2018 NYC Web Fest - Hahn, Solo
Stuck dating guys she doesn't like and working at her dead-end job, Hanh finally finds the courage to pursue her dreams.
Interview with Director, Co-Writer, Producer Jason Taylor
Congratulations! Why did you make your webseries?
After breaking up with her boyfriend of four years, Hanh moved in with our producer, Jay Dancy, and I. One night, she came home with an outline for the first three episodes of a web-series she wanted to make that would be semi-autobiographical and give her not only an outlet for what she was feeling about her relationship, but also something for us, a group of independent filmmakers and an aspiring actress, to work on as a group.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this webseries?
What we’ve found from showing Hanh, Solo at a few different festivals around the country is that, while the details of Hanh’s story are pretty specific to her, the themes and situations have been relatable to people of all different races, genders, ages and ethnicities. We think we’ve created something that is engaging, funny, hopefully entertaining, and, more than anything, relatable to a wide variety of people.
How do personal and universal themes work in your webseries?
As it was inspired by a time in Hanh’s life where she was wrestling with a lot of personal problems concerning her relationships and ambitions, we think that a lot of the questions that the character of Hanh is asking herself are a lot of the same things we all are dealing with, or have dealt with at one point in our lives. Wondering if you’re making the right decisions, how they’ll effect your future, beating yourself up about past mistakes, and scared of how everything is going to turn out aren’t exclusive to a specific kind of person, and that’s something that we think the audience will see as a way to relate to Hanh, no matter how seemingly silly or immature she might be behaving at times.
How have the script and webseries evolved over the course of their development?
As I said, Hanh came to me with the basic ideas for the first three episodes of the series, so we knew what the general ideas were always going to be. Using her real life experiences to flesh out the character and the people she interacts with, we figured out the other five episodes and wrote all of the scripts in about a month, shot a majority of the series over the next year after that, and then took about another two years to get the last few shots we needed and post-production. Once we had all of our rough cuts together, a friend of ours suggested that we try editing the episodes together into a feature, so we tried that and now, in addition to an eight episode web-series, we also have a feature cut of Hanh, Solo that we’ve also been sending out to festivals, as well as certain episodes that we’ve been sending out as shorts. It’s funny to see how what started as a webseries has transformed into something that can be consumed by different audiences in several different formats.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
One of the unnerving things about doing these screenings is that you never know how the audience is going to react. You hope that you did your job and they’ll get all the jokes, cry at the sad parts, gasp at the twists, etc., but the truth is that we shot this movie years ago and wrote it even longer ago than that. And after all this time, each new audience is another test to see if all of the decisions we made all those years ago were the right ones. So, any time the audience reacts, which is never the same way twice, it’s interesting to consider what it is about them that made them react that way. We’ve had people speak up during Q&A’s or come up to us after screenings and tell us that they related to one thing or another, or that the characters reminded them of themselves or their friends, and that’s one of the most rewarding things to hear. While I know that not everyone is going to get something out of Hanh, Solo, to hear that somebody did, well…that makes the whole thing worth it.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
There have been a couple times we’ve gotten feedback about the series, specifically about the ending, that’s made me think about some of the choices we made in the writing and shooting. Whenever you hear what certain people think your intentions or themes are, it’s always interesting thinking about what it was that you did that made them come to those conclusions, and what you could’ve done differently in order to make yourself clearer. I believe that once something (a song, movie, book, etc.) is released into the world, it no longer matters what the creators intentions were, only what conclusions the audiences reach. I don’t think it matters what we were trying to say, but I always find it interesting when people come to wildly different conclusions about the show, the characters, and what they think it’s about than what we intended, and even from what the other people in the theater thought about it too.
What are you looking to achieve by having your webseries more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
One of our main goals with Hanh, Solo was just to get it done, a process which took almost four years to complete, so getting it seen by anybody is just icing on the cake. Now that that’s done, I guess we’re trying to just get it seen by as many people as possible, and I think having Hanh, Solo featured on your website will help us achieve that!
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this webseries’s message?
We’re currently looking for a distributor or producer who is interested in distributing Hanh, Solo, since we’d probably reach more people if we had a marketing strategy or other way to get it seen outside of simply posting it on YouTube. We’ve heard from audiences and other filmmakers that the character of Hanh is very relatable, especially for people in their mid-to-late twenties, and we think there’s an audience for the series, we just need help being visible enough for them to find us.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this webseries to have?
As I said above, we’ve heard from several audience members at our public screenings just how much they relate to Hanh and her story, and it’s my hope that the more people who see Hanh, Solo, the less alone they feel knowing that there are people out there who feel the same way they do. While this was made as a personal expression of how she was feeling in her life at the time, I think Hanh’s story is relatable enough that it can help other people feel less alone. And, if not, I hope it can at least be a fun show they can entertain them long enough for them to make it all the way through to the end.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this webseries?
Without spoiling anything, I think our finale leaves a couple of open ended questions that people can discuss, most of which revolve around Hanh’s potential choices and future. While we don’