The Team

Well… we did it!

In my previous post I mentioned I was going to produce a short film while I was back in the states. I was in LA for less than 2 weeks, I personally only had 5 available days to film not even mentioning other people’s schedules.. but… well…. we did it!

I’m not even sure I can express my excitement for this project. I guess I’ll start with how difficult and unlikely this project was to shoot so you can understand where I am coming from with my excitement. My friend Dave and I had this concept a year back while getting some delicious Taiwanese food for lunch.. suddenly at the blink of an eye I get whirlwinded to China to work for Jet Li and Dave discovers that editing the pilot he had finished filming was going to take more work than he had expected. We are both pulled in separate directions so the idea gets pushed to the back of my mind. Though in the back of my mind.. it was always there and I thought it would be a fun idea and an interesting challenge so… practically A YEAR LATER when I discover that I am coming back to the US for a few weeks, I immediately call up Dave.

Mind you, I was only sure that I was coming back to the US 2 weeks beforehand.. Dave and I know we want to shoot something fun while I’m back, but he is not 100% sold on our original idea. We fiddle with a few concepts.. all pretty cool.. but eventually come back to the original one.

Now let me give you the time crunch countdown. We know we want to work on THIS project 1 week before I come back from China. I fly back to LA for about 3 days, then nor cal to visit my family for 1 week, then back to LA for about another 7 days. That gives us 1wk+3days+1wk.. roughly 10 actual days in LA.. but some of which I have to run errands, see family/friends, etc. Also I sold my car so for part of the trip I had no transportation to even get to and from set (just cuz I didn’t want things to be TOO easy u know)… and jet lag? That’s not even part of the equation.

The Stunt Crew

Pre-Planning Pre-Return
So although we had a cool premise in front of us.. it was purely a concept. Dave and I started off big with an entire feature length movie before us with spectacular characters and hyper realistic fx and the whole nine yards. After many 3 hour long conversations it dawned on me.. we had to be precise and narrow it down to a key moment in our story – suddenly the entire short visualized in my mind. We remained practical to our timing and budget limitations, but not in any way that would short change what needed to happen in the movie. I yapped away with Dave and told him what I saw the beginning of the film to be and after I finished he said.. he felt relieved because now we had a more solid grasp on the direction we were going.

In my mind, this is when everything started moving… kinda like in the opening credits of Fight Club.. you knew you were going to be taken for a wild ride. With the specific scenes in mind, Dave went to work on the script and I started planning the action sequences. Yep, I just spilled the beans that there will be some action in this.. is that a surprise? =P

This is all while I’m in Asia. One week passes and it’s time to return to the US of A.

(1 week – 1week) + 3 days + 1 week = 3 Days and 1 Week Left
I’m only in LA for 3 days before going to Nor Cal. Draft 1 of the script is ready and draft 1 of the fight concept is ready. We meet up and discuss. When it comes down to details everyone is going to have their own vision and subtleties… we go the distance on our thoughts for EVERYTHING and it’s good because a day later I have to go back to nor cal.

Bonus Week – Nor Cal
I wouldn’t really call this a bonus week.. this is the heavy lifting week for Dave and Al – our other producer. While I go back to nor cal, I work on revising aspects of the script, revising the choreography going in line with what elements we agreed to add in, and work on getting various equipment and stunt actors. Meanwhile Dave and Al are casting for additional roles, picking up props, dressing sets, and revising the script.

Game Week – 7 Days Left
“You can get a good night’s sleep the night before the shoot.. when you’re well-prepared”. – Al Brocca

Day 7 – I get back to LA in the evening. I’m able to jump start my bike and it starts running after sitting idle for 8 months. I have wheels now.

Day 6 – I go to the studio and we hammer out the final kinks to the script, characters, and to the choreography. Al films the action blocking for reference. We make functional adjustments to the set. Call times go out!

Day 5 – We film! I know, yet I don’t know how these guys did it, but in that 1 week we managed to get 2 camera operators, 1 sound, 1 super-grip (lighting, sound, slate, etc), 1 makeup artist, and all the actors/actresses. We were cautiously pessimistic, but somehow we got through the first day.

Day 4 – Action day! I mean.. it was all action with how much running around we did for the shoot, but today was the heavy lifting in terms of a lot of the stunt work and action choreography. Though I gave all my energy each day to my performance and work, I was the most daunted by this day because all of the action choreography was my responsibility… and everyone was working at such a high level in all other areas that I could definitely not disappoint. We got off to a rocky start.. and at some points I wanted to kill someone more than my character did. haha… but in the end we wrapped for the day and pretty much got the shots that we needed without too many casualties.

Day 3 – Could it be that we only had 1 more major day of filming left? People were feeling a little worn down by Day 3 of filming. The actors were on set for a while, but even after they left we stayed behind to plan for the next day. This week we had probably consistently been doing 15 hour days. With a little Emergen-C, coffee, zipp fizz, and fresh & easy we made it through our last major day of filming. I slept at the studio this day.

