shrug, “Ask AI,” when I ask a question she can’t be bothered to answer. I like that we are all on this strange precipice of leaning on AI for useful things but being repelled by it when it’s used disingenuously.
LBB> What elements of a script sets one apart from the other and what sort of scripts get you excited to shoot them?
Aimée-Lee> Nothing butters my crumpet more than a script with a really clear idea. Example: two inept crims attempt to siphon petrol from a car at night, only to discover it’s an EV. You get it straight away. When that came across my desk from the folk at DDB for Skoda, I got to pour all my brainpower into the colour I could add. When a script comes to me a bit half-baked, the few days I have on the pitch are spent problem-solving rather than world-building.
LBB> How do you approach creating a treatment for a spot?
Aimée-Lee> The mum I mentioned before is Chinese. That means when I was a child, and I told her I got 95% in an exam, her response was, “What happened to the other five per cent?”
I approach creating treatments with the same extreme diligence, ambition and perseverance as if I am trying to win the love and approval of an Asian parent. You can expect a lot of detail and an entertaining but relevant biographical anecdote. I like it to feel personal.
LBB> If the script is for a brand that you're not familiar with or a market you're new to, how important is it for you to do research and understand that strategic and contextual side of the ad? How do you do it?
Aimée-Lee> I want to understand the brand’s tone and their values, and how they speak to their audience, but I’m gleaning most of that from the creatives during the briefing. During my pitch, I really want to focus on the idea itself.
That’s the director’s job, isn’t it? Unpacking and colouring in the idea. The agency has the brand, strategy and context -- those things helped shape their idea in the first place. I think as well, a lot of the briefs I’ve had for really established brands have come to me because they want to do something different, so understanding how a brand wants to stand out now is just as important -- if not more -- as understanding where they’ve come from.
LBB> For you, what is the most important working relationship for a director to have with another person in making an ad? And why?
Aimée-Lee> Part of a director’s job is being able to work incredibly well with everyone, all the time and at the same time. None more so than with the creative team. We have to be making the same commercial. It’s a relationship that thrives on trust, a shared vision and being unafraid to challenge one another. Playful ribbing in the edit suite is also a sign we get each other.
LBB> What type of work are you most passionate about - is there a particular genre or subject matter or style you are most drawn to?
Aimée-Lee> Work that moves people. That could be moving them to laughter, or to tears, or just throwing something totally unexpected at them. But something has to shift or turn on its head for the audience while they’re watching. I treat every script I get like a small scene within a much larger film. Work that is brave, embraces new perspectives or does something a little bit strange is a big plus for me.
LBB>What misconception about you or your work do you most often encounter, and why is it wrong?
Aimée-Lee> That I only do comedy. I come from a strong drama background, and although I love making people laugh and will never stop doing it, there’s a brilliant satisfaction as a director in making an audience cry. I know that sounds evil, but we all get off on it.
LBB> What’s the craziest problem you’ve come across in the course of a production -- and how did you solve it?
Aimée-Lee> Oh, god. How to make spaghetti come out of a cow udder? How to put an old man’s head in a bowl of guacamole while he sings a song? How to make a palm tree look like an ejaculating penis? How to make a unicorn do a rainbow shart?
Just some of the many silly challenges that I have spent hours thinking, talking and emailing about. The solve is always the same: find someone smarter than you to bring your dreams to life.
LBB> How do you strike the balance between being open/collaborative with the agency and brand client while also protecting the idea?
Aimée-Lee> I don’t see myself as a protector of the idea, more as a facilitator of the idea.
Looking at it through the lens of being a protector can lead a director down a path of feeling ownership over it that they don’t really have or need. I already have enough of my own ideas to protect in my non-commercial work.
That doesn’t mean I won’t stand up for my vision. I will absolutely tell you why it’s better my way, when and if it is. But part of what I love about directing commercials is that I’m there to birth someone else’s idea, and that idea is very sacred to them. It’s very liberating when you think about it that way. Better to run down the hill holding hands together than die on it alone.
LBB> What are your thoughts on opening up the production world to a more diverse pool of talent? Are you open to mentoring and apprenticeships on set?
Aimée-Lee> That is a given to me.
I’m a Chinese-Irish-Australian woman, and I’ve had fantastic mentors throughout my own career. We need to place more diverse voices at the top, though. The power needs to filter down; the intention to listen to diverse voices in a genuine and meaningful way needs to filter down
Revolutionising things from the bottom is a lot more difficult than implementing small changes at the top.
LBB> What’s your relationship with new technology and, if at all, how do you incorporate future-facing tech into your work?
Aimée-Lee> AI is obviously amazing and great for so many things. I’m all for it when it is not being used as a lazy, cheap shortcut to replace a human being who has worked at their craft for decades and whose lived experience will bring more to the project than people feeding prompts into a machine. I’m acutely aware of the need to ensure AI isn’t making me lazy or turning my brain to mush.
I try to click on articles rather than read AI summaries. I can’t stand the AI writing prompts on email and everywhere else. I have to turn it all off so my voice always stays alive. Who wants to work with a director without a voice?
LBB> Which pieces of your work do you feel show what you do best – and why? Include 3-4 links and a sentence or 2 about each piece of work!
Aimée-Lee>
A very elegant concept, and the only time I think I’ll get to shoot a car ad entirely under the cover of night. I loved working with these two actors; there’s enough B-roll for a short film.
This was one of those dream jobs where every step of the way, the agency were saying, “Make it more weird.” The legends at ABEL really embraced the visual stamp I wanted to put on it, shooting it in 4:3 with what I call, “the swirly lenses from Poor Things”.
Quick-Eze - Pop It When Heartburn Hits
I think all of us thought this job was kinda straightforward going into it, and quickly realised it came with a host of niche challenges -- not least of all the politics of Mariachi bands and teaching elderly Mexican men to sing our fast-paced jingle in English when all they wanted to do was sing sweet, gentle serenades in Spanish.
My first job at Rabbit and my first ‘big job’ full stop.
It could have been nightmarishly difficult, but it was a dream the whole way through for me. The creative team at (then) The Monkeys played a big role in that. This job really kickstarted things for me, as the lamb campaigns often do with emerging directors, so it’ll always have a special place.
