So something pretty crazy just happened...I was nominated for the Independent Spirit Awards' Piaget Producers Award, along with two amazing producers: my friend Alicia Van Couvering and the legendary Derrick Tseng.
I'm totally honored and grateful for the recognition! So many producers whom I admire and who have mentored me have received this honor, like Scott Macaulay, Mary Jane Skalski, Mike S. Ryan, Paul Mezey, and Gill Holland. It's a milestone that I never thought I'd achieve. As such, I feel like I can finally quit producing now! It's hard and I'm exhausted! Haha, just kidding. Well, not about the "hard" or "exhausted" part.
What's kind of cool is that there's a 66% chance that by next year, Asian Americans will have won the Producers Award four years in a row, starting with Karin Chien, Anish Savjani, and Sophia Lin. The first Asian American producer to win the award was Gina Kwon, so thanks for kicking it off for the rest of us, Gina! Check out the other Asian American Spirit Awards nominees this year. Who says we're all math and science geeks? (Tiger moms, take note.)
I want to thank all of the writer-directors I have worked with for entrusting me with their brainchildren and helping me become a better producer. When I was shortlisted, I was asked to submit two recent films, and I sent in Marshall Lewy's "California Solo" (opening today in NYC!) and P. Benoit's "Stones in the Sun." But it wasn't these 2 films alone that got me the nomination, so I also want to give big shout-outs to Tze Chun ("Children of Invention," "Silver Sling," and "Cold Comes the Night"), Olivia Silver ("Arcadia"), Andrew Bujalski ("Mutual Appreciation"), Doug Karr ("Art Machine"), Ishai Setton ("The Kitchen"), and the 13 other filmmakers I've worked with. THANK YOU. Without you, there's no me.
