Stephanie Saxe hails from Newport News, Virginia, where her father Paul Fulenwider was a controller at Newport News-Williamsburg International Airport (formerly Patrick Henry Tower). Her father was a controller for most of her childhood (1969- 1981). Since her father was an active member of PATCO, she grew up listening to discussions around the dinner table about the air traffic system.
Her favorite memory of that time was when her father cleared a United flight ( with a female! pilot, no less) for takeoff, then handed the mike to her and said ", say Good night United". So, she did, to the astonishment of the United flight crew. "Is that your daughter? I guess you guys gotta start 'em young!" To be sure, having one's daughter in the tower is completely illegal, much less having her talk on the frequency. I hope they don't fire him for that. Oh, that's right, they already did that!
Stephanie has worked in film production for several years for a husband-wife production team as a production manager. In 2003, Stephanie wrote, produced and directed a short comedy called "Sheila Takes a Bow", shot on Super 16mm. The film premiered at DancesWithFilms film festival June 15, 2004 in Santa Monica, California to favorable reviews. On the strength of this background, Stephanie garnered independent financing for untitled PATCO documentary.
She resides near Los Angeles, California with her husband Tom and lots of editing equipment. At age 37, she is too old to be a controller, so filmmaking will have to suffice.