February 20, 2025 • 47 mins
Welcome to episode 4 of The First Act Break podcast, the show where we dive into the art, business, and hustle of breaking into the film industry. Today, we bring on Bien Bagui, a USC film director who has a passion for financial literacy. We chat about his advice for managing finances in film school and the film industry and how he got into USC film school.
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Speaker 00 (00:00):
And today we are joined by our good friend, Bien,
a USC director, producer, whois very passionate about the
film industry and especiallyabout financial literacy in the
film industry.
So thank you for joining us.
Of course, I'm happy to be heretoday.
Bien, how much money do youwant in the future?
I want to be comfortable.
I want to be doing what I love,but I'm not...
(00:23):
Like, I don't want to have toworry about paparazzi and stuff.
You don't want to be famous?
It's weird because I want to beat, like, that point.
I'm trying to think of, like, agood person.
What did he say?
Sean Baker?
Is that a point where hedoesn't exactly get a lot of,
like, press coverage, but at thesame time he's known for being
good at what he is?
Indie filmmaker.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
(00:44):
Maybe, like, an indiefilmmaker.
I love Sean Baker.
Yeah.
Speaking of, because I was justwatching the Florida Project.
Oh, that's my favorite movie.
What'd you think?
Oh, I'm not done yet.
Oh, you haven't finished ityet?
I'm not done yet.
Oh, so good.
And then something crazyhappened.
Something crazy does happen.
Oh, I got spoiled.
Oh, no.
I want to see how it plays out.
So do you think Enora's goingto win Best Picture?
You know, I hope it's veryseriously considered, and I'm
(01:09):
glad it was nominated, but justbased on the way the Academy
works, I don't think so.
Yeah, true.
Me too.
I hope it wins, but we'll see.
Wait, what?
That's what you like, huh?
I just pointed that out.
I didn't say anything aboutthat.
I'm a little upset that Dune 2,and especially Dennis, you
(01:29):
know, was the best director.
It's okay.
What would you want?
An Oscar for Best Picture or$100 million?
Oh, Oscar for best picture.
If I just wanted $100 million,I'd be in another field that
makes a lot more money, right?
That's right.
That's true.
So if you do choose a fieldthat isn't the big money maker,
(01:52):
then what makes you sointerested in the business and
money side of things?
Well, I mean, especiallybecause of that, the fact that I
don't think filmmakers, or atleast the vast majority of
filmmakers, the 99%, They'llmake a lot of money, which is
why I think that they should bewise about how they spend it,
save it, earn it, reinvest it,that kind of thing.
(02:12):
I mean, what are some keys youthink to making a comfortable
income and a comfortablefinancial system for you and
your future family?
Well, I mean, I just want topreface it first by saying I'm
21.
I haven't lived life like longenough.
So I'm no expert at this andI'm no financial advisor at the
same time.
But just a few years I've beenalive, been an adult, been in
(02:34):
college.
I think I've learned asignificant amount, enough that
I think I should share and wouldwant to share to other people,
especially others in my field.
And it's also stemmed from mydesire to be a producer, working
a lot with budgeting,financing, that kind of thing.
But the core of it, And I knowI'm getting a little bit
technical here, but the core ofit, I think, has to do with just
(02:58):
basic life organizationalskills and things that even
those who aren't filmmakers,regardless of what field you are
in, should know.
And a lot of college studentsshould know.
What are some ways you learntechnology?
know what are some sources andbooks or you know channels that
you you look to to get financialadvice from you know i'm so i'm
(03:20):
not so pretentious as to likeread books about it yet i'm
still on the like youtube sideum i i watch this guy named
humphrey yang um he gives a lotof financial advice and he does
it all you know out of the thegoodness of his heart he's not
like one of those scammerspyramid scheme kind of people
you see on instagram which iswhy i was just drawn to him yeah
um this is other guy you neverknow what i guess you might have
(03:45):
a course coming that's truemoney money's gonna get tight um
i think this other guy namedgraham or i'm something graham
stephan yes you know hey icedcoffee hour i've been watching
that guy for the last like sixyears yeah so i mean i also
watch him for financial advicesometimes so you just like those
(04:05):
are my sources and then justkind of working through it on my
own finding what works for meum doing my own research
sometimes just talking tofriends and family people who've
been in my position um yeahyeah absolutely that's amazing
of course do you have a lot offamily who are into business and
(04:27):
financial stuff my dad is abanker okay um But I'm not, you
know, it could be.
It's in the genes.
My mom's an accountant.
Oh, wonderful.
Or she started off as anaccountant.
She was really good at math.
I don't think I'm as good asher, but again, I guess it has
to be the genes, right?
(04:47):
No, genes.
Oh, and I'm Asian, so.
Fair, too.
Genes play such a big role insomeone's future.
It really does.
I don't know.
What are some advice for youryounger self?
My younger self, yeah.
Let's say freshman year BN.
How would you?
If we were just going purelyoff of financial advice, I'd
have a number of things, but atthe same time, I don't regret
(05:08):
it.
the choices I made in freshmanyear, I was a little bit more
reckless with my money.
But just coming into college,coming into this new lifestyle,
living alone for the first time,6,000 plus miles away from
home, I gave myself some wiggleroom to spend, have fun.
(05:30):
But if I want to truly beresponsible, my number one
advice would have been to starta high-yield savings account.
I think my choice of high-yieldsavings account, I used Capital
One, but there are multitude ofgood ones.
Discover, Amex.
(05:51):
I used Capital One because Iknow I want to travel.
And the current account I useand the current even credit card
I use allow me to do so.
I was able to finance my Italytrip just purely off of...
That was awesome.
points yeah but i did hearcapital one's being sued it is
yeah oh that's what i heard it'ssued for um six billion dollars
(06:14):
or something something likethat was it like fraud or
something um like financialwhatever yeah intricate so maybe
you'll make some money off ofthat oh maybe or maybe it means
i should switch over yeah ithink america's not bad yeah
well bank of america i thinkThey don't have a competitive
savings rate.
(06:34):
What is it?
APY.
I think with like DiscoverCapital One, they have an APY of
like 3.7 right now, 3.8.
When I first signed up, it waslike 4.25% annually, right?
Whereas like Bank of America,Chase, your normal savings
account gives you like 0.03%interest.
(06:55):
So even just like little thingslike that, knowing that...
knowing just even gettinghaving access to that
information would have helped mea lot freshman year um because
you know if i had invested orjust left a thousand dollars and
my savings account i would havehad like a four percent return
on that at the end of the yearso that's like what 40 bucks how
(07:16):
do you budget like per monththough like you know do you do
you budget i do budget okay umAnd in complete transparency,
it's something I just started todo at the beginning of my
junior year or a little towardsthe end of my sophomore year.
What are some habits you pickedup when it comes to budgeting?
I check how much my income isand I get an allowance from my
(07:39):
parents too, but I also worksome jobs on campus.
So I kind of take my projectedincome plus allowance and
anything else.
and how much I might make offof side gigs or whatever.
And then I'll kind of budgetwhat I know I will spend on a
monthly basis, whether that belike haircuts, regal unlimited
(08:01):
pass.
Speaker 01 (08:02):
We're switching.
Speaker 00 (08:03):
Or AMC.
Or AMC.
Or Alamo.
Or Alamo.
Bunch of options out there.
And then like grocery stuff.
Do you do like percent inchbased?
No, I'll do like actual...
Amount.
Amount.
Numbers.
And numbers.
And then I want to make sureI'll have a surplus at the end
rather than a deficit.
(08:23):
And then I'll have enough toeither put into my savings or
invest in like my stockportfolio, which is currently
pretty non-existent.
Same here.
What do you invest with?
I think right now all my moneyin my portfolio is in the S&P
500 and I use Fidelity for that.
Okay, what made you pickFidelity?
(08:44):
Fidelity, so for those whodon't know what Fidelity is,
it's sort of like a brokeragesystem that allows you to trade
in increments rather than likefull stocks.
Um, so like you wouldn't haveto buy purchase of one full
stock in order to be, you know,you could get like a half stock.
Uh, but like the good thingabout Fidelity is it allows you
(09:04):
to invest in what we call ETFsor mutual funds and S and P 500
kind of tracks the entire stockmarket.
So you're, you're investing alittle in the top 500 companies
in the market.
So that includes like the bigseven, like Apple, Microsoft.
So, well that way, you know,you you'll have the security of
no matter what, or almost nomatter what, because the, the
(09:26):
market usually, you know,usually rises that your stocks
will rise with it and usuallyhas like a compound rate of 12%.
so that's another good way toget into it just leave your
money in there check in like30-40 years when you're about to
retire or when you're about toinvest in like a huge feature
pull it out
Speaker 01 (09:48):
so you invest for the long term
Speaker 00 (09:50):
yes you do invest for the long term you can do
like day trading it's a lotriskier that's a job in and of
itself definitely wouldn'trecommend that to the average
student, especially filmmaker.
Speaking of film, I mean, howdo you translate all these
skills into filmmaking?
(10:11):
That's a large part of filming,especially indies.
A lot of people are...
Money is a big part of it.
Not everyone has...
you know, Warner Bros.
funding their feature andmaking a studio picture, a lot
of it is independent.
So how do you go about, or whathave you learned about that
part of filmmaking, which is thefinancial side?
Yeah, I mean, so that financialpart of it, it's like one of
(10:33):
those life skills that'stransferable across careers.
I would say, was it a softskill?
It's a soft skill, definitely,right?
And I think when it comes tofilmmaking, it's most practiced
as a producer, financier, and itjust helps to be able to know
your way around money andfinancing, budgeting, making
(10:53):
sure that everything's allocatedcorrectly.
You're not over-allocating to aspecific department.
You're not wasting money on asubscription you don't
necessarily need.
And, you know, I think it'sgood for producers to know that.
I mean, not just producers, foreveryone as well.
Yeah, directors as well.
Right, regardless.
How much do you spend a monthon subscriptions?
(11:15):
Let me think.
Have you seen those ads?
I've seen those ads, yeah.
