After she won first place at the American Film Institute National Student Festival for her short film A Weekend Home (1975), Martin Scorsese, one of the judges, offered her a job as his assistant as he directed Taxi Driver. It was there that she met her husband Cinematographer Michael Chapman. She went on to work for Roger Corman editing Joe Dante's first film, Hollywood Boulevard, when she was 22 years old. She edited American Boy: A Profile of Steven Prince for Scorsese, Corvette Summer for MGM, and Second-Hand Hearts for Hal Ashby. She directed Slumber Party Massacre by the age of 27, also for Roger Corman.
