How did you get you hear about / get involved with the Tribeca x Netflix x Gold House Future Gold Fellowship?
I saw an Instagram post from Gold House about the Tribeca x Netflix x Gold House Future Gold Fellowship and I thought it would be very interesting to apply for it. My good friend and creative partner Lawrence Chen and I had been working on lots of short films scripts previously and there were two that we decided to submit. Both of them were sci-fi based from an Asian-American perspective. So we submitted those two along with a budget I created for this fellowship program.
I also had another friend, Lloyd Lee Choi, who I mentioned to him that Lawrence and I had applied for this fellowship and he decided to apply for it also on the same day. As it goes, somehow, Lloyd got the fellowship- even though he wrote a script in a day! So, whether it’s fate or luck that it happened, who knows?
Or just pure talent.
Yeah, I don’t know! Sometimes it’s just whoever is reading the script, you don’t know where they’re at in their life, like maybe they were just not in a mood for sci-fi that day [laughs]. So, yeah, they accepted Lloyd.
That was a long process. The selection process happened in January of this year and we had a lot of meetings with Tribeca Studios, which really spearheaded the development process. We had weekly meetings with them to talk about budget, casting - they were so supportive. They gave us all the documents we needed to make it happen and the funding. And we shot it all in April and around that time, I also found out that a feature film that I had helped produce in 2020 also got into Tribeca of this same year, so it was a great experience to be able to go to the festival for two reasons: one for the horror film, A Wounded Fawn, and another was for this film fellowship.
What was also crazy is that my longtime collaborator DP friend, Tinx Chan, also got into Tribeca with a film that he DP’d called Our Father, The Devil. And another producer friend of mine, Nerenda Eid, she got into the film market where she was pitching her TV show. So, it’s weird but it’s not that weird at the same time, where you get to see your peers who work just as hard if not harder than you getting to the same place. It was a really nice celebration to be there with my friends. Another friend, Jake Saner, his film that he DP’d Good Girl Jane was also there. So, it was just very strange. At one point in your life, in your career, you just notice that you’re coming to the same place with everyone.
That’s awesome, super exciting. You talked about what it was like to work with Tribeca. I was wondering if you got to get in touch with Netflix in the process of working on the fellowship and what that was like.
It seems that Tribeca Studios was really the point person on this job. We never spoke directly to Netflix. We only spoke through Tribeca. Tribeca was managing the filmmakers. There were three filmmakers: Lloyd Lee Choi, Erin Lau, and Derek Nguyen. So, they were managing us three as well as the people at Netflix and the people at Gold House. They were helping us get funding, promotion through Netflix, news and press releases, industry screenings - a lot of the actual role that a studio would do. They gave us more money when we needed it. They would give us notes from Netflix, on the edits and the casting choices.
Do you think it was more helpful to have this feedback/information coming from one point?
I’m used to dealing with a lot of communication and feedback in my industry. I’m talking to every single person on the crew as well as the agency, legal department, and clients. And as budgets get smaller, sometimes the client and the agency person are handling everything and I’m handling everything on the production side. So, I’m used to it but I’m glad- it felt very professional and clear to have a point person throughout that process. So, I really applaud the people there at Tribeca Studios - Michelle Hamada and Alex Ingber.
What was the timeline of the fellowship and where are you now in that process? What are the steps moving forward?
We finished the Tribeca run. The opportunity was for it to have a theatrical screening at Tribeca, which ultimately didn’t happen but they did give us a private theatrical screening as well as they let our film play on Tribeca At Home, which is their streaming platform. But, in the eyes of Tribeca, the film is done and now we have the opportunity to submit the film into other film festivals. So, we are also submitting Closing Dynasty to Sundance as well as TIFF and Venice and other film festivals now. So, they’ve basically helped give us funding and legal advice and film festival strategy advice to make a film. And now we can go and promote our film as well as use that film to try to get other opportunities. They’ve also given us a great network to talk to the other filmmakers, Erin and Derek, who are in the competition also. We keep in touch. So, it’s pretty nice that our network expanded through the fellowship itself. And I hope that next year we get to be reinvited somehow and get to talk to the next group of filmmakers!