In the podcast, too, in thepodcast format, yeah.
I think the bulk majority ofsubscriptions, like when it
comes to streaming and stuff, myparents pay for.
Oh, I see.
You don't have to count thosethen.
Yes, I don't count.
The only thing I think I payfor was my Regal subscription.
(11:37):
I was subscribed to Artlist,but I'm still subscribed to
Shotdeck.
I think those are useful toolsfor filmmakers.
I'm on someone else's account.
I've been on it for a bit.
You know, whatever we can do.
Whatever we can do, yeah.
If it works, it works.
You don't use DoorDash Pass,no?
I was on Uber Eats, Uber Onefor a minute.
(11:59):
I think I had the annual pass.
I might still have it, but I'mworking on, in the spirit of
budgeting and keeping track ofmy life, I'm working on food
prep, cooking for myself.
But every once in a while, I'llbe happy to treat myself out.
What about ChatGPT?
ChatGPT?
(12:19):
Oh, I'm not subscribed to that.
Although I know that both theplus and premium versions allow
you to...
There's a $200 version a month.
Are you guys subscribed tothat?
I have the 20 that I want.
And how's it going?
It's pretty useful, I'd say.
I feel like without it, there'ssome limitations with it that
sometimes really gets to me.
And I use it pretty often now,so it feels like a worthy
(12:41):
investment.
It gets a lot of ideas flowing.
I don't really try to takeanything directly, but it gets
me thinking about things I mighthave forgot or might have
missed out on thinking about.
Talk about food prepping,though.
I'm curious.
How do you go about foodprepping at college?
I usually just food prep forthe day or the next day.
(13:03):
Yeah, yeah.
And I'll buy like, I'll get mygroceries at Trader Joe's.
If I'm with friends, we'll likego to like Ralph's.
and then buy there.
And then most of the time, youknow, I'll just spend, I'll
spend the night before causeI'm, I'm a night owl.
Like if I'm going to be upanyway, I might as well do
something productive.
(13:23):
Right.
Um, and I know that I'm notwaking up early, like giant
prep, my stuff.
So I'll, I'll cook the nightbefore and then I'll have like,
you know, my Tupperwarecontainers.
Um, I'll cook enough rice tolast for like the next day.
And so, um, and my protein, getmy, my, my calories and my
(13:47):
macros.
Yeah.
Good.
Do you track that stuff?
I really should.
I used to, I used to have thisapp that tracked, but it was, it
was a little, it took a lot oftime and, you know, dedication
to just minutiae.
My fitness.
I think it was life, something,life, some life, some wherever
I use it in high school for likeone semester.
I was like, I was spending waytoo much time just trying to
(14:10):
figure all that out.
So maybe it'd be a goodincentive if, uh, you know, we
were sponsored.
Yeah.
Uh, There's a lot of companieswe would love to work with, but
you know, it's okay.
We'll figure that out later.
One day.
I mean, Richard, for you, Imean, do you budget?
I do.
I just use a little tracker.
(14:30):
What app do you use?
I just use Notion.
Wow, Notion.
Yeah.
You gotta share that templatewith me.
Yeah, it's just something Ifound online for free.
It just worked for me.
It keeps me...
This is something my dad doesas well.
He's really, really...
not adamant, but he's reallystrict with himself in terms of
tracking everything.
(14:50):
He does this at the end ofevery week, and that's something
I've picked up since junioryear, I want to say.
Every week, every Sunday, Ijust see how much I spend, how
much I earn, you know, ways Ican sort of adjust that and then
build better financial habits.
And I started cooking way morelate junior year.
(15:12):
And then now I basically havelike a plan every week so that I
can.
Wow.
Yeah.
How do you plan on your foodevery week?
Oh, man.
Just like, again, every Sunday.
Yeah.
I just kind of think about whatI want to eat.
Wow.
Make a menu for yourself.
Yeah, and I do a run.
I just spend like one hour,sometimes it's two hours.
I just literally, I go toTrader Joe's drive to Trader
(15:35):
Joe's drive back to Ralph's andif I need more I go to K-Town
get everything I need throw itin the fridge and then I'm
basically set for for that weekand also I don't cook like fancy
I try to keep it pretty simplebut then every once in a while I
cook some Chinese food thattakes hours but it tastes good
(15:56):
well you should come over tocook you guys have more space
here too we gotta do some dinnerparties yeah that'd be cool but
yeah I mean That's such a hugepart of it too.
Oh my God.
You save so much money when youcook.
Yeah.
Oh my gosh.
Yeah.
And it's healthier.
It's healthy for you.
It's also a good...
I kind of treat cooking as likealmost therapy in a way.
(16:17):
Right.
I just go about it like, okay,I'm putting pieces together.
You know, it's quiet.
Sometimes it can feel a littlebit urgent.
You know, if I have somethinglike within the next hour and
I'm still cooking like class orsomething, it can feel a little
bit urgent.
But other than that, you know,I've been told that it's very
similar to filmmaking in thesense that, you know, it's
different departments.
(16:38):
You're pulling it together eventhough you're kind of doing it
all by yourself.
But you got to put the rightthing in the right place at the
right time for it all to worktogether.
I wanted to know how do youmanage to carve out time for
yourself amongst your busyschedule?
I know you're also a veryaccomplished producer, filmmaker
(17:00):
yourself, and you're taking upa lot of internships and stuff.
How do you carve out that timefor yourself?
Oh, man.
I think for me, I...
Really enjoy and this issomething I've been doing I
think since high school which Ifound helpful It's such as block
time out on my calendar andlike see what I can do within,
(17:21):
you know, two hours three hoursYou know have maybe a break
between class and see what I cando during those time And then I
do it sort of the day before soI know like what I'm doing like
today's Friday You know, I knowwhat to do tomorrow and then on
Monday at the end of the day Ikind of schedule everything for
the next day obviously itdoesn't always pan out the way I
(17:42):
want to.
Like if I want to study for twohours and then by the end of
two hours, I learn nothing.
I'll have to like sort offigure something out.
But usually it gives me a goodidea of like how much time I'm
spending on everything.
And then other than that,there's something I'm actually
struggling with isprioritization.
A lot of times I think I canget caught up in like really
(18:02):
small sort of menial tasks.
And instead of focusing on likebigger tasks.
So I think that's something I'mproactively trying to work on.
Like write down like the topthree, four things that I need
to get done today and just geton top of it.
So I know Jion has a lot tocontribute to this topic.
He's very...
Oh, shit.
Okay.
I mean, I think advice I wouldgive is having your to-do list
(18:26):
as a calendar instead of a list.
Because then it's like you'reactually doing...
You're spending time allocatingyour time to doing the thing.
Like the opposite of...
um, what's it called?
Distraction is traction, youknow, is not focused.
And it means you have to knowexactly where you're going with
your day to actually not bedistracted.
(18:48):
Because if you're not blockingout a time to do something,
being on your phone isn't adirect distraction because what
is it distracting you fromdoing, right?
So I think I'm a huge believerin like blocking out and just
like organizing your calendar onexactly, you know, what to
spend your time doing.
And you use your screen, useyour iPhone screen time like
limit.
I use so many different limits.
It's not helping.
(19:08):
Same.
I've tried so many differentapps.
Apple.
Apps, I've been using OPPOright now and like after a week
or two, I think I get so used tolike the whole process of like
taking a break and everythingthat it's like automatic.
It just adds another layer oflike maybe 12 seconds of like
block timers.
But I try to work activelyabout it.
(19:28):
There's this app called OneSecwhere it makes you breathe for
like 10 seconds.
And every time I go to anetworking event, I'm like, hold
on.
Yeah, right.
I have to disable it first.
And then yeah, I think they goabout it.
I just make like a huge likeringing noise or something.
No, oh it's just let me grab anInstagram and you open
Instagram and it does this thingwhere it goes from bottom to up
for like 10 seconds and it'slike hold on there's something
(19:49):
going on with that phone it'shappened to me like several
times yeah but I saw a thing onInstagram and if the CEO of this
wants to come on the podcasthit me up but I'm thinking about
getting one of those bricks ohI saw those it's like this
little device where you putsomewhere and you it's like a
physical thing you tap yourphone on it and it disables all
these apps and the only way toget these apps again is to tap
(20:10):
on the physical thing againright so the only it's like you
can't just click a button onyour phone to bypass it you
actually have to physically doit does it have to be the exact
same model like what if you losethat or break so you're screwed
yeah you can use another modelI'm sure maybe yeah but that's a
smart way to go about it rightyeah I've seen it maybe I'll
wait until Richard gets in I'llyeah it'll be cool wait Bien
(20:34):
tell me a little bit about yourcareer in film actually like how
did you get into it and whereyou want to go I think One of my
earliest memories, like whenyou close your eyes and you try
to comb back to the first memoryyou can remember, was me
sitting on a couch watching KungFu Panda.
(20:54):
No way! I think so.
I think my love for filmmakingstarted, or it really started to
pop to the surface in middleschool, I think 7th grade.
Although I'd had like, it's avery obscure YouTube channel
that no one ever is going tofind.
And I'm never going todisclose.
But I started like editing oniMovie back then.
(21:17):
Um, and you know, filming andtaking initiative to, to create
these like small YouTube videos,um, of like me doing like, I
was inspired by this guy namedEvan tube HD.
Um, you guys, I watched hisLego videos.
Yes.
I would do like Lego unboxingvideos and whatever on like, um,
(21:38):
and I do like some like vlogstyle videos.
Um, I think the most I'd evergotten was like 2.6 K on, on
like some, that's pretty good.
Hot Springs video.
Uh, But so that's that's kindof how like my videography or my
introduction to media startedbut it wasn't until middle
(21:59):
school I took this videoproduction class I remember very
distinctly my teacher's namewas Mr.
