The transition from actor to director is a notorious bottleneck in Hollywood. For female television directors, the barriers have historically been even higher, with industry inclusion reports from the Directors Guild of America (DGA) showing stubborn gender disparities for decades. Rather than applying through standard studio mentorship tracks, Tyler created her own leverage.
In 2016, she launched an ambitious campaign to fund her feature directorial debut, Axis. Shot over just seven days in Los Angeles on an ultra-lean budget, the psychological drama took place almost entirely inside a car, tracking an actor confronting his sobriety and career unraveling. The film premiered at the 2017 Nashville Film Festival, taking home the Outstanding First Feature prize. Tyler proved she could deliver high-tension narrative storytelling under extreme technical and budgetary constraints.
That micro-budget victory opened doors in prestige episodic television. Networks quickly realized Tyler possessed the technical literacy and fast-turnaround discipline needed for prime time television directing. She began directing episodes of Criminal Minds while remaining in the cast, a grueling logistical task requiring her to direct herself while managing complex camera set-ups and stunts. From there, her directing slate expanded rapidly, helming episodes for AMC's The Walking Dead, Fear the Walking Dead, Showtime's Work in Progress, and Paramount+'s supernatural drama Evil. Showrunners hire her not as a novelty, but as a seasoned visual director who understands actor psychology and respects production schedules.