That would be the best way to keep this program running, which is to create a mentoring, alumni sort of program versus we’re just going to make content for this year and let’s make new content next year. They should try to make a community to support each other and that’s just going to lead to bigger and better opportunities for everyone.
Thanks for sharing your experience. I was seeing a lot of news from TIFF and the Venice Film Festival the past few months so it would be awesome to see you guys there next year or one day. I was curious - how was the experience going to Tribeca as part of the fellowship different from going as a so-called “independent” producer, like as part of the team behind A Wounded Fawn?
As part of the fellowship, we got the industry pass, which allows you into the cocktail hours, any screenings, any panels. You can just buy that pass, but it is a pretty penny, so to get that free was good. We didn’t get more special access than anyone who could have bought a pass, but it’s nice to be there with a film that’s playing there versus going there and saying “I’m working on a film” or not having something playing there. It’s a different mentality. You could be going there just to watch films, or make contacts and network with people. I think the way the water is flowing is that the people who have films playing there are going to be the hot topic and people are going to flock to them more than you if you’re going there without a film. For me, it was very much using the sort of status of being a Gold House fellow, as well as having a horror feature film there. I also want to touch on something, which is that the fellowship really promotes the directors as the filmmakers, even though each director had a whole production team behind them. The production team was not as invited or part of it, which I think is part of the industry that I don’t love but I guess that’s what works right now. The directors are the centerpiece for all of these things.
Just to clarify, what was your involvement with A Wounded Fawn, the horror feature film?
I was mostly an executive producer, kind of hands-off. I invested in it, helped with finding the director, and picking the script but I had no say in the casting or the production or anything like that. That was by Joe Barbagallo with his production company, BarB House. I think Travis Stevens, the director, has had a lot of horror movies go through the festival route. This is his fifth film, if I’m not mistaken. So, he was automatically entered into the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival, which had a partnership with Tribeca. So, the film got in through another festival, basically, through the director’s connections. I think the more festivals you get invited to and attend, the easier it gets for you to be part of a festival. That’s something that I learned a lot during this period, which is, once you’re in with a festival, once you get to know the people who run it and what they’re looking for as a film festival, it’s so much easier to get in. I don’t think anyone teaches you in film school or anything to go to these things and to invest in your own career by buying that industry pass. I know to do that now, like I already bought my pass for next year because I want to keep my connections fresh and I want to see my friends there again. The Tribeca festival is so big, it has immersive, music, so there’s a lot to go see and I didn’t get to see a lot because I was there promoting the two films. But just being able to participate and there’s a lot of pitching that happens too.
A Wounded Fawn Trailer Dropped!
The film has had an amazing film festival run with Tribeca/FantasticFest/Sitges/BrooklynHorror/Chicago Film Festivals in the past 6 months. Hsubox Productions is so lucky to have had it's first endeavor in film financing investment, development, and producing pay off in such a big way! Joe Barbagallo of BarB House Productions was definitely to thank for showing the script to Jonathan for interest while trying to figure out next moves during the pandemic of 2020.
With a script by Nathan Faudree, writer/director/producer Travis Stevens who took a script idea to the next level as well as the talent actors Josh Ruben, Sarah Lind, and Malin Barr. Premieres December 1 on Shudder.
To summarize, I would recommend people buy the industry pass if you’re serious about working in this industry. Go buy a pass, get to know who the festival directors are, go out of your way to find that person and get to know the programmers and the people who are moderators, like there are a lot of Q&A’s that happen. Those moderators are usually invited in because they might not have a film playing there but they are recognized thought-leaders or filmmakers in their own right. So, just get to know those people. Do your research - look up all the different films playing, see which ones interest you, learn about that director or producer and go talk to them. That’s the cool thing about it - it’s almost like a convention where you are there to be among peers and find potential mentors. That part of maintaining relationships is huge in providing opportunities. You increase your chances of getting your films made or helping other people get their films made and being a part of it by networking. So get the industry pass. If you have never gone, just do it. If you’ve gone before but haven’t gone in a long time, go for it. Expose yourself to something new. Falling short of getting a film in there, just go there!