Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephen Law.
Hi Stephen, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My journey in filmmaking began at New York University while studying film and television. The Big Apple was where I met the most talented and inspiring peers I could ever hope for. We shared our love for the cinematic form, honed our crafts, and exchanged constructive ideas together. Had I not chosen film as my major, I would’ve pursued economics because that was my next favorite subject. Yet I could never see myself sitting in an office with a finance degree. But sure I have dreamt about the money that would’ve come with it! Today, I am an indie filmmaker, co-founder of a film production company, and freelance writer on the side.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Financial security is always a challenge for artists working in any medium. Growing up, I was told to pursue film as my passion, but get a real job too. In college, I found my calling in writing and directing and did not have a technical craft that could easily provide income. I only had the urge to translate my daydreams into movies and share them with the world. But relying on parental support only goes so far. As I approached graduation, my goals of filmmaking and financial independence began felt like mutually exclusive paths. It was then that I chose a most unexpected craft: trading the stock market.
I always felt trading the markets is essentially gambling, but it’s about making educated guesses. Life is but a gamble I like to say. So without giving up my creative path in film, I became obsessed with educating myself about everything in financial markets. I started buying individual stocks, then dived into options, and finally primarily traded index futures. I studied obsessively everyday, because this world was a bottomless pit. At one point I even stayed up night after night as if a full-time job, watching the after-hours market movements caused by economic news from continents across oceans. It was a fascinating new world for me, and one that is vastly different from the world of filmmaking. One thing is for sure: both worlds have got the middle names of stress and pain.
I’ve made a lot, lost a lot, came back won even more, and then lost more again – repeat! Luckily, I continue to survive to this day. I was able to finance my thesis short film entirely with my earnings and support myself living in big cities. After moving to Los Angeles and taking a 9-5 industry job as a production coordinator, I realized it neither stimulated my creativity nor did it offer the financial freedom to make it worthwhile.
Now, I’ve come to enjoy the process in finance as much as I do with the process in film. One is analytical while the other is creative. But both require an enduring appetite for risk-taking and embracing failure. One lesson I continue to take from the finance world is the importance of managing risk and handling stress, which I believe is super important in a filmmaker’s career as well.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Big Pa Pictures LLC?
Big Pa Pictures is a film production company I founded with my college roommates during the first wave of Covid-19. Trapped in our NYC apartment like everyone else, we banged our cooking pans for first responders every evening at 7 pm. We used our abundant free time to chat about stories that we’d like to see on the big screen. After churning out our first feature script, we decided to form a company. Writing has since become a core business of Big Pa Pictures. As of today, we have accumulated over 8 original spec screenplays and 1 pilot episode for a series. The brand of Big Pa Pictures is one that focuses on Chinese-American cross-cultural stories, tons of comedy, and genre-blending. Our mission is to create bold and entertaining genre content that subverts and challenges expectations. At heart, we want our stories to resonate both in the East and the West.
We are most proud that our original historical Western TV series entitled The Black Lotus was selected to participate in the PGA Create Lab in 2022. This project in development is one we hold dear to our hearts because its story is set in a seldom-seen period of Asian immigrants in the American Old West. The main characters are fictional but the world in which they inhabit is highly authentic and backed by thorough academic research. We believe it also has market potential as we see the Western genre in resurgence after the popularity of shows like Yellowstone.
Aside from film & tv development, we also do corporate & music video production. We’ve gotten clients from a diverse range of industries: from a Nasdaq-listed public company to an up-and-coming pop artist at 88rising. Our first music video Sweet Cream by KAZE garnered over 415k views on youtube.
What’s next?
I look forward to developing more original IPs at Big Pa Pictures, and most importantly pushing forward our Western series The Black Lotus this year. We will also be road-tripping to Virginia City, Nevada in the summer to gain first-hand research on the old mining town in which our series is primarily set.
Lastly, my thesis horror short film recently wrapped post-production and will begin its festival run this summer. I look forward to sharing the film over the country and bring more Asian-American representation to the horror genre.
Contact Info:
- Website: bigpapictures.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bigpapictures/
