Meet Alex Chu of Who What Where Industries in West Hollywood

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alex Chu.

Alex, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I am a filmmaker. But that wasn’t always the plan.

It all began in 2008. I was an actor on a USC short film. One of my scene partners on that film ended up becoming a great friend. We kept in touch, and through that friendship, we ended up developing a short film of our own together – I wrote it for him to play the lead character. When I asked who was going to direct it, he said: “Alex, why don’t you do it?”

“Sure, why not?” That’s how it all started. While I have had exposure to film/tv sets as an actor, I wasn’t that experienced to know what I was fully getting into.

It was that naivete that allowed me to dive into it without the terror or anxiety that a first-time director would’ve had coming into it from another part of the industry with a ton of experience.

And I found that first experience to be surprisingly and incredibly gratifying. That short film FORTUNE COOKIE MAGIC TRICKS – a gay zombie martial arts musical mashup – ended up playing a bunch of festivals around the world in 2011.

Experiencing the laughter, gasps, and applause from audiences was exhilarating. I had to do more. That led to another short in 2012 based on my past experiences on Wall Street, and then my first feature film YES, AND… in 2014. A few years later, my second feature film FOR IZZY was released in 2018.

Has it been a smooth road?
Any creative pursuit is anything but smooth. I am no exception.

There are too many struggles to list, but the biggest one for me is overcoming feelings of despair. It’s almost always a leap of faith, and I have accepted self-doubt as a part of the process (in fact, the lack of doubt can also signal trouble, as that to me is the difference between conviction and zealotry).

After my first short FORTUNE COOKIE MAGIC TRICKS, I was flying high, believing I knew more about filmmaking than I actually did, simply because I got validation from so many sources (festivals, press, etc.). It took a few years of struggle in making another short, directing a web series, and my first feature film YES, AND… to really learn why all the pieces in my first short film seemed to connect in a way that made it really work with audiences.

I had actually thought of leaving filmmaking entirely in 2014 after my first feature. I had high hopes for that film, and I was demoralized because my expectations didn’t meet reality (in fact, it was quite far off). I didn’t think I had it in me anymore – it’s one thing to be hated, but it felt far worse being ignored entirely.

I decided to get my real estate license, but soon realized that I was probably the world’s worst realtor! I felt like the Larry David character in CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM, where everything I said to buyers or sellers would backfire.

But that experience gave me the time and perspective to get back to writing again. Living through the absurdity of me trying to sell real estate allowed me to not take myself so seriously anymore. That process led to the development of FOR IZZY, which I have spent the past few years focusing on. I sold my car, crowdfunded, and cobbled together whatever funds we could to get it made.

During the making of FOR IZZY, staring down that abyss of despair became part of the process. It sounds simplistic to say, but I learned that there are good days and bad days. But neither is permanent. That’s the “marathon” part of filmmaking. I learned to constantly remind myself to not let the highs and lows consume me. Most importantly, I learned the biggest lesson of all on this second feature — that the hardest thing to overcome at times is the wall of indifference that comes with getting a film project off the ground. You can feed off energy from those who rave about your project, or hate it – but when faced with indifference, you have to find ways to generate that energy and momentum yourself.

Now that FOR IZZY has been well received and more importantly, a film, I am really proud of, the obstacle or challenge I am facing now is trying to get my next project made!

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Who What Where Industries LLC story. Tell us more about the business.
My business is essentially the catalogue of films I have made thus far as a writer-director. These include the features FOR IZZY and YES, AND…, and the shorts FORTUNE COOKIE MAGIC TRICKS and THE EQUITY PARTNERS. They are available on most platforms – Amazon, iTunes, Google Play, Roku, etc.

I feel grateful to be able to make films, and even more so that audiences out there are willing to watch them – which may sound obvious, but as we all know, there’s a ton of film/tv out there, and any time someone is willing to deliberately choose to spend their precious time to watch a film I made, to me that’s a victory in itself.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
Rather than predict what may happen (in film/tv/media, no one knows), I’ll address what I *hope* will happen.

I hope to see an even greater diversity and array of stories being told by people both in front of and behind the camera.

I hope that there’s still enough people who will continue to see movies in a movie theater, where you are watching a story unfold in the company of others, without the distraction of picking up your phone.

I hope that the emerging generation of artists and gatekeepers alike continue to be enterprising, imaginative and disruptive when they become the leaders and example for others to follow. We cannot afford to be cynical and jaded if we want to solve the big challenges facing the film/tv/media industry.

I hope that audiences continue to consume more stories that aren’t in their native language. As creators and distributors, we have to give audiences more credit than we currently do.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.redturtleindustries.com
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/forizzythemovie
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/forizzythemovie
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/forizzythemovie
• Other: www.forizzy.com

Image Credit:
Who What Where Industries LLC

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