Day 2 – Backing up the footage and just getting some much needed rest. We felt pretty pumped that something purely in our head was captured in a digital box now. I asked Dave if it was possible that everything worked out? We had such a crunched time frame and had 1 thing not gone right the project would have been on hold indefinitely or never finished. I would’ve had to go back to China and we would have to wait until I got back and then try to get EVERYONE back maybe 6 months to a year later. He said sometimes you just get pumped and everything happens and it’s like catching lightning in a bottle. You capture the energy of everyone around you and that essence hopefully can be felt in the film.

Day 1 – I come in to the studio for some voiceover and sound work. This is a couple hours worth of work and its an opportunity to come off our high.

Countdown Over
I pack up and fly back to Asia. There will be more thanking to come, but for now let me briefly thank Jeff our super grip, Jacqui our talented actress, double Brocca time, Nelson runnin the 1s and 2s or more like As and Bs, Pej for the equipment, and Phil and Yanwei for taking hits and doin it in style.

So if you ask me what this film is.. I can’t even respond right now.. not because I don’t want to but because… I don’t even know. It’s like what Sean Parker in “The Social Network” says.. we don’t even know what it is yet.. we just know it’s cool. For me, I just know we wanted to make a short and it all came together. There is still going to be a lot of editing, filming inserts, sound, and other work.. but we know it’s cool and we had fun.

There you have 2 samples of our pictures from the martial arts complete photo shoot. I’ve been posting a lot about my meet ups/interviews with people in entertainment, but I’ve been neglecting blogging about the other work that I’ve been up to. Lately at MAC we’ve been continuing with sponsorships and our ad campaigns. This all led up to some big meetings. I just had a meeting today discussing the distribution of Martial Arts Complete. I am happy with the progress we have made so far and expect more to come in the next month. We are at a pivotal development point!

With WK I just got a huge shipment of budosagas so I will be shipping out some backorders next week. The shoes look great and I finally got this prototype wushu shoe that I will be trying out next week. I already wore it and it feels totally comfortable so far… and this is without wearing it in. I plan to upload some more products and videos next week as well.

I’ve got a few other projects cookin as well, but I think I’m gunna turn my focus to the entertainment side of things now. You know.. originally I wanted to start an online business to give me a little side income to “free” myself from being tied to work and thus allow me to pursue what I enjoyed.. which was self expression / acting / martial arts performance… but lately I’ve been getting more and more tied up with business meetings and setting up sites and such that I am strongly reminding myself that the clocks ticking and I should be focusing on Plan A instead of Plan B.. because then Plan B becomes Plan A.

So speaking of entertainment – I am in fact making plans to shoot a few projects. I wrote a treatment for an action short film. Optimally I’d like this to be a 2 day shoot in June. I am also working on a web series with a friend. I love the concept, but we are still in the script writing stages. Last among my production projects is a youtube quality commercial for a gymnastics facility – more on this later.. but this one should be fun and less daunting than the other projects. This is all on the producing end – On the acting end, I am going to start hustling more once I get back from Nor Cal (I am up north for the weekend to help out at the CMAT tournament) and also auditioning and submitting myself more. Plan is to hit it hard before I go to China in August.

I’m still teaching a few students and things are going well with that. I also now teach at LA wushu more regularly. Good vibe there and we always get boba afterward! My workout schedule is: Mon, Fri tricking, Tues, Thurs sanda/kickboxing, Wed purely wushu. I always try to get in some wushu throughout all the workouts and also I do it when I’m teaching, but Wed is the day where I strictly focus on wushu. I feel like weekends I could also add in a wushu workout.. maybe Sunday. I’ll just have to work it in so that it becomes a routine. I am also feeling more and more comfortable with various back flips, wall flips, etc.

Lastly, travel – Although I usually operate on a last minute go with the flow basis, some pre-planning needs to start right now for my asia trip because of the Shanghai expo. Since there are so many people flying to China around that time.. I have to book my trip in advance.

Okay, I’m getting really tired and gotta wake up to go to CMAT tomorrow. I’m off!

Recently found an agency that is going to submit me for some tv shows, commercial, and films in Taiwan. They needed a few different looks to get me started. Just feeling it out over here in Asia. We’ll see how it goes.

Here are a few pics =)

Hiking Look

Did I just hear my phone ring?

Alfred Hsing Side Kick

Remembering something funny from last week.

What am I thinkin about?

One wushu pose is never enough.

Remember the old style KUNG FU FLICS?!

Here is my Butterfinger commercial I did in tribute to the classic traditional kung fu movies.

The shoot was actually very quick and enjoyable. This is for an online Butterfinger commercial contest. I worked with Jake the producer of this who apparently enters contests for a living and wins a bunch of contests. I fought Andy, the owner of Crossfit in Hollywood. It only took us a few hours and then we got some Subway afterwards.