Thiessen he was the basketballcoach and the middle school
counselor and uh the videoproduction like teacher right um
and we shot on I don't evenknow what those are called but
definitely camcorders right uhsuper like old school I'm sure
(22:21):
at that point iPhones would havebeen better but we shot on
those ones and we'd make like 30second to uh Two minute clips,
and all of them are like reallycliche, suspense film.
where there's like the recordscratch at the end and like some
plot twist right so super it'sall a dream yeah it's all the
dream kind of stuff um and thenbut that was my introduction to
(22:45):
adobe where you know i kind oftook a step up from imovie um
and then i continued my passioneighth grade i i tried my hand
at acting wasn't for me i'm notthe best actor full disclosure
um And then I decided like, youknow what?
I'd rather just stay behind thecamera.
So high school, I took a filmclass, like a real film, I think
(23:10):
it's called film VFX andsomething, animation class with
my teacher, Mr.
Craven.
He was Canadian.
I have a very fond memory ofMr.
Craven.
I think he took a liking to me.
And one of my friends from theswim team, we decided to make
like a short trailer at the pooltogether.
And that was like, wow, that'scool.
(23:32):
We're filming at a pool.
We're going to do some shotsfrom inside the water.
There's going to be fire.
It's going to be lit.
We got a lot of praise forthat, and that kind of boosted
my ego.
And I was like, hey, I likethat people were happy with what
I made.
And then I knew from then, whatif I keep doing this for the
next three years in high school?
(23:53):
So I took an advanced projectclass where Mr.
Craven was kind enough to letme do my own thing the entire
semester, as long as it wasrelated to film, and he'd check
in from time to time.
But I would basically justbuild my own course for myself.
So that gave me the free timeto...
to find out what I love andwhat I was passionate about.
(24:15):
I got into post-production,although I didn't know it was
called that back then.
I just thought it was likeediting.
So After Effects.
I used to watch this guy calledFilm Riot.
Oh, same.
Ryan Connolly.
Ryan Connolly.
Please come on.
Please come on.
(24:36):
The OG GOAT.
Eventually, I made this musicvideo using like accumulation of
all the skills I'd learned andVFX I'd learned.
Whether that be like the quicksilver effect, like a
duplication effect, like theShazam transformation effect.
like an earth zoom effect.
I thought that was pretty cool.
(24:58):
And I made that to music video.
And then I think, and then Idiscovered that we had like a
regional film festival.
So I submitted a couple ofstuff there.
Didn't really win.
I got like silvers and bronze.
But then that gave me a newgoal.
To eventually get a gold.
So I think this is eithersophomore or junior year at this
(25:22):
point.
But I just started IB.
And I had to start to thinkabout what colleges I wanted to
apply to.
But I knew.
I knew for sure still at thatpoint that I wanted to do film.
I hadn't really told myparents.
And I'm sure you guys know.
Going on a prettynon-traditional route with Asian
parents is kind of tough.
(25:42):
topic to bring up fordiscussion so I hid it from them
like a little bit while Icontinued to make more films in
another film class they I took afilm two class that they built
just for me I was the only kidin that class and I took it with
the other film one kids and Andsimilar to like the previous
(26:05):
year, the teacher, and she wasnew, her name was Ms.
Sowers.
I have a very fond memory ofall my film teachers because
they all helped me get to thispoint.
But yeah, so she kind of alsolet me do my own thing, craft my
own films.
And as long as I was, you know,I was giving her like
deliverables, assignments, andmaking sure I got a grade.
(26:26):
And I decided to like make myfive minute short film for
application, or so four minutesshort for application.
Was it five back then?
Okay, then five minutes.
I know it's changed now, right?
I think it's two minutes now.
Yeah.
Crazy.
No, one of my friends, theyshot a movie that they thought
it was five minutes and theylooked at the thing again.
(26:46):
It was like two minutes.
Yeah, so I did that and then Iactually submitted that.
for college, USC, UCLA, NYU.
I'd done some research, and bythat point I'd talked to my
parents about what I wanted todo.
They were supportive.
Yeah, they were supportive, Ithink, as long as they wanted me
to apply to Harvard.
(27:06):
Did you?
But I didn't.
I convinced them, or I don'tknow if they were fully
convinced, but I managed toconvince them that applying for
Harvard, at least for me,wouldn't be beneficial at all.
I didn't want to waste time orapplications.
And I decided that I wouldshoot for the top film schools
(27:30):
in the U.S.
So that was USC, UCLA, and NYU.
My top was USC, followed byUCLA and NYU.
What was the record?
I took two L's.
And obviously I'm here at USC,so.
There you go.
The one that mattered, yeah.
Yeah, the one that mattered.
And I also applied to a coupleother film schools, LMU,
(27:52):
Chapman.
Emerson SD although SD is morelike a film studies program UCSD
yeah did you get in I did I didcool and I was prepared to go
there after being rejected byNYU and UCLA and then I'd been
waitlisted to Chapman and LMUand I've been rejected by UCSB
(28:13):
for communications do you regretanything with your choice USC
or do you think USC was the bestdecision ever I think as a
person I definitely would havevibed more with the East Coast
just coming from Tokyo, I think.
But I am happy here.
In hindsight, I don't regretanything, although I just think
(28:33):
as a person I might have likedmore New York.
But yeah, it was during thattime when we were starting to
get college acceptance decisionsthat my dad sent me a YouTube
link to this super...
I think he had like 700subscribers at the time.
But anyway, this guy namedJiayang Liu.
I forgot exactly what theheadline was, but it was like...
(28:58):
Oh, like reaction video?
Yes, that one.
So I watched that one.
I watched the entire video.
I watched every single one ofyour reactions.
And then I was like, wow.
Wait.
So this guy's going to be myfuture classmate.
So I left a comment on thevideo.
I don't know if you everresponded to it.
(29:19):
And then I don't think it wasright away, but I know I did
cold DM you on Insta.
i shot you a text you canprobably pull up pull it up but
some someday and i think i saidsomething along the lines of
like hey man i watched yourvideos on youtube i thought
they're like really coolinspired me i just wanted to let
(29:39):
you know like i'm gonna be oneof your classmates um and i
can't wait to see you in thefall that's amazing what was
your response oh let me youmight have left me undelivered
and you got too many you got toomany guys so i found this
comment he said Bro, your videosare so good.
I got into USC for filmproduction as well.
So I'll see you there.
And I replied immediately,actually.
(30:01):
And I said, thank you so much.
See you there.
That was dry as f***, dude.
Okay.
You were like a stranger atthat point.
You were one of the firstpeople I met before coming to
USC.
Oh, yeah.
Do you plan on doing gradschool or you think...
you know, after film school,you know, you want to go into
the business.
I considered like AFI causeit's supposed to be the number
(30:23):
one film school or grad schoolin the world.
Right.
Um, but I just, I don't knowwhat I'd be doing there besides
procrastinating my, like myselfat least.
Um, although I'm not, not tolike hate on grad school and I'm
sure there's a lot to learnfrom there.
It's just, I think personally,um, I could definitely see the
(30:45):
comfort in still being in schooland getting access to all these
facilities and being able tomake more films.
I see the appeal.
Every day, the closer I get tograduation, the more I think
about whether or not I shouldstick around for grad school,
AFI, or even just here, USC.
(31:08):
But I think on the path I amright now, I want to go straight
into the industry, preferablyat like studio.
I consider productioncompanies, I'm still kind of
weighing my options, talking todifferent people, talking to my
bosses, professors about the wayin.
And I do know that the industryisn't doing too well right now,
(31:29):
but you know what is.
And then all these fears aboutlike AI, taking over jobs.
and then like how people saylike super cut throat and the
barriers of entry are reallyhigh.
All these fears, you know, thatmade me consider maybe I'll
(31:50):
feel a little safer if I stickwith grad school.
That's kind of the same thoughtprocess that I had for a while.
But I think I stuck with, youknow, heading straight into the
industry in whatever waypossible.
So I was wondering, what wouldbe your sort of dream career?
first job out of college ifthat was the path that you
decided like um whether at theproduction company or studio
(32:11):
like what what would you thinkyou'd be doing that would be a
dream but also realistic okay solike a realistic dream a
realistic dream it's a realisticdream then i would love to work
at one of the big studios um iwould say warner i think maybe
syncope syncope all right yeahbut they haven't they they never
(32:35):
have job listings yeah i do igo on a linkedin it's dry yeah i
think it's just it might justbe nolan and his wife i mean
there's also a realistic routeof like i've you know you guys
know max say love um he was ableto work or he's able he was
able to crew or i mean i don'tknow if he's I don't know by the
(32:55):
time this video releases ifhe's still on it or not, but
from at least this currentmoment in time, he's going to be
able to crew on The Odyssey,Nolan's upcoming film, and
that's literally my dream.
I saw your LinkedIn post.
Yes, I posted on LinkedIn forthose who don't know and who
want to check out my LinkedIn.
It's the end, Maggie.
But if there's any way anyoneknows a way for me to hop on
(33:19):
set, on Christopher Nolan's set,The Odyssey, I will do
anything.
I will sweep the floors.
I will be a chair.
Inanimate object.
I will be an inanimate object.
I'll be a fucking sea stand.
I will Hollywood the fuck outof a flag if I have to.
I will be a sandbag.
(33:42):
I weigh more sandbag anyway.
You cause more too.
No, I'd be free.
I'd do it.
If, if it would let me, Ithink, but I mean, I don't know.
Let's give BN two dollars.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um, although I know thatthere's a, there's a way there's
Max Salo has done it.
I think if you join the IMAXclass, um, where you get to
(34:02):
shoot on real 35 millimeter IMAXor 70, uh, I think 16 or 70
maybe but I think he's 70 Ithink he might be developing he
says he's developing some newtechnology with IMAX again after
the black and white withOppenheimer but I mean sorry I
meant in USC oh USC oh I thinkit might be 16 16 I mean it's
(34:23):
still it looks great but I thinkthrough that I He was referred
to IMAX, the company, and theneventually trickled down all the
way to Nolan.
And that's how he's working onset.
Someone's done it before.
Yeah, dude.
That's your idol, right?
What's your favorite Nolanfilm?
(34:44):
Oh, Nolan.
My favorite Nolan film?
The Prestige.
Hey, good pick.
I like The Dark Knight.
