writer/director/editor

This was the second and final short film I made, before Caroline and Jackie. In a lot of ways, it's not as solid as my first short, but it's ambitious and I fell big.

I learned more through my mistakes on this project than anything I'd ever done before. The biggest thing I learned is how valuable acting is. I was super cocky going into this and thought I could evenly pair trained actors with non-actors, and just through my own brilliance then direct an even performance throughout. I was wrong. That said, I'm glad I failed a bit here because afterward I completely changed my priorities in regards to acting and how I deal with actors, and that shift is what lead to Caroline and Jackie.

Big shout out to Michael Ziming Ouyang and Shu Chou (producer and DP) because without them I literally would have been nothing but another bumbling American in China. This production was so ambitious, not to mention ambiguously illegal. I literally ended this trip by smuggling cans of Kodak film across the border with a forged government certificate labeling them as dailies from a Rolex commercial. And thank you to Ruth Surrey, for whom without none of it would be possible. 

Shanghai: you crazy.