Yin&Young - EP43 - Writer/Director Henry B. Chen - a podcast by Yin & Young

Yin & Young…are back! Thank you for your patience (I’ve learned to say that instead of “sorry for the delay”, which I am). For this highly anticipated podcast episode we’re speaking with writer, director Henry B. Chen! Henry was James’s mentor for the Taiwanese American Film Festival Pitch Competition 2019 (https://www.taff.la/).

HENRY HIGHLIGHTS:

Henry writes for BET’s Boomerang (https://www.bet.com/shows/boomerang.html). He and his writing partner’s main episode is “Housekeeping”.

Has multiple projects in the works including a remake pitch for "3 Ninjas" with Asian Americans.

Henry grew up in an Asian-majority community in East Los Angeles and went to a competitive high school with double digit valedictorians.

Henry and James explain why UCSD Professor J.P Gorin is violently amazing.

There was a huge culture shock when he first got into the USC film production program where there were few Asians at the time. Initially, the Asian creatives there didn’t seem to care for Henry at the beginning but eventually they became good friends.

Worked at CAA after undergrad. Had a lot of opportunities to choose to work for different filmmakers and ultimately chose to work with Kathryn Bigelow.

Learned from Ms. Bigelow: your work should say something.

James and Henry met through the mentorship program for the Taiwanese American Film Festival Pitch Competition. James and Henry share their experiences and how important creative boundaries are.

Has a TV project in the works with his writing partner called Salvage which “follows the lives of four unlikely friends trying to open their own food joint in hyper competitive Los Angeles.”

After not getting much attention for their pitch packet, Henry and Jingyi put their show on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/salvage.theshow/) and got a major offer.

Henry shares how The Battle of Algiers is devastating, The Matrix inspirational, and why Parasite is a perfect film.

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LANGUAGE CORNER

Japanese - 感動 - kandō - to be moved (emotionally)

Chinese - 四目交投 - sì mù jiāo tóu - to lock eyes with someone, lit. “four eyes trading”

Korean - 직업병 - jig-eobbyeong （hanja：職業病）- the disease of your occupation, i.e. traits from your occupation that you carry over into your personal life that can be harmful.

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