Conversations with Philip Ji-Syan Lyu

Today we’d like to introduce you to Philip Ji-Syan Lyu.

Philip Ji-Syan, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I personally see my story as two different halves: My love for film/TV and my decision to come to LA and become a writer.

I grew up in Tainan, a historical city in Southern Taiwan, but as far as I could tell, I’ve always loved American film and TV. My dad used to record bits of shows or cartoons on VHS tapes, and I would watch them repeatedly, not know what came before or after my little episode. I also remember getting up at 1 am, sneaking downstairs while my parents were asleep, and sitting as close to the TV as possible, Poltergeist style, to watch whatever movie that was playing that night.

In high school, I started reading film reviews, which totally changed my life. This was the dawn of online film criticism, I would read all the articles that I previously had no access to (it’s not like you can find Variety or Hollywood Reporter in Tainan) on sites like Dark Horizon or Ain’t It Cool News (ah, the “good old days”), regardless of whether I’ve seen the film or not. These articles formed my basic understanding of storytelling, and they compelled me to start writing film reviews, first unpaid, then as I gained a bit more recognition, paid assignments. In college, I majored in Business Administration, and after school I worked in recruiting for the first decade of my professional life while continue writing film reviews on the side,.. hundreds of them.

Growing up, I always wanted to be a writer. I tried my hands on writing essays, short stories, novellas, but to be honest I simply wasn’t very good, and when I entered competitions, they always ended in disappointment. Finally, about six years ago, a friend of mine gave me a piece of advice: I always love film and TV, I always love writing, and I write in a direct style with vivid imageries. Why not try my hands on screenwriting instead? It’s like everything just clicked. I banged out my first couple of screenplays within three months, and when a project my friend worked on needed someone for extensive rewrites, my friend put my name up for it: I am a decent writer, I have no problem working for other people’s vision, and I work for cheap, That gave me my first real taste of professional screenwriting, and when I saw my name appear on the screen, when I heard dialogue I wrote echoed in the theater, that was the point when I decided to move from being a Film/TV lover, to a Film/TV writer… That and all those people leaving comments under my film reviews: “if you’re so good, why don’t you write one yourself?”

After that, one thing led into another. I wanted to become a screenwriter, but I had no proper training; English is not my first language, but I wanted to compete with the best in the world, so I applied and luckily got into UCLA’s Screenwriting MFA program. During the two-year program, I wrote probably a dozen film and TV scripts while also taking whatever writing assignment I could get my hands on. My UCLA professor used to say, “work beget more work”, and that was exactly what happened. My collaborators introduced me to other projects, projects led to different assignments, and when I graduated from UCLA MFA Screenwriting program in 2021, I also got the assignment to write the first season of an HBO Max show, and that’s about where I am right now.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
To say this has been a bumpy journey is a massive understatement. As a non-native speaker working in a field where your mastery over English language is a basic requirement, I had to work twice as much just to make sure my writing can pass as a careless English-speaking writer. Also, while in LA making USD 30,000 a year can barely get you above poverty line, in Taiwan the same amount means you’re middle class, and when I first came to the US, I suddenly realized my life’s savings till this point can barely cover one year’s tuition, and I had to work my way through the program, taking whatever jobs I can get, and using Taiwan level pay to survive in LA.

Then, there was the pandemic and all the Zoom classes. I went back to Taiwan in 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic, foolishly thinking it will die down in a couple of months. Not only was I wrong, I was also forced to take classes in the middle of the night, often after a long day working in the office to make ends meet. I remember one day I had class from 10 am to 1 pm (7 pm classes in LA), the worked till after midnight, went home to have dinner, then another class from 3 am to 6 am…

And finally, as some people would attest to, the easiest way to get a job in Hollywood is if you ALREADY HAD a job in the past. I might worked extensively in Taiwan, but here in LA I’m an unknown writer with nothing concrete to prove my abilities.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m a screenwriter writing for film and TV. Since my writing are inspired by works that I love, I tried to write stories that I know my past film critic self would enjoy (I’m literally my own worst critic), stories that has a strong genre element and capable of evoking strong emotions from readers/viewers. At the same time, as a queer person of color from another country, I try to bring my own experience and worldview into universal stories, using entertainment as framework then add my own take. For example, I always love thrillers, rom-coms, dramedies and horrors, and when I wrote my pilot about Taiwan’s military dictatorship past, it started as an homage to shows I deeply love such as Babylon Berlin or The Americans, then I added my family stories, questions I always want to ask, and emotions that haunted me. Since we all experienced forms of oppression and disillusionment about political systems, the stories themselves are accessible for viewers from different cultures, but the series is specifically about Taiwan’s history, and the dilemmas characters faced are mostly my own.

Most writers can write about a specific culture, but I don’t think there are a lot of writers like me who has worked and can work in two different cultures, languages, and industry practices. Depending on who you ask, I’m either a Taiwanese living in America or an American living in Taiwan. I got my latest assignment because they need a writer who’s fluent in both English and Chinese, who understands how American TV format works, can write about culture phenomenons in Singapore and Taiwan, has experience navigating entertainment industry in Asia while having an American viewer’s preferences at heart. There can’t be that many like me out there…

Can you share something surprising about yourself?
People are often surprised that I wasn’t born here, and English isn’t my first language. It’s not like my English is flawless or anything, just that compared to other international students or newcomers to LA, I seemed to settle into this new life relatively well, to the point where my friends from out of State would ask me for tips on how to enjoy LA.

Also, I’ve traveled to over 20 states, most of which are not places people usually go for: Wyoming, Idaho, Kentucky, Mississippi, South Dakota, and Tennessee…

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/philiplyu/