Today we’d like to introduce you to Hyun Woo Lee.
Hi Hyun Woo, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Now that I’m nearing the end of my MFA program in producing at AFI Conservatory, it feels very timely to look back at myself on where I am today and what I have achieved so far. I’ve always been interested in working in the entertainment industry ever since I fell in love with the Harry Potter series as a child, but I was never sure which specific field or role would be the best fit for me.
During my undergraduate years, I directed amateur musicals with a big passion for musical theater. As much as I loved digging into scripts and honing my skills for storytelling, I realized that there was a voice inside me that was always thinking about the practicality in moments of decision. When I moved on to expanding my realm by learning how to film and edit digital content, I was able to learn how to tailor stories and content through visual methods to reach a wider audience. With this background, I was able to work at Animax Broadcasting Korea and Sony Pictures Television Korea in marketing and YouTube channel management for Japanese anime, and productions for a children’s variety show. Although I loved the opportunity to work with animation, I realized that I want to be part of the process of making the stories rather than re-editing a content for marketing and promotion. This valuable lesson made me decide to move to LA and pursue a graduate program in Producing for film and television.
At AFI, I was very surprised by how my past journeys actually came together to help me navigate through the rigorous filmmaking process. I was grateful for my experience of working with scripts as a director and editing digital content because it became my strength in the process of not only communicating story notes with the directors and writers but also being able to look at stories from the perspective of what the audience might feel. My musical and animation background also helped me get a clearer sense of specific genres I’m interested in because I was able to pitch and produce a musical short for our first-year cycle film and get to intern for an animation production company.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
The journey of navigating through different realms of entertainment has never been a smooth road, especially because it has been tightly connected to figuring out what my strengths are and what I feel most passionate about.
As much as I feel grateful for having the opportunity and privilege to try out different fields in entertainment, I have always faced challenges against the voices of doubt inside my head. Since I had to learn from scratch whenever I dived into a new area or physically move to a new location, there were moments when I doubted myself, feeling like the only fish swimming against the stream whenever my friends in Korea were landing on stable jobs and moving forward in life.
However, I’ve recently realized that there’s nothing more precious than having the time and opportunity to have a deeper understanding about yourself in assessing where my heart belongs and what I don’t like. Taking a big leap of faith into a completely new environment and learning about filmmaking without any prior experience was tough, but thanks to that decision, I am now confident about my own strengths when collaborating with others, navigating through stressful situations, and understanding that I’m drawn to heartwarming stories.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Through the producing program at AFI, I’ve learned to become a producer who is capable of handling both the creative and logistic part of filmmaking. My core interests lie in the genres of fantasy, musical, and animation with a heartwarming core that can resonate with wide range of audiences.
I believe my specialty and talent as a producer is having a great understanding about stories that appeal to the general audience in the international market with the background of growing up in South Korea and working with various forms of content from different countries ranging from Japanese anime to American narrative shorts. Adaptations are being made constantly based on various IPs from all around the world and I believe that I can be of help in being the bridge between cultures and bringing great stories to life in many different ways. I’m also very proud of what I have accomplished as a producer by not only being able to produce a $50k budget thesis film but also being able to create my own voice as a producer by creating a musical short during my first year that rooted from my original idea. These projects had big challenges, but I’m very proud of myself that my past experiences helped bring everything together.
Additionally, I believe one of my strengths is that I go full-on when there’s a project I’m passionate about. I recently was able to work on the official Korean musical production of ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ and got credited for writing the Korean lyrics, and my friends would know how long I’ve been waiting for this moment. Since I saw the musical in 2017, I fell in love with the show and started sharing the songs to all my friends to get them interested. Because it was a fairly new show at the time, the only thing I was able to do as a fan was to try translating all the script and the songs to match the melody so that my friends in Korea would feel the same way as I did watching the show. With many years of effort in creating YouTube cover videos and workshops, my lyrics were recognized, and I finally had the opportunity to join the official Korean production. This is something that I would always cherish in my heart.
We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
Covid-19 Crisis was definitely a moment that completely changed things for me personally because it was the time when I decided to quit my job and apply to a master’s program in LA. I was faced with the internal question of ‘Do I continue to stay at the company, enjoy the stability, and figure out a career jump in Korea, waiting for the right moment? Or should I challenge myself and be outside my boundaries one last time to make myself grow before it’s too late?’ Obviously, I chose to go with the latter, and I’m so grateful that I was able to make that decision during that period because I would not have become the person I am today without it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://danhy5252.wixsite.com/my-site
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hyunwoo-lee94/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@muem4564
Image Credits
Erik Kollasch