Oh, The Dark Knight.
You can't go wrong with TheDark Knight.
I gotta go with Memento.
It's trademark.
Have either of you watched TheFollowing?
I have.
It's kind of memento, but evenless complicated.
Have you guys seen Doodle Bug?
(35:05):
I have.
He's got another one calledSpider something.
It's very experimental.
It was very experimental.
The Odyssey is his firstfantasy movie right the prestige
is kind of in that territorybut a lot of his stuff are you
(35:27):
know sci-fi and hardcore youknow science and future and all
that but now he's going towardsmythology yeah i'm super excited
about that i grew up readinglike percy jackson and uh-huh
yeah so you know i have to readthe odyssey in the high school
for english yeah homers yeah howdo you think nolan keeps his
financials in check I know thathe started off as another
(35:52):
college student.
He didn't even study college.
He studied English.
English, right, yeah.
ICL or King's.
I think UCL, right?
University College and then,yeah.
UCL.
I think he was with his wife atthe time, and I think they
might have produced their firstfeature together, which he also
(36:12):
shot and edited.
And then...
You know what?
That's a good question, but Ican only imagine.
I know he worked in the cameradepartment at first.
I think he was just shootingcommercials and TV ads and all
that.
And then...
And he's squabbled togetherlike $8,000, $6,000 and shooting
(36:34):
with friends on weekends forfun.
And then, yeah, I mean, you gotto start somewhere.
Yeah, definitely.
It's more accessible now thanever, than his time.
Oh, yeah.
Grab an iPhone.
You can do the same, if notbetter.
So, I mean, because like thebarriers of entry are so low
now, do you think that makescompetition amongst filmmakers
or aspiring filmmakers harder?
Unknown (36:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 00 (36:57):
course i think so everyone's competing for your
attention at all times oh yeahit's not just film it's like
video video youtube tiktokeverything yeah so do you think
breaking out the same way likethe oldies did is harder youtube
is such a strong you know stufflike youtube and tiktok you
know you have people um Whoeverdirected the A24 horror movie,
(37:19):
talk to me.
They were, the directing duo, Ithink they were YouTubers.
And then they starteddirecting.
Oh, talk to me.
Sorry.
Yeah, with the handshake andthe stone thing.
Yes.
Oh, is that the one withLeMond?
Yeah, that one.
There's another kid on YouTube.
Wesley Wang?
No.
No, it's actually, it's theKing Backroom.
(37:39):
Oh, yes, yes, yes.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
His stuff is amazing.
It's like some of the besthorror ever.
It's so good.
And then A24 scooped it and Ibet it's going to be amazing.
You talked about LinkedInearlier.
How do you build such a bigLinkedIn audience?
You're kind of a celebrity onLinkedIn.
Hey, I don't think so, butthank you.
I happen to know a lot of mypeers from back home.
(38:04):
with like upperclassmen,underclassmen, I'll hopped on
LinkedIn.
So I already had that, youknow, kind of starter pack.
What's your approach tonetworking though?
Um, I'm definitely more like apeople in person person.
I like, you know, being able toshake them in the hand, look
them in the eye, firm handshake,tell them my name is Bien, like
(38:25):
muy bien.
And that usually earns me aLinkedIn connection.
Um, sometimes, you know, Oh,uh, uh, at our last dka meeting
i was pitching myself as aproduction chair and in the
middle of my speech i also shoutout my linkedin and vimeo just
like the same way i did earlierum you know sometimes i'll get
(38:47):
people i'll see people follow meand connect with me on linkedin
after that surprisingly enoughuh and then just everyone i meet
um you know i'll Connect withthem on LinkedIn just because,
you know, USC is a prestigiousschool.
It's always good to connectwith whoever you can.
You never know where thatconnection might lead you.
(39:09):
Sorry, not to make it soundlike I'm very conceited.
I'm not just using people forconnections.
If you meet a new person, doyou usually go for the Instagram
or the LinkedIn?
Well...
If we're talking back in theday, I'd go for her LinkedIn or
her number.
Sorry, her Instagram or hernumber.
Yeah.
(39:29):
But if we're talking nowadays,because I'm taking...
I'd go for their LinkedIn orInstagram.
Well, what do you go for firstif you could get one?
Are we talking about like nowor back then?
I'm talking about now.
Oh.
Yeah.
I feel like...
Obviously, if you're in aprofessional setting...
I think LinkedIn just feelsmore appropriate.
(39:49):
Otherwise like your number, atthe very least their email.
Let's say like a mixer, youknow, S-E-A, S-E-A.
Oh, for sure.
Like an Instagram, dude.
Or a number.
I can kind of gauge.
if they'd be the type for Instanumber.
But usually, almost everyone, Idon't know, just by talking to
them.
(40:09):
Obviously, everyone has a phonenumber, or almost everyone has
a phone number.
I know there's a few people whoI know don't have any social
media at all, in which case...
asking them for their insta ortheir yeah snapper i don't know
their myspace i always go forthe instagram first because i
feel like instagram gives likenot just a professional you know
(40:31):
layout it also is morepersonable and then i would go
for the linkedin the next time imeet them and then remember the
next time yeah instagram isalways like a good first step i
feel yeah yeah because theninstinctually yeah yes maybe
it's not so intimate at the sametime it kind of gives you a
Right, right, right.
In your life, what's thedumbest purchase you've made?
(40:53):
Dumbest purchase I've made?
I don't think I've made anydumb purchases.
I'm a pretty smart man when itcomes to my finances.
Okay.
Maybe some film equipment,perhaps?
Oh, yeah.
Those are expensive?
Yeah.
Because, like, now I know thatI don't really want to DP.
Oh, I think that sounds likegood.
Like, don't splurge too much oncamera equipment.
Yeah.
I mean, I guess, like, youknow, it's fine if you want to
(41:17):
make your own videography stuff,but no need to buy yourself,
like, all these lights, I think.
I get it.
If you're not DPing, you don'tneed all that gear.
No need for all that cameragear.
Unless you want to set up yourown studio or podcast.
Yeah, okay.
No.
No, all these gear we...
(41:38):
just source from friends to behonest you know that's you
saying it's for the jam bandactually we just took it
upstairs really yeah it's fromdownstairs it's uh we have a
thesis film coming up soon andthe light stand that's currently
being used is the one we'reusing wait the same with the
line okay yeah theoreticallyspeaking tomorrow uh someone
(42:01):
throws a million dollars um intoyour down your chimney not
taxed not taxed Is it trackable?
No.
Unknown (42:14):
Not trackable.
Speaker 00 (42:15):
What would you spend it on if you had 24 hours to
spend it on?
It simply appears.
Okay.
I would first take $10,000 ofit, put it in my emergency fund.
It's always important to havean emergency fund.
And then I'd take $90,000 ofit, invest that into...
(42:38):
the S&P, right?
And then with the remaining$900,000, let me think.
I'd save, oh, I'd take $100,000of that, send it to my parents,
you know.
Thanks for paying one year ofmy time.
Yeah.
And then I'd take $50,000 ofthat, set that aside for, I
(43:02):
don't know, marriage orsomething.
Okay.
And with the remaining fewhundred thousand, As a
filmmaker, I'd probably eitherinvest that into making my own
short film, or I guess I couldmake a feature film with that
amount of money, but it'd haveto be super micro-budget.
But a lot of investing into myfuture as a filmmaker, either
(43:26):
creating a short or financinganother short or feature, that
would help me make thoseconnections, get into the
industry.
What would your first featurebe?
I love, I love genre films.
I love, I also love sci-fi andI love thriller films.
So something along the lines ofthat, something that I would
really like, you know, projectto the world, what my cinematic
(43:49):
style is while at the same time,open enough, enough avenues for
future projects.
Do you feel like, you wouldlose purpose if you had so much
money?
Like if you didn't have toworry about money ever again,
like would you still pursue filmthe same way you would?
I think so.
I think, you know, as like we,you learn with like 310, budget
(44:09):
is definitely a very restrictingobstacle in the creation of
some films, but also gives youlike the boundaries.
It allows you to use yourcreative abilities juices in the
limits and make something outof that, make the best of what
you can.
And that kind of challengesyourself, right?
(44:30):
Which I think is good.
But with that amount of money,I think that would definitely be
a reason why it's important tobe able to know how to to manage
your finances and not just likespend it on a yacht.
So it's definitely important toknow how to manage your
finances, right?
And just reinvest that intoyour future.
(44:51):
So you can keep doing what youlove to do.
Yeah, I think I love what yousaid.
I think on top of that, I thinkit's important to like really
protect your money.
Like, have you ever beenscammed before?
I low-key think so.
I've been applying to housesfor the next year.
academic year and this onehouse when this one like rental
(45:11):
company Remain nameless or no.
Yeah, I don't want to you.
Would you want to stay in LAafter I think realistically?
I mean, this is where the heartof the industry is, although
it's kind of branching outacross the states It's and you
know, it's gone international.
There's Canada.
There's Netherlands FranceFrance But like closer to home,
(45:34):
you know Vegas Or Arizona.
Arizona or Nevada.
They're building a new SonyStudios.
I think so, yeah.
And then obviously Atlanta isanother decent hub for
filmmaking.
New York, obviously, for indie.
I do realize there's a trendwhere a lot of production
companies are filming outside ofL.A.
(45:56):
They're filming in Romania andEurope.
That has to do with tax breaks.
Tax incentives, yeah.
That's a big part of it now.
Yeah.
So I know L.A.
is going to try to come up withincentives of their own to try
to reel people back in,especially because with the
wildfires situation, People havebeen certain.
(46:18):
It's been like a mass exodus.
It's been happening from LA.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And it's been like exacerbatedby the fires.
It is.
Yeah, I know.
I agree.
Like it is the heart of theentertainment industry.
Everyone is here.
You know, I drive to myinternship and it's like, I just
see Universal Studios, Netflix,you know, everywhere just
(46:41):
surrounding me.
And it's like, it's quitesurreal, but it is where
everything is.
Everything feels done here.
