The Stress Of Making A Living As An Artist In Los Angeles by West Liang

Watch the video interview on Youtube here

Film Courage: Let’s go back to the writing process with you and Melissa [Center]. So what was going on in your life when you started coming up with ideas for ALL I WANT? I know it was her idea for the story initially, right?

West Liang:  Yeah. I was in the middle of finishing a full-length play and I was in the middle of workshopping that play because it was a story of what I wanted to work out and was doing that. And so when she first approached me my mind was really in another story in terms of my writing.

And as an actor, I was taking myself out of things a little bit because of whatever reason. I’d just gotten disenchanted with the process of an actor’s life. So I started writing something to produce and direct and when she approached me there was something about the story.

Both Melissa and I are big fans of ensemble movies and so that was our initial kind of connection, where we are fans of ensemble films. And I also think that the theme of what we’re trying to talk about in this movie is a really important theme for me and for her this idea of people in the modern American city right now (I feel like, at least certainly in Los Angeles) there is kind of this undercurrent of stress and anxiety and depression that people don’t talk about.

Film Courage: You see it, though. You feel it.

West Liang: You feel it. You bump up against it. And I’m not talking about clinical disorders of anxiety or depression or things like that. I’m talking about the garden variety kind of weight of anxiety, of stress, of depression. And that is for me feels like a very un-talked about area of modern life. People who are trying to figure out – what kind of jobs they want to have? Do they want to switch careers? Do they want to get married and have kids? Are they happy with their partner? With their families? And I think thematically that was something that we both wanted kind of pull apart and examine.

That’s the wonderful thing about this film is that it’s got amazing performances across the board. There is amazing technical prowess…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).

Watch the video interview on Youtube here

ALL I WANT – WORLD PREMIERED AT DANCES WITH FILMS
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