What brought you to want to teach at UW Seattle?
I mean, I've been teaching for a long time. I've been friends with Sean Wong, Professor Wong, for a long time and made guest appearances in his classes over the years. He went on sabbatical one year, and he asked if I would cover his classes, and I did, and I think the very first class was right before COVID. And I loved the class. It seemed to do well. There was a demand for screenwriting, and I was asked back to teach again, and then I just sort of weaseled my way into teaching more classes. What I found really quickly was that it was the student population that I've liked the best when teaching. It's a relatively high bar to get into school here, so you have bright students. You have primarily dedicated students, and what I like about UW is that there are people still really exploring what they're trying to do, or what they might do, which is far more engaging from a teaching standpoint.
When it comes to choosing the curriculum that you teach here, what do you hope students gain from being in your classroom? How do you structure it to uplift them?
The thing that's important to me is independent thinking, critical thinking, and learning to be self-motivated. I think teaching creative arts is really weird. I think grading it's even weirder. I don't really care about grading, like, if I could go to a pass-fail system, I would be really happy. But what I really like is seeing people motivate themselves and take pride in the work they're doing. So, you know, to me, your opinion, any student's opinion, is as valid as mine. And giving people a space in which they can express themselves. And sometimes even vent. Or share, or confess. Or complain, whatever it may be, that's my happy place, because if you're confident enough to do that, then you get more confidence to express yourself in other forms. I think the other thing for me is, you know, years ago, some UW students said that I had either the hardest, easy classes or the easiest, hard classes. I'm still not sure which way to look at it, but I do know that the idea of coming to my class and passing is not hard. Right now, I'm in week eight of the introductory screenwriting class, and I love seeing people busting their a** to make something good. And I don't think it has anything to do with me, really, and I don't really think it has much to do with the grade. I just love seeing people motivated because they want to do well. That can make me weepy sometimes.
Would you say that's why you have students gather into permanent groups in your classes, having them work as teams?
Yeah, I mean, there is accountability in groups. I find it harder for people to crap-out if other people may be dependent on them. I think I say at the beginning of each class, if somebody wants to tank their own grade, you know, that's their choice. But if you're gonna take somebody else down with you, that's really pretty awful. So I think there's some accountability, and the other thing is I'm an introvert, I don't like small talk, I don't like parties, I don't like talking to strangers. But I do relish the opportunity to connect with people, to really connect with other people. And so my hope is that on some level people in those teams, in those groups, actually develop connections that they wouldn't otherwise.
Do you have anything you’d like to share about your current classes?
To me, the current introductory screenwriting class is, well, every class is different; it's not a competition, and I'm not ranking them at home. This group has really buckled down faster to work with one another more than most classes I've seen, and I can't tell you why. But it's pretty amazing. I generally recommend the first weekend, everybody's team should meet twice, and if you can meet once a week after that. But I'm seeing teams meet two to three, four times. A week or splitting up, “oh, we can't all meet, let's two meet, and then the other three of us will meet.” And that's really exciting, and I don't know where that comes from. But I like it.
Your screenwriting class is one of the most popular CMS classes right now. Why do you think that is?
It's so popular for people. So, part of the people of any age, not just college students, who look at movies and think, I could do that. I think there's something sort of appealing about it because I think it feels accessible. People know movies; they've watched enough movies, and feel like that's an easy thing to translate to. It also seems like a relatively easy way, regardless of what your goals are. You know, to me, frankly, on the surface, it's more appealing than let's write a novel. And I have nothing against novels, I like prose, but films feel more approachable, more accessible. And why do so many people want to take it? I think it is indicative of a deep desire not of all CMS students, but of many, to do something generative. When I went to school, I was taking a lot of classes with film theory and history, and I'm greatly appreciative of all of them, but I wish I could have done some actual film production. A, because that's what I wanted to do. But B, because once I started doing it, I felt like I understood the other stuff better. I think they feed each other.
So, you feel like there's value in production and theory together? You’re saying that the application aspect would be beneficial.
Yeah, I mean, I truly, truly believe that. Either side feeds the other, right? If you want to be an academic and just, you know, and I still don't know exactly what those careers are, but they're barely driven by film production. But if you just wanted to stay in academia, I still think you benefit from trying at some point to make a film. And if you're a filmmaker. Oh my lord, you need to understand theory and history. So, to me, they go hand in hand.
