# Interviews

... being agreeable and always saying yes and bending over backwards with your balls in a knot for people who would never lift a finger back for you doesn’t get you farther than making noise, blowing people’s shit up, and standing up for yourself.

Someone once told me the mark of great art is admiring it so much you wish you’d created it yourself.

I was also engaged by the deep-rooted relationship between Choon-Ok and her mother, Pak Ung-Ak. Theirs was both a nurturing and a clashing relationship that conflicted Choon-Ok, yet prodded her to pursue her goal.

Perennial outsiders often hold the key to true change and progress.

The process of finding an agent is not for the timid of heart. It is equally as tough, if not more so, than writing your work.

I’m sorry, Script Pipeline, I seem to have strangled my writing partner–did you need him to answer any more questions? I can Weekend at Bernie’s him for the rest of the interview?

If you start letting the ‘no’s’ get to you—which you hear way more often than any ‘yes’s’—you’ll scare yourself away from being great and accomplishing your goals.

... there’s only so much you can do with lyrical and pretty. You need mud and knives and lightning bolts, too.

My interest in syllabic rhythm comes largely from my experience in singing and songwriting, from my appreciation for Shakespeare (I’m not a superfan, exactly, but I run in those circles), from a casual love of poetry for its lyricism and emotional density.

Sometimes the bad things in life are just there to put us on the path to the best things in life.

... being a part of a community of people who are invested in your growth as an artist gives you a real leg up in this industry, and film school gives you that.

... it’s an easier sell to anybody when you can package yourself in some way, but you don’t have to be limited by the connotations the word “brand” gets you.

No artist should be afraid to let their heritage and identity take center stage in their work ... The moment I decided to honor that history and put it at the forefront of my work, whether that be location or tonality, everything changed for me.

We knew if we couldn’t meet our own expectations that we weren’t going to make MAN. It was that simple.

Let the lessons from one platform of writing spill over into your other writing. Be fluid about it and see what serves the story best.