You know, it's the best weathertoo.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I hope you guys enjoy thisepisode and learn a lot about
the financials of being a filmproducer, director, and how to
navigate the film world in filmschool and outside of film
(47:01):
school.
And today we are joined by our good friend, Bien,
a USC director, producer, whois very passionate about the
film industry and especiallyabout financial literacy in the
film industry.
So thank you for joining us.
Of course, I'm happy to be heretoday.
Bien, how much money do youwant in the future?
I want to be comfortable.
I want to be doing what I love,but I'm not...
(00:23):
Like, I don't want to have toworry about paparazzi and stuff.
You don't want to be famous?
It's weird because I want to beat, like, that point.
I'm trying to think of, like, agood person.
What did he say?
Sean Baker?
Is that a point where hedoesn't exactly get a lot of,
like, press coverage, but at thesame time he's known for being
good at what he is?
Indie filmmaker.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
(00:44):
Maybe, like, an indiefilmmaker.
I love Sean Baker.
Yeah.
Speaking of, because I was justwatching the Florida Project.
Oh, that's my favorite movie.
What'd you think?
Oh, I'm not done yet.
Oh, you haven't finished ityet?
I'm not done yet.
Oh, so good.
And then something crazyhappened.
Something crazy does happen.
Oh, I got spoiled.
Oh, no.
I want to see how it plays out.
So do you think Enora's goingto win Best Picture?
You know, I hope it's veryseriously considered, and I'm
(01:09):
glad it was nominated, but justbased on the way the Academy
works, I don't think so.
Yeah, true.
Me too.
I hope it wins, but we'll see.
Wait, what?
That's what you like, huh?
I just pointed that out.
I didn't say anything aboutthat.
I'm a little upset that Dune 2,and especially Dennis, you
(01:29):
know, was the best director.
It's okay.
What would you want?
An Oscar for Best Picture or$100 million?
Oh, Oscar for best picture.
If I just wanted $100 million,I'd be in another field that
makes a lot more money, right?
That's right.
That's true.
So if you do choose a fieldthat isn't the big money maker,
(01:52):
then what makes you sointerested in the business and
money side of things?
Well, I mean, especiallybecause of that, the fact that I
don't think filmmakers, or atleast the vast majority of
filmmakers, the 99%, They'llmake a lot of money, which is
why I think that they should bewise about how they spend it,
save it, earn it, reinvest it,that kind of thing.
(02:12):
I mean, what are some keys youthink to making a comfortable
income and a comfortablefinancial system for you and
your future family?
Well, I mean, I just want topreface it first by saying I'm
21.
I haven't lived life like longenough.
So I'm no expert at this andI'm no financial advisor at the
same time.
But just a few years I've beenalive, been an adult, been in
(02:34):
college.
I think I've learned asignificant amount, enough that
I think I should share and wouldwant to share to other people,
especially others in my field.
And it's also stemmed from mydesire to be a producer, working
a lot with budgeting,financing, that kind of thing.
But the core of it, And I knowI'm getting a little bit
technical here, but the core ofit, I think, has to do with just
(02:58):
basic life organizationalskills and things that even
those who aren't filmmakers,regardless of what field you are
in, should know.
And a lot of college studentsshould know.
What are some ways you learntechnology?
know what are some sources andbooks or you know channels that
you you look to to get financialadvice from you know i'm so i'm
(03:20):
not so pretentious as to likeread books about it yet i'm
still on the like youtube sideum i i watch this guy named
humphrey yang um he gives a lotof financial advice and he does
it all you know out of the thegoodness of his heart he's not
like one of those scammerspyramid scheme kind of people
you see on instagram which iswhy i was just drawn to him yeah
um this is other guy you neverknow what i guess you might have
(03:45):
a course coming that's truemoney money's gonna get tight um
i think this other guy namedgraham or i'm something graham
stephan yes you know hey icedcoffee hour i've been watching
that guy for the last like sixyears yeah so i mean i also
watch him for financial advicesometimes so you just like those
(04:05):
are my sources and then justkind of working through it on my
own finding what works for meum doing my own research
sometimes just talking tofriends and family people who've
been in my position um yeahyeah absolutely that's amazing
of course do you have a lot offamily who are into business and
(04:27):
financial stuff my dad is abanker okay um But I'm not, you
know, it could be.
It's in the genes.
My mom's an accountant.
Oh, wonderful.
Or she started off as anaccountant.
She was really good at math.
I don't think I'm as good asher, but again, I guess it has
to be the genes, right?
(04:47):
No, genes.
Oh, and I'm Asian, so.
Fair, too.
Genes play such a big role insomeone's future.
It really does.
I don't know.
What are some advice for youryounger self?
My younger self, yeah.
Let's say freshman year BN.
How would you?
If we were just going purelyoff of financial advice, I'd
have a number of things, but atthe same time, I don't regret
(05:08):
it.
the choices I made in freshmanyear, I was a little bit more
reckless with my money.
But just coming into college,coming into this new lifestyle,
living alone for the first time,6,000 plus miles away from
home, I gave myself some wiggleroom to spend, have fun.
(05:30):
But if I want to truly beresponsible, my number one
advice would have been to starta high-yield savings account.
I think my choice of high-yieldsavings account, I used Capital
One, but there are multitude ofgood ones.
Discover, Amex.
(05:51):
I used Capital One because Iknow I want to travel.
And the current account I useand the current even credit card
I use allow me to do so.
I was able to finance my Italytrip just purely off of...
That was awesome.
points yeah but i did hearcapital one's being sued it is
yeah oh that's what i heard it'ssued for um six billion dollars
(06:14):
or something something likethat was it like fraud or
something um like financialwhatever yeah intricate so maybe
you'll make some money off ofthat oh maybe or maybe it means
i should switch over yeah ithink america's not bad yeah
well bank of america i thinkThey don't have a competitive
savings rate.
(06:34):
What is it?
APY.
I think with like DiscoverCapital One, they have an APY of
like 3.7 right now, 3.8.
When I first signed up, it waslike 4.25% annually, right?
Whereas like Bank of America,Chase, your normal savings
account gives you like 0.03%interest.
(06:55):
So even just like little thingslike that, knowing that...
knowing just even gettinghaving access to that
information would have helped mea lot freshman year um because
you know if i had invested orjust left a thousand dollars and
my savings account i would havehad like a four percent return
on that at the end of the yearso that's like what 40 bucks how
(07:16):
do you budget like per monththough like you know do you do
you budget i do budget okay umAnd in complete transparency,
it's something I just started todo at the beginning of my
junior year or a little towardsthe end of my sophomore year.
What are some habits you pickedup when it comes to budgeting?
I check how much my income isand I get an allowance from my
(07:39):
parents too, but I also worksome jobs on campus.
So I kind of take my projectedincome plus allowance and
anything else.
and how much I might make offof side gigs or whatever.
And then I'll kind of budgetwhat I know I will spend on a
monthly basis, whether that belike haircuts, regal unlimited
(08:01):
pass.
Speaker 01 (08:02):
We're switching.
Speaker 00 (08:03):
Or AMC.
Or AMC.
Or Alamo.
Or Alamo.
Bunch of options out there.
And then like grocery stuff.
Do you do like percent inchbased?
No, I'll do like actual...
Amount.
Amount.
Numbers.
And numbers.
And then I want to make sureI'll have a surplus at the end
rather than a deficit.
(08:23):
And then I'll have enough toeither put into my savings or
invest in like my stockportfolio, which is currently
pretty non-existent.
Same here.
What do you invest with?
I think right now all my moneyin my portfolio is in the S&P
500 and I use Fidelity for that.
Okay, what made you pickFidelity?
(08:44):
Fidelity, so for those whodon't know what Fidelity is,
it's sort of like a brokeragesystem that allows you to trade
in increments rather than likefull stocks.
Um, so like you wouldn't haveto buy purchase of one full
stock in order to be, you know,you could get like a half stock.
Uh, but like the good thingabout Fidelity is it allows you
(09:04):
to invest in what we call ETFsor mutual funds and S and P 500
kind of tracks the entire stockmarket.
So you're, you're investing alittle in the top 500 companies
in the market.
So that includes like the bigseven, like Apple, Microsoft.
So, well that way, you know,you you'll have the security of
no matter what, or almost nomatter what, because the, the
(09:26):
market usually, you know,usually rises that your stocks
will rise with it and usuallyhas like a compound rate of 12%.
so that's another good way toget into it just leave your
money in there check in like30-40 years when you're about to
retire or when you're about toinvest in like a huge feature
pull it out
Speaker 01 (09:48):
so you invest for the long term
Speaker 00 (09:50):
yes you do invest for the long term you can do
like day trading it's a lotriskier that's a job in and of
itself definitely wouldn'trecommend that to the average
student, especially filmmaker.
Speaking of film, I mean, howdo you translate all these
skills into filmmaking?
(10:11):
That's a large part of filming,especially indies.
A lot of people are...
Money is a big part of it.
Not everyone has...
you know, Warner Bros.
funding their feature andmaking a studio picture, a lot
of it is independent.
So how do you go about, or whathave you learned about that
part of filmmaking, which is thefinancial side?
Yeah, I mean, so that financialpart of it, it's like one of
(10:33):
those life skills that'stransferable across careers.
I would say, was it a softskill?
It's a soft skill, definitely,right?
And I think when it comes tofilmmaking, it's most practiced
as a producer, financier, and itjust helps to be able to know
your way around money andfinancing, budgeting, making
(10:53):
sure that everything's allocatedcorrectly.
You're not over-allocating to aspecific department.
You're not wasting money on asubscription you don't
necessarily need.
And, you know, I think it'sgood for producers to know that.
I mean, not just producers, foreveryone as well.
Yeah, directors as well.
Right, regardless.
How much do you spend a monthon subscriptions?
(11:15):
Let me think.
Have you seen those ads?
I've seen those ads, yeah.
In the podcast, too, in thepodcast format, yeah.
I think the bulk majority ofsubscriptions, like when it
comes to streaming and stuff, myparents pay for.
Oh, I see.