Speaking of academics, how is it being a professor in this field?
You know, I feel like the oddball on the faculty. I don't think of myself as an academic. I think of myself more as a film person, I mean, in addition to teaching, I do all these other things. I curate film festivals, and I produce shorts, and I just shot my own doc in September, and I'm gonna shoot another one later this month. It's sort of like that thing of, you know, studying history and theory, and actually making stuff. I believe they all feed one another. But for the most part, I'm less interested in talking about the theory of things and more interested in “let's go do something!” I want to go do something. I like to stay active.
You do so much outside of teaching. How are you keeping that balance? What have you been up to?
I have no work-life balance. I don't sleep much; I’m not a role model in that realm. It's really hard for me to take days off, and it's really hard for me to take a vacation. That drives my partner crazy. But I'm gonna be that, uh, Yutz who says, like, to me, it's not working. To me, it brings me joy. So, if I'm staying up between midnight and 3:00 AM watching short films to curate a festival, I'm in my happy place, sort of. There's no balance. But again, I can't imagine not doing any one of those things.
How is the Walla Walla Movie Crush coming along?
The Walla Walla Movie Crush is coming along very well, and there will be some exciting news. So next summer is the 10th anniversary of Movie Crush, and I'm immensely proud of it. It's such a weird venture. It's like its own full-time job. But it's great.
And where does that passion come from, to want to do all these things?
Producing or directing are very easy. Like, there's just the joy of creation, and there's just something really satisfying, like, why do this, you know? That may be, like, third on my list, though. The curating and serving as host of the Wild Wilda Movie Crush, and curating for other festivals, I love movies, and so I find there's a pretty direct correlation. If I love the movie, I'm probably gonna love The Movie Maker. The opportunity to show their work and share their work feels awesome. Part of the reason that I stepped back from having more of a traditional Hollywood career was that I realized that to make a feature film, you're taking 2, 3, 5 years on average to make one movie, which probably is not going to turn out the way you wanted it to, anyway. So, rather than take 5 years to do one thing that's not quite right, every year at the Movie Crush, I get to show about 100 shorts, and about 50 of the filmmakers show up. And that's just, that's awesome. It makes me feel happy for the filmmakers. I love seeing other people respond to things that I like. I love the movie makers having their moment in the limelight, so that's a different kind of joy, and that would be second on my list. Then, teaching, when things are going well, teaching is the best. I know it sounds goofy, but 80% of the days after teaching, I go home, and the first thing I say to my partner is, “I love my kids, I love my kiddos.” That's because it's not like, “woo, this is a really great lesson today,” it's more. Most days, I see somebody exceed their own expectations, not my expectations, but clear the bar that they had not known they'd set for themselves. That's an amazing thing. And those moments make me go, “That's awesome.”
You’re a bit of a foodie, so do you have any recommendations around town to try?
Rachel's Bagels and Burritos for bagels, no question. There are other good ones I haven’t tried. I like Andrew Rubenstein, and what he does with Bagel is very good. There's some very good pizza, finally. I really like Vera's. I like pizza, that's, well, I'm a New York boy, so I like New York by the slice type pizza. There's a place down by the stadium, Slice Box, which I think is really good. There's almost every Asian food on the Ave, never gone wrong. What else do I buy? I love food so much. I've barely had a crap meal on the Ave. The Ave actually comes closer to reminding me of New York than any other part of the city, because I think Seattle just became the second most expensive city in the country to eat in, to dine out in. And it's always bothered me that New York has great restaurants, Seattle has great restaurants, but New York has lots that are, like, super cheap. And super expensive and everything in between. And Seattle is super expensive, but the Ave is the one place I find 75% of those you go to and have a really great meal for very little money. And of course, chocolate chip cookies from Saint Bread.
Did you rate those cookies on Instagram?
Yeah! I think it got 8 cookies.
That's a pretty good score! Do you have anything, including your cookie account, you’d like people to check out?
Yes, check out the Walla Walla Movie Crush @themoviecrush. If you really like chocolate chip cookies, you can follow @the_cookie_file on Instagram, but that's just my own little bit of insanity. And then I launched a Substack. That's what I'm really excited about. That's about it, often short films, really, because I'm obsessed with short films.