Byron Q., Writer/Director: Unless you’re not trying to make any profit from a movie you really have to understand genre.
Film Courage: Do you decide on the genre before you come up with a movie idea?
Byron: I do now but I didn’t used to do that. The reason why I do that now is after Las Vegas Story part of the reason why I didn’t get a distribution deal was because it was a drama and it was hard when you don’t have a star in that movie. That kind of failure made me reassess Okay, what does this all mean? I talked to a lot of distributors and I started understanding more of the business side of things. Now when I make a film I’m very conscious of what genre and what the audience is for this movie? If you’re trying to make a living in the movie business you have to have that in focus whereas before I was much younger and it was just about making a movie and telling a story. Within the commercial world, unless you’re not trying to make any profit from a movie, you have to understand genre what is the requirement of every genre.
Film Courage: What are your favorite movie genres?
Byron: I like sci-fi movies but I also like dramas. When I was really young I used to love horror movies. I still like horror but only smart horror. Get Out was pretty cool for me, sci-fi definitely because I’ve always liked to see different worlds that potentially could happen in our world. That’s why sci-fi is something that really draws me.
Film Courage: With Bang Bang and Las Vegas Story it seems like you’re drawn to this crime underworld then maybe humanizing it?
Byron: The other genre that I like is crime drama or just dark things. I’ve always been drawn to the underbelly of society, I don’t know. There’s something interesting about somebody who is trying to get by, scraping by and the things that this person would do to make some money. It’s always that world you never really see that much because I think most people live…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).
BIO:
Byron Q is a Chinese American writer/director originally from the San Francisco Bay Area. His first film Bang Bang won the Best 1st feature jury award at the 2011 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. The film went on to gain a cult following within the Asian American street culture. His last feature, Las Vegas Story, starred Eric Roberts, is distributed by Indie Rights. He is repped by Housefire Management. Byron recently completed a successful $25,000 Kickstarter campaign for a short sci-fi film entitled Killing of a Machine which plans on using Virtual Production workflows and Unreal Engine.
SNEAK PREVIEW OF BYRON’S UPCOMING ‘UNREAL ENGINE’ PROJECT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ht4So7MQhug
SUBSCRIBE TO BYRON Q’s YOUTUBE CHANNEL
CONNECT WITH BYRON Q.
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