You don't have to count thosethen.
Yes, I don't count.
The only thing I think I payfor was my Regal subscription.
(11:37):
I was subscribed to Artlist,but I'm still subscribed to
Shotdeck.
I think those are useful toolsfor filmmakers.
I'm on someone else's account.
I've been on it for a bit.
You know, whatever we can do.
Whatever we can do, yeah.
If it works, it works.
You don't use DoorDash Pass,no?
I was on Uber Eats, Uber Onefor a minute.
(11:59):
I think I had the annual pass.
I might still have it, but I'mworking on, in the spirit of
budgeting and keeping track ofmy life, I'm working on food
prep, cooking for myself.
But every once in a while, I'llbe happy to treat myself out.
What about ChatGPT?
ChatGPT?
(12:19):
Oh, I'm not subscribed to that.
Although I know that both theplus and premium versions allow
you to...
There's a $200 version a month.
Are you guys subscribed tothat?
I have the 20 that I want.
And how's it going?
It's pretty useful, I'd say.
I feel like without it, there'ssome limitations with it that
sometimes really gets to me.
And I use it pretty often now,so it feels like a worthy
(12:41):
investment.
It gets a lot of ideas flowing.
I don't really try to takeanything directly, but it gets
me thinking about things I mighthave forgot or might have
missed out on thinking about.
Talk about food prepping,though.
I'm curious.
How do you go about foodprepping at college?
I usually just food prep forthe day or the next day.
(13:03):
Yeah, yeah.
And I'll buy like, I'll get mygroceries at Trader Joe's.
If I'm with friends, we'll likego to like Ralph's.
and then buy there.
And then most of the time, youknow, I'll just spend, I'll
spend the night before causeI'm, I'm a night owl.
Like if I'm going to be upanyway, I might as well do
something productive.
(13:23):
Right.
Um, and I know that I'm notwaking up early, like giant
prep, my stuff.
So I'll, I'll cook the nightbefore and then I'll have like,
you know, my Tupperwarecontainers.
Um, I'll cook enough rice tolast for like the next day.
And so, um, and my protein, getmy, my, my calories and my
(13:47):
macros.
Yeah.
Good.
Do you track that stuff?
I really should.
I used to, I used to have thisapp that tracked, but it was, it
was a little, it took a lot oftime and, you know, dedication
to just minutiae.
My fitness.
I think it was life, something,life, some life, some wherever
I use it in high school for likeone semester.
I was like, I was spending waytoo much time just trying to
(14:10):
figure all that out.
So maybe it'd be a goodincentive if, uh, you know, we
were sponsored.
Yeah.
Uh, There's a lot of companieswe would love to work with, but
you know, it's okay.
We'll figure that out later.
One day.
I mean, Richard, for you, Imean, do you budget?
I do.
I just use a little tracker.
(14:30):
What app do you use?
I just use Notion.
Wow, Notion.
Yeah.
You gotta share that templatewith me.
Yeah, it's just something Ifound online for free.
It just worked for me.
It keeps me...
This is something my dad doesas well.
He's really, really...
not adamant, but he's reallystrict with himself in terms of
tracking everything.
(14:50):
He does this at the end ofevery week, and that's something
I've picked up since junioryear, I want to say.
Every week, every Sunday, Ijust see how much I spend, how
much I earn, you know, ways Ican sort of adjust that and then
build better financial habits.
And I started cooking way morelate junior year.
(15:12):
And then now I basically havelike a plan every week so that I
can.
Wow.
Yeah.
How do you plan on your foodevery week?
Oh, man.
Just like, again, every Sunday.
Yeah.
I just kind of think about whatI want to eat.
Wow.
Make a menu for yourself.
Yeah, and I do a run.
I just spend like one hour,sometimes it's two hours.
I just literally, I go toTrader Joe's drive to Trader
(15:35):
Joe's drive back to Ralph's andif I need more I go to K-Town
get everything I need throw itin the fridge and then I'm
basically set for for that weekand also I don't cook like fancy
I try to keep it pretty simplebut then every once in a while I
cook some Chinese food thattakes hours but it tastes good
(15:56):
well you should come over tocook you guys have more space
here too we gotta do some dinnerparties yeah that'd be cool but
yeah I mean That's such a hugepart of it too.
Oh my God.
You save so much money when youcook.
Yeah.
Oh my gosh.
Yeah.
And it's healthier.
It's healthy for you.
It's also a good...
I kind of treat cooking as likealmost therapy in a way.
(16:17):
Right.
I just go about it like, okay,I'm putting pieces together.
You know, it's quiet.
Sometimes it can feel a littlebit urgent.
You know, if I have somethinglike within the next hour and
I'm still cooking like class orsomething, it can feel a little
bit urgent.
But other than that, you know,I've been told that it's very
similar to filmmaking in thesense that, you know, it's
different departments.
(16:38):
You're pulling it together eventhough you're kind of doing it
all by yourself.
But you got to put the rightthing in the right place at the
right time for it all to worktogether.
I wanted to know how do youmanage to carve out time for
yourself amongst your busyschedule?
I know you're also a veryaccomplished producer, filmmaker
(17:00):
yourself, and you're taking upa lot of internships and stuff.
How do you carve out that timefor yourself?
Oh, man.
I think for me, I...
Really enjoy and this issomething I've been doing I
think since high school which Ifound helpful It's such as block
time out on my calendar andlike see what I can do within,
(17:21):
you know, two hours three hoursYou know have maybe a break
between class and see what I cando during those time And then I
do it sort of the day before soI know like what I'm doing like
today's Friday You know, I knowwhat to do tomorrow and then on
Monday at the end of the day Ikind of schedule everything for
the next day obviously itdoesn't always pan out the way I
(17:42):
want to.
Like if I want to study for twohours and then by the end of
two hours, I learn nothing.
I'll have to like sort offigure something out.
But usually it gives me a goodidea of like how much time I'm
spending on everything.
And then other than that,there's something I'm actually
struggling with isprioritization.
A lot of times I think I canget caught up in like really
(18:02):
small sort of menial tasks.
And instead of focusing on likebigger tasks.
So I think that's something I'mproactively trying to work on.
Like write down like the topthree, four things that I need
to get done today and just geton top of it.
So I know Jion has a lot tocontribute to this topic.
He's very...
Oh, shit.
Okay.
I mean, I think advice I wouldgive is having your to-do list
(18:26):
as a calendar instead of a list.
Because then it's like you'reactually doing...
You're spending time allocatingyour time to doing the thing.
Like the opposite of...
um, what's it called?
Distraction is traction, youknow, is not focused.
And it means you have to knowexactly where you're going with
your day to actually not bedistracted.
(18:48):
Because if you're not blockingout a time to do something,
being on your phone isn't adirect distraction because what
is it distracting you fromdoing, right?
So I think I'm a huge believerin like blocking out and just
like organizing your calendar onexactly, you know, what to
spend your time doing.
And you use your screen, useyour iPhone screen time like
limit.
I use so many different limits.
It's not helping.
(19:08):
Same.
I've tried so many differentapps.
Apple.
Apps, I've been using OPPOright now and like after a week
or two, I think I get so used tolike the whole process of like
taking a break and everythingthat it's like automatic.
It just adds another layer oflike maybe 12 seconds of like
block timers.
But I try to work activelyabout it.
(19:28):
There's this app called OneSecwhere it makes you breathe for
like 10 seconds.
And every time I go to anetworking event, I'm like, hold
on.
Yeah, right.
I have to disable it first.
And then yeah, I think they goabout it.
I just make like a huge likeringing noise or something.
No, oh it's just let me grab anInstagram and you open
Instagram and it does this thingwhere it goes from bottom to up
for like 10 seconds and it'slike hold on there's something
(19:49):
going on with that phone it'shappened to me like several
times yeah but I saw a thing onInstagram and if the CEO of this
wants to come on the podcasthit me up but I'm thinking about
getting one of those bricks ohI saw those it's like this
little device where you putsomewhere and you it's like a
physical thing you tap yourphone on it and it disables all
these apps and the only way toget these apps again is to tap
(20:10):
on the physical thing againright so the only it's like you
can't just click a button onyour phone to bypass it you
actually have to physically doit does it have to be the exact
same model like what if you losethat or break so you're screwed
yeah you can use another modelI'm sure maybe yeah but that's a
smart way to go about it rightyeah I've seen it maybe I'll
wait until Richard gets in I'llyeah it'll be cool wait Bien
(20:34):
tell me a little bit about yourcareer in film actually like how
did you get into it and whereyou want to go I think One of my
earliest memories, like whenyou close your eyes and you try
to comb back to the first memoryyou can remember, was me
sitting on a couch watching KungFu Panda.
(20:54):
No way! I think so.
I think my love for filmmakingstarted, or it really started to
pop to the surface in middleschool, I think 7th grade.
Although I'd had like, it's avery obscure YouTube channel
that no one ever is going tofind.
And I'm never going todisclose.
But I started like editing oniMovie back then.
(21:17):
Um, and you know, filming andtaking initiative to, to create
these like small YouTube videos,um, of like me doing like, I
was inspired by this guy namedEvan tube HD.
Um, you guys, I watched hisLego videos.
Yes.
I would do like Lego unboxingvideos and whatever on like, um,
(21:38):
and I do like some like vlogstyle videos.
Um, I think the most I'd evergotten was like 2.6 K on, on
like some, that's pretty good.
Hot Springs video.
Uh, But so that's that's kindof how like my videography or my
introduction to media startedbut it wasn't until middle
(21:59):
school I took this videoproduction class I remember very
distinctly my teacher's namewas Mr.
Thiessen he was the basketballcoach and the middle school
counselor and uh the videoproduction like teacher right um
and we shot on I don't evenknow what those are called but
definitely camcorders right uhsuper like old school I'm sure
(22:21):
at that point iPhones would havebeen better but we shot on
those ones and we'd make like 30second to uh Two minute clips,
and all of them are like reallycliche, suspense film.
where there's like the recordscratch at the end and like some
plot twist right so super it'sall a dream yeah it's all the
dream kind of stuff um and thenbut that was my introduction to
(22:45):
adobe where you know i kind oftook a step up from imovie um
and then i continued my passioneighth grade i i tried my hand
at acting wasn't for me i'm notthe best actor full disclosure
um And then I decided like, youknow what?