Support our commercial by posting a comment or checking us out at http://protectyourbutterfingerbar.yahoo.com/?v=5I2IowxFP

No more Job Celebration

Friday was my last day in the corporate world! Here on out its acting and being an entrepreneur – carving my own path – working for myself and towards my passions.

All my best buddies and pals came out to eat Manna Korean BBQ with me! It was super fun. I got SPRAYED with champagne like a mofo because some punks told the staff that it was my birthday when it totally wasn’t.

How’s everything else going?
Angels Tea - Site (www.angelstea.com) has been pretty active. A lot has been going on and I have gotten really good feedback as far as flavor and design. One of my coworkers is interested in getting a few cases of Angels Tea to give as party favors for a bachelorette party so I am super excited. Also beginning a few talks with some restaurants in downtown LA.

Film - Signed up for some extra services recommended by Eliver and Tess.. so maybe next week I’ll start going out to get some work.

Wushu - Still having average practices. I did make it out to LA Wushu once last week and did 3 whole forms just to make sure I still got it. I was getting a little gassed out in my last section.. but as training starts ramping up I know endurance wont be a problem for me. It never has been. I just need to clean up a little of the choreography and then sharpen my moves and I will be set!

To be honest, I been a little “blah” this week because I had a few happy hours with co-workers since it was my last week and also I’ve just been waiting to quit so I haven’t been able to concentrate on other things.

Goals/To Do:
Hit up some wholesale/retail accounts to hold Angels Tea products
Train wushu twice a day
Handle personal and business taxes
Clean my house / find a cleaning lady
Take car in for maintenance
Redo WushuKicks website
Set up merchant accounts and merchant services
Real Estate – Continue property research and go visit broker
Work on creating own short film

Sailor Boatman Alfred Hsing

Wushu
Gave Travis a call and went to check out an open gym at White Lotus with Eliver on Thurs. It was fun and I did some tricking. I learned some parkour and more flashy kicks like a nara bang and a wall flip.

Friday was Suzy’s send off at Nick’s apartment / streets of Alhambra. Dennis swung by and picked me up. It was good catching up and then we had a few drinks at Nicks place. David had his crazy Oregon games and we played ‘fugitive’ or I forget the name.. but some game where you chase down people like cops and robbers but over a 3-5 block radius. I was tired and buzzed, but it was a fun game.

Sat and Sun I had private lessons. It’s pretty fun teaching people, especially when they are willing to learn and serious about training. I just need to get everyone in on a routine so that we get on a roll and that momentum from a good practice rolls over to larger improvements the following class. I want to keep my private lessons to a few people at the moment since I am preparing for Worlds and would rather focus on my own training aside from current 2-3 lessons. Everyone has been awesome! So basically my training on Sat and Sun consisted of warming up and demonstrating some kicks.

Film
It was the Last official shoot date for me on the documentary/pilot this Sunday. I dressed up as a sailor, a pirate, and other random outfits for a green screen shoot. It was so ridiculous I cant even talk about it all. In any case, it feels good that the first complete episode should be done filming by the end of the week. I will have to go back in to do some voiceovers and snap a few pick ups possibly.

Entrepreneurial
Tea- Spent all Sat really cleaning up and prepping the site. Went to Wells Fargo to open a merchant account.

Clothing- Really delayed. I havent heard back from our pattern maker and also my partner is launching a really big (and to be fair very exciting) food truck business so his attention is not on our clothing at the moment. I’m hoping that after all the launches and he has his staff hired to start serving the food that things will slightly calm down and we can regain some steam on this project… but I think things are just going to keep growing and building up on the food truck that I doubt things will slow down.

WushuKicks- Going to test the success of the Tea site and see if everything works smoothly there, then maybe I can transition WK to the same platform.

Misc
Car died on Thurs/Fri. It wouldnt even start when I tried to jump it.. so I assumed the starter needed to be replaced. I was quite bummed. I finally got it in to the shop and they determined it was actually just a really really beat battery with no charge capacity left in it… so I got a new battery and now the G starts up right away.

Aside from it being my LAST shoot date for the documentary project, it is also my LAST week at work. I had an exit interview today and will be cleaning out my desk and turning in my badge on Friday. I am very excited for what’s to come.

Some goals/thing to focus on after I quit will be:
Wushu training for World Games
Ninja Warrior Audition
Tea team, distribution, expansion
Completion of clothing product
3 Private Lessons a week
SAG Extra Work
Pasadena Real Estate
WushuKicks Site Revamp

Subscribe to me at www.youtube.com/wushupowered.

Film
Also, just a quick update on yesterday. We shot an entire fight scene for one of the projects I am filming from 9pm-midnight. The 3 stunt guys I worked with were great to work with and I think the scene came out great.