An MBA's Starring Role in Moviemaking

After receiving an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business, I spent the summer shooting five black-and-white silent movies at Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. There, I fell in love with filmmaking and have never looked back at my former career as an investment banker.

Today, I write, direct, and produce short films in New York City, working on both the creative and business sides, while also traveling to other locations such as Singapore and China to shoot.

NOTHING PREDICTABLE.  Starting out as an independent filmmaker means using all of your entrepreneurial skills. On the business side, producing a short film is similar to starting a small company: Hiring a team, negotiating contracts with talent and crew, finding postproduction facilities, fund-raising, incorporating a company, working with sponsors and product placements, marketing, and distribution (to festivals).

This business is an unpredictable roller-coaster ride that constantly stretches me to my limits. There's no typical day, so I've chosen to write about a day during the preproduction phase when we were three weeks from shooting Singapore Girl, a short film completed in 2004 (see the trailer).

For Singapore Girl, we won a financial grant from the Singapore Film Commission, and I received the Singapore Tatler's Most Promising Young Filmmaker Award 2004.

6:30 a.m. -- I text-message Michelle Lee, my first assistant director, whom we hired two weeks ago: "Yes, let's confirm Matt Gray for the supporting male role with Fly [talent agency]. Any progress on getting Singapore Expo location? Pls. rush Turbo [location manager]. Confirmed meeting with Chin [set designer] today 3 p.m. Can you make it? Let's lock down preliminary shooting schedule by end of this week."

6:45 a.m. -- I catch a few more minutes of sleep

7 a.m. -- The phone rings. It's Christopher Doyle calling from Hong Kong. He's filmmaker Wong Kar-Wai's director of photography, and I'm in shock that he has returned my call. We talk about my script, and he considers shooting my film as a pro-bono project. I'm thrilled but know the chances are slim.

8 a.m. -- Our production meeting starts. We work out of my living room. Present are Bratina Tay, a co-producer, and Michelle Lee. Juan Foo, also a co-producer, is joining us via phone. We have final discussions on setting up an LLC vs. a nonprofit organization.

We've just been offered a $20,000 grant from the Lee Foundation. We discuss the possibility of receiving the funds through fiscal sponsorship. We also discuss our postproduction options with Infinite Frameworks, where Juan can get us in for two weeks of editing.

9 a.m. -- Joseph and Melissa (second and third assistant directors) join the meeting. Joseph brings us up to date on food-and-beverage sponsorship and product placement. We must place Yeo's drinks in the background in at least two scenes so the company will provide craft services. Melissa runs us through her prop breakdown list. She has located a Singapore Airlines cardboard cutout girl that we can borrow for Day 3 of the shoot.

	Scene from Singapore Girl

10:30 a.m. -- We continue with Day 2 of secondary cast auditions. We meet with more than 30 actresses and models (the doorman is thrilled to let them in). Unfortunately, not one fits any part required.

11:30 a.m. -- Michelle and I make a ton of phone calls to talent agencies, trying to confirm the supporting actress, renegotiating the contract for the lead actress, and scheduling another meeting for the secondary cast.

Juan calls and informs us of a meeting with two potential directors of photography today at 5 p.m. We're scrambling to fill this job because our original choice pulled out one week ago.

Hossan Leong (an actor) calls and wants to reschedule his meeting.

1 p.m. -- During lunch, Bratina calls and tells us about Bin Li from Australia as a potential editor for our film. He has worked as assistant editor to Baz Lerhman on Moulin Rouge and Zhang Yimou on House of Flying Daggers. I'm thrilled, but: How much will he cost? We run through the budget.

	Scene from Singapore Girl

2 p.m. -- I talk to a friend in the hotel business about potentially sponsoring the film. He offers to give us a free hotel room and the use of his lobby during our eight-day shoot near his Hotel 1929.

2:15 p.m. -- Michelle and I are at Singapore's Keong Siak Street, scouting final locations and trying to persuade the coffee-shop man to let us shoot a scene there.

3:30 p.m. -- We're late meeting Chin (the set designer) at Mount Elizabeth Hospital, where we'd like to do a scene. We talk about how we should set up the room for the interview and training scenes, including color schemes and fabric textures. I have no idea but pretend that I do.

Joseph stands by taking notes, and I can tell he's unhappy with his role on the film. I reflect on what they taught us in organizational dynamics at business school and how I can improve the situation.

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