Today we’d like to introduce you to Qianbo “Lavender” Zhang.
Hi Qianbo “Lavender”, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I would like to start with my experience being a host for a children’s program on City TV back in my country. Every Thursday since I was in the fourth grade of elementary school, I went to City TV for that program. From doing the hair and makeup and recording the introductions to shooting on the stage, this was my first early experience of program production. After I graduated from elementary school, I went to an international middle school. There, I met a wonderful theater actor who became my teacher and friend. I joined his drama club with the passion of performance. But I not only learnt the skills of performing from him, more importantly, I got to know and got the chance to do hands-on behind-the-scenes work. In my third year, I directed an original script and brought it onto the stage in front of a five hundred audience. This was a hard mission for me and I learnt an important notion that the production of every project cannot be achieved without the close cooperation of people in different positions who truly love this project. Then I got into a transfer program and went to a christian high school in the Bay Area. This experience made me become more independent and adventurous. I enjoyed the feeling of trying what I’m interested in and learning from those experiences spontaneously.
In 2022, I moved to southern California and became a Film major at UC Irvine for reasons of wanting to try. Here, I made friends with many amazing people from different film schools on set. At the end of June 2023, I had my birthday celebrated on a film set. That moment is when I realized filmmaking is what I’m truly interested in and would like to do as my career. At the age of nineteen, I produced a short film for the first time titled “The Cage of Babel ” with the trust and help from my friends and talented people in the film industry. This is an innovative story, and in the story, the audience will be in God’s vision, observing the behavior of our four characters in the face of their suspicion of each other, the sudden flood, and the intense desire to escape. Right now, I’m just at the beginning of my career as a filmmaker and I’m still learning to be a professional Creative Producer who truly knows and cherishes the value of production and cooperation.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I like to see everyone’s life as a movie. In the movie, the protagonists must have some highs and lows. For me, the bumps along the road come not from outside, but mostly from my own personality. I was born to be an extremely sensitive and vulnerable person. I used to blindly care what people thought about me a lot. Honestly, I could not find a certain point of why I changed (I know it would be terrible for a movie or any type of storytelling). But when I look back on it as a whole, I notice that I’m becoming more and more of a believer in love and the power of love. And I think this can be the key point. Even though sometimes I’m still struggling with internal conflict, I really want to tell those who are facing the same issue with what I was to always remember loving yourself and others and believing in the existence of love.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m still working on becoming a professional Film, Television, and Music Video Producer in the industry. I love to dig for novel ideas and stories and make innovative movies and videos with those who cherish filmmaking and storytelling as much as I do. There was once when my director said to me that he would sacrifice his life for his story. On the day we wrapped, I joked that “See, you are still alive and we made it happen!” It is the feeling of passion, devotion, and cooperation that set the goal for me, leading me to be a solid and altruistic support for the team. Meanwhile, I’m also an Artiste Event Planner who makes connections with Chinese artists and their agencies, mostly singers and songwriters, helping them to organize album signings, music sharing, and other related overseas events here.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
I believe every life story is made up of making different choices, and behind each choice, there is a corresponding risk. Risk should never be a negative word. Instead, it makes us care about and be responsible for every choice we make. As a producer, I’m facing expected and unexpected risks in every production. What I need to do is to assess and make plans for potential risks, and avoid those risks while fulfilling the director’s creations and ideas with my team.
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