I'd rather just stay behind thecamera.
So high school, I took a filmclass, like a real film, I think
(23:10):
it's called film VFX andsomething, animation class with
my teacher, Mr.
Craven.
He was Canadian.
I have a very fond memory ofMr.
Craven.
I think he took a liking to me.
And one of my friends from theswim team, we decided to make
like a short trailer at the pooltogether.
And that was like, wow, that'scool.
(23:32):
We're filming at a pool.
We're going to do some shotsfrom inside the water.
There's going to be fire.
It's going to be lit.
We got a lot of praise forthat, and that kind of boosted
my ego.
And I was like, hey, I likethat people were happy with what
I made.
And then I knew from then, whatif I keep doing this for the
next three years in high school?
(23:53):
So I took an advanced projectclass where Mr.
Craven was kind enough to letme do my own thing the entire
semester, as long as it wasrelated to film, and he'd check
in from time to time.
But I would basically justbuild my own course for myself.
So that gave me the free timeto...
to find out what I love andwhat I was passionate about.
(24:15):
I got into post-production,although I didn't know it was
called that back then.
I just thought it was likeediting.
So After Effects.
I used to watch this guy calledFilm Riot.
Oh, same.
Ryan Connolly.
Ryan Connolly.
Please come on.
Please come on.
(24:36):
The OG GOAT.
Eventually, I made this musicvideo using like accumulation of
all the skills I'd learned andVFX I'd learned.
Whether that be like the quicksilver effect, like a
duplication effect, like theShazam transformation effect.
like an earth zoom effect.
I thought that was pretty cool.
(24:58):
And I made that to music video.
And then I think, and then Idiscovered that we had like a
regional film festival.
So I submitted a couple ofstuff there.
Didn't really win.
I got like silvers and bronze.
But then that gave me a newgoal.
To eventually get a gold.
So I think this is eithersophomore or junior year at this
(25:22):
point.
But I just started IB.
And I had to start to thinkabout what colleges I wanted to
apply to.
But I knew.
I knew for sure still at thatpoint that I wanted to do film.
I hadn't really told myparents.
And I'm sure you guys know.
Going on a prettynon-traditional route with Asian
parents is kind of tough.
(25:42):
topic to bring up fordiscussion so I hid it from them
like a little bit while Icontinued to make more films in
another film class they I took afilm two class that they built
just for me I was the only kidin that class and I took it with
the other film one kids and Andsimilar to like the previous
(26:05):
year, the teacher, and she wasnew, her name was Ms.
Sowers.
I have a very fond memory ofall my film teachers because
they all helped me get to thispoint.
But yeah, so she kind of alsolet me do my own thing, craft my
own films.
And as long as I was, you know,I was giving her like
deliverables, assignments, andmaking sure I got a grade.
(26:26):
And I decided to like make myfive minute short film for
application, or so four minutesshort for application.
Was it five back then?
Okay, then five minutes.
I know it's changed now, right?
I think it's two minutes now.
Yeah.
Crazy.
No, one of my friends, theyshot a movie that they thought
it was five minutes and theylooked at the thing again.
(26:46):
It was like two minutes.
Yeah, so I did that and then Iactually submitted that.
for college, USC, UCLA, NYU.
I'd done some research, and bythat point I'd talked to my
parents about what I wanted todo.
They were supportive.
Yeah, they were supportive, Ithink, as long as they wanted me
to apply to Harvard.
(27:06):
Did you?
But I didn't.
I convinced them, or I don'tknow if they were fully
convinced, but I managed toconvince them that applying for
Harvard, at least for me,wouldn't be beneficial at all.
I didn't want to waste time orapplications.
And I decided that I wouldshoot for the top film schools
(27:30):
in the U.S.
So that was USC, UCLA, and NYU.
My top was USC, followed byUCLA and NYU.
What was the record?
I took two L's.
And obviously I'm here at USC,so.
There you go.
The one that mattered, yeah.
Yeah, the one that mattered.
And I also applied to a coupleother film schools, LMU,
(27:52):
Chapman.
Emerson SD although SD is morelike a film studies program UCSD
yeah did you get in I did I didcool and I was prepared to go
there after being rejected byNYU and UCLA and then I'd been
waitlisted to Chapman and LMUand I've been rejected by UCSB
(28:13):
for communications do you regretanything with your choice USC
or do you think USC was the bestdecision ever I think as a
person I definitely would havevibed more with the East Coast
just coming from Tokyo, I think.
But I am happy here.
In hindsight, I don't regretanything, although I just think
(28:33):
as a person I might have likedmore New York.
But yeah, it was during thattime when we were starting to
get college acceptance decisionsthat my dad sent me a YouTube
link to this super...
I think he had like 700subscribers at the time.
But anyway, this guy namedJiayang Liu.
I forgot exactly what theheadline was, but it was like...
(28:58):
Oh, like reaction video?
Yes, that one.
So I watched that one.
I watched the entire video.
I watched every single one ofyour reactions.
And then I was like, wow.
Wait.
So this guy's going to be myfuture classmate.
So I left a comment on thevideo.
I don't know if you everresponded to it.
(29:19):
And then I don't think it wasright away, but I know I did
cold DM you on Insta.
i shot you a text you canprobably pull up pull it up but
some someday and i think i saidsomething along the lines of
like hey man i watched yourvideos on youtube i thought
they're like really coolinspired me i just wanted to let
(29:39):
you know like i'm gonna be oneof your classmates um and i
can't wait to see you in thefall that's amazing what was
your response oh let me youmight have left me undelivered
and you got too many you got toomany guys so i found this
comment he said Bro, your videosare so good.
I got into USC for filmproduction as well.
So I'll see you there.
And I replied immediately,actually.
(30:01):
And I said, thank you so much.
See you there.
That was dry as f***, dude.
Okay.
You were like a stranger atthat point.
You were one of the firstpeople I met before coming to
USC.
Oh, yeah.
Do you plan on doing gradschool or you think...
you know, after film school,you know, you want to go into
the business.
I considered like AFI causeit's supposed to be the number
(30:23):
one film school or grad schoolin the world.
Right.
Um, but I just, I don't knowwhat I'd be doing there besides
procrastinating my, like myselfat least.
Um, although I'm not, not tolike hate on grad school and I'm
sure there's a lot to learnfrom there.
It's just, I think personally,um, I could definitely see the
(30:45):
comfort in still being in schooland getting access to all these
facilities and being able tomake more films.
I see the appeal.
Every day, the closer I get tograduation, the more I think
about whether or not I shouldstick around for grad school,
AFI, or even just here, USC.
(31:08):
But I think on the path I amright now, I want to go straight
into the industry, preferablyat like studio.
I consider productioncompanies, I'm still kind of
weighing my options, talking todifferent people, talking to my
bosses, professors about the wayin.
And I do know that the industryisn't doing too well right now,
(31:29):
but you know what is.
And then all these fears aboutlike AI, taking over jobs.
and then like how people saylike super cut throat and the
barriers of entry are reallyhigh.
All these fears, you know, thatmade me consider maybe I'll
(31:50):
feel a little safer if I stickwith grad school.
That's kind of the same thoughtprocess that I had for a while.
But I think I stuck with, youknow, heading straight into the
industry in whatever waypossible.
So I was wondering, what wouldbe your sort of dream career?
first job out of college ifthat was the path that you
decided like um whether at theproduction company or studio
(32:11):
like what what would you thinkyou'd be doing that would be a
dream but also realistic okay solike a realistic dream a
realistic dream it's a realisticdream then i would love to work
at one of the big studios um iwould say warner i think maybe
syncope syncope all right yeahbut they haven't they they never
(32:35):
have job listings yeah i do igo on a linkedin it's dry yeah i
think it's just it might justbe nolan and his wife i mean
there's also a realistic routeof like i've you know you guys
know max say love um he was ableto work or he's able he was
able to crew or i mean i don'tknow if he's I don't know by the
(32:55):
time this video releases ifhe's still on it or not, but
from at least this currentmoment in time, he's going to be
able to crew on The Odyssey,Nolan's upcoming film, and
that's literally my dream.
I saw your LinkedIn post.
Yes, I posted on LinkedIn forthose who don't know and who
want to check out my LinkedIn.
It's the end, Maggie.
But if there's any way anyoneknows a way for me to hop on
(33:19):
set, on Christopher Nolan's set,The Odyssey, I will do
anything.
I will sweep the floors.
I will be a chair.
Inanimate object.
I will be an inanimate object.
I'll be a fucking sea stand.
I will Hollywood the fuck outof a flag if I have to.
I will be a sandbag.
(33:42):
I weigh more sandbag anyway.
You cause more too.
No, I'd be free.
I'd do it.
If, if it would let me, Ithink, but I mean, I don't know.
Let's give BN two dollars.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um, although I know thatthere's a, there's a way there's
Max Salo has done it.
I think if you join the IMAXclass, um, where you get to
(34:02):
shoot on real 35 millimeter IMAXor 70, uh, I think 16 or 70
maybe but I think he's 70 Ithink he might be developing he
says he's developing some newtechnology with IMAX again after
the black and white withOppenheimer but I mean sorry I
meant in USC oh USC oh I thinkit might be 16 16 I mean it's
(34:23):
still it looks great but I thinkthrough that I He was referred
to IMAX, the company, and theneventually trickled down all the
way to Nolan.
And that's how he's working onset.
Someone's done it before.
Yeah, dude.
That's your idol, right?
What's your favorite Nolanfilm?
(34:44):
Oh, Nolan.
My favorite Nolan film?
The Prestige.
Hey, good pick.
I like The Dark Knight.
Oh, The Dark Knight.
You can't go wrong with TheDark Knight.
I gotta go with Memento.
It's trademark.
Have either of you watched TheFollowing?
I have.
It's kind of memento, but evenless complicated.
Have you guys seen Doodle Bug?
(35:05):
I have.
He's got another one calledSpider something.
It's very experimental.
It was very experimental.
The Odyssey is his firstfantasy movie right the prestige
is kind of in that territorybut a lot of his stuff are you
(35:27):
know sci-fi and hardcore youknow science and future and all
that but now he's going towardsmythology yeah i'm super excited
about that i grew up readinglike percy jackson and uh-huh
yeah so you know i have to readthe odyssey in the high school
for english yeah homers yeah howdo you think nolan keeps his
financials in check I know thathe started off as another
(35:52):
college student.
He didn't even study college.
He studied English.
English, right, yeah.
ICL or King's.
I think UCL, right?
University College and then,yeah.
UCL.
I think he was with his wife atthe time, and I think they
might have produced their firstfeature together, which he also
(36:12):
shot and edited.
And then...
You know what?
That's a good question, but Ican only imagine.
I know he worked in the cameradepartment at first.
I think he was just shootingcommercials and TV ads and all
that.
And then...
And he's squabbled togetherlike $8,000, $6,000 and shooting
(36:34):
with friends on weekends forfun.
And then, yeah, I mean, you gotto start somewhere.
Yeah, definitely.
It's more accessible now thanever, than his time.
Oh, yeah.
Grab an iPhone.
You can do the same, if notbetter.
So, I mean, because like thebarriers of entry are so low
now, do you think that makescompetition amongst filmmakers
or aspiring filmmakers harder?
Unknown (36:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 00 (36:57):
course i think so everyone's competing for your
attention at all times oh yeahit's not just film it's like
video video youtube tiktokeverything yeah so do you think
breaking out the same way likethe oldies did is harder youtube
is such a strong you know stufflike youtube and tiktok you
know you have people um Whoeverdirected the A24 horror movie,
(37:19):
talk to me.
They were, the directing duo, Ithink they were YouTubers.
And then they starteddirecting.
Oh, talk to me.
Sorry.
Yeah, with the handshake andthe stone thing.
Yes.
Oh, is that the one withLeMond?
Yeah, that one.
There's another kid on YouTube.
Wesley Wang?
No.
No, it's actually, it's theKing Backroom.
(37:39):
Oh, yes, yes, yes.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
His stuff is amazing.
It's like some of the besthorror ever.
It's so good.
And then A24 scooped it and Ibet it's going to be amazing.
You talked about LinkedInearlier.
How do you build such a bigLinkedIn audience?
You're kind of a celebrity onLinkedIn.
Hey, I don't think so, butthank you.
I happen to know a lot of mypeers from back home.
(38:04):
with like upperclassmen,underclassmen, I'll hopped on
LinkedIn.
So I already had that, youknow, kind of starter pack.
What's your approach tonetworking though?
Um, I'm definitely more like apeople in person person.
I like, you know, being able toshake them in the hand, look
them in the eye, firm handshake,tell them my name is Bien, like
(38:25):
muy bien.
And that usually earns me aLinkedIn connection.
Um, sometimes, you know, Oh,uh, uh, at our last dka meeting
i was pitching myself as aproduction chair and in the
middle of my speech i also shoutout my linkedin and vimeo just
like the same way i did earlierum you know sometimes i'll get
(38:47):
people i'll see people follow meand connect with me on linkedin
after that surprisingly enoughuh and then just everyone i meet
um you know i'll Connect withthem on LinkedIn just because,
you know, USC is a prestigiousschool.
It's always good to connectwith whoever you can.
You never know where thatconnection might lead you.
(39:09):
Sorry, not to make it soundlike I'm very conceited.
I'm not just using people forconnections.
If you meet a new person, doyou usually go for the Instagram
or the LinkedIn?
Well...
If we're talking back in theday, I'd go for her LinkedIn or
her number.
Sorry, her Instagram or hernumber.
Yeah.
(39:29):
But if we're talking nowadays,because I'm taking...
I'd go for their LinkedIn orInstagram.
Well, what do you go for firstif you could get one?
Are we talking about like nowor back then?
I'm talking about now.
Oh.
Yeah.
I feel like...
Obviously, if you're in aprofessional setting...
I think LinkedIn just feelsmore appropriate.
(39:49):
Otherwise like your number, atthe very least their email.
Let's say like a mixer, youknow, S-E-A, S-E-A.
Oh, for sure.
Like an Instagram, dude.
Or a number.
I can kind of gauge.
if they'd be the type for Instanumber.
But usually, almost everyone, Idon't know, just by talking to
them.
(40:09):
Obviously, everyone has a phonenumber, or almost everyone has
a phone number.
I know there's a few people whoI know don't have any social
media at all, in which case...
asking them for their insta ortheir yeah snapper i don't know
their myspace i always go forthe instagram first because i
feel like instagram gives likenot just a professional you know
(40:31):
layout it also is morepersonable and then i would go
for the linkedin the next time imeet them and then remember the
next time yeah instagram isalways like a good first step i
feel yeah yeah because theninstinctually yeah yes maybe
it's not so intimate at the sametime it kind of gives you a
Right, right, right.
In your life, what's thedumbest purchase you've made?
(40:53):
Dumbest purchase I've made?
I don't think I've made anydumb purchases.
I'm a pretty smart man when itcomes to my finances.
Okay.
Maybe some film equipment,perhaps?
Oh, yeah.
Those are expensive?
Yeah.
Because, like, now I know thatI don't really want to DP.
Oh, I think that sounds likegood.
Like, don't splurge too much oncamera equipment.
Yeah.
I mean, I guess, like, youknow, it's fine if you want to
(41:17):
make your own videography stuff,but no need to buy yourself,
like, all these lights, I think.
I get it.
If you're not DPing, you don'tneed all that gear.
No need for all that cameragear.
Unless you want to set up yourown studio or podcast.
Yeah, okay.
No.
No, all these gear we...
(41:38):
just source from friends to behonest you know that's you
saying it's for the jam bandactually we just took it
upstairs really yeah it's fromdownstairs it's uh we have a
thesis film coming up soon andthe light stand that's currently
being used is the one we'reusing wait the same with the
line okay yeah theoreticallyspeaking tomorrow uh someone
(42:01):
throws a million dollars um intoyour down your chimney not
taxed not taxed Is it trackable?
No.
Unknown (42:14):
Not trackable.
Speaker 00 (42:15):
What would you spend it on if you had 24 hours to
spend it on?
It simply appears.
Okay.
I would first take $10,000 ofit, put it in my emergency fund.
It's always important to havean emergency fund.
And then I'd take $90,000 ofit, invest that into...
(42:38):
the S&P, right?
And then with the remaining$900,000, let me think.
I'd save, oh, I'd take $100,000of that, send it to my parents,
you know.
Thanks for paying one year ofmy time.
Yeah.
And then I'd take $50,000 ofthat, set that aside for, I
(43:02):
don't know, marriage orsomething.
Okay.
And with the remaining fewhundred thousand, As a
filmmaker, I'd probably eitherinvest that into making my own
short film, or I guess I couldmake a feature film with that
amount of money, but it'd haveto be super micro-budget.
But a lot of investing into myfuture as a filmmaker, either
(43:26):
creating a short or financinganother short or feature, that
would help me make thoseconnections, get into the
industry.
What would your first featurebe?
I love, I love genre films.
I love, I also love sci-fi andI love thriller films.
So something along the lines ofthat, something that I would
really like, you know, projectto the world, what my cinematic
(43:49):
style is while at the same time,open enough, enough avenues for
future projects.
Do you feel like, you wouldlose purpose if you had so much
money?
Like if you didn't have toworry about money ever again,
like would you still pursue filmthe same way you would?
I think so.
I think, you know, as like we,you learn with like 310, budget
(44:09):
is definitely a very restrictingobstacle in the creation of
some films, but also gives youlike the boundaries.
It allows you to use yourcreative abilities juices in the
limits and make something outof that, make the best of what
you can.
And that kind of challengesyourself, right?
(44:30):
Which I think is good.
But with that amount of money,I think that would definitely be
a reason why it's important tobe able to know how to to manage
your finances and not just likespend it on a yacht.
So it's definitely important toknow how to manage your
finances, right?
And just reinvest that intoyour future.
(44:51):
So you can keep doing what youlove to do.
Yeah, I think I love what yousaid.
I think on top of that, I thinkit's important to like really
protect your money.
Like, have you ever beenscammed before?
I low-key think so.
I've been applying to housesfor the next year.
academic year and this onehouse when this one like rental
(45:11):
company Remain nameless or no.
Yeah, I don't want to you.
Would you want to stay in LAafter I think realistically?
I mean, this is where the heartof the industry is, although
it's kind of branching outacross the states It's and you
know, it's gone international.
There's Canada.
There's Netherlands FranceFrance But like closer to home,
(45:34):
you know Vegas Or Arizona.
Arizona or Nevada.
They're building a new SonyStudios.
I think so, yeah.
And then obviously Atlanta isanother decent hub for
filmmaking.
New York, obviously, for indie.
I do realize there's a trendwhere a lot of production
companies are filming outside ofL.A.
(45:56):
They're filming in Romania andEurope.
That has to do with tax breaks.
Tax incentives, yeah.
That's a big part of it now.
Yeah.
So I know L.A.
is going to try to come up withincentives of their own to try
to reel people back in,especially because with the
wildfires situation, People havebeen certain.
(46:18):
It's been like a mass exodus.
It's been happening from LA.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And it's been like exacerbatedby the fires.
It is.
Yeah, I know.
I agree.
Like it is the heart of theentertainment industry.
Everyone is here.
You know, I drive to myinternship and it's like, I just
see Universal Studios, Netflix,you know, everywhere just
(46:41):
surrounding me.
And it's like, it's quitesurreal, but it is where
everything is.
Everything feels done here.
You know, it's the best weathertoo.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I hope you guys enjoy thisepisode and learn a lot about
the financials of being a filmproducer, director, and how to
navigate the film world in filmschool and outside of film
(47:01):
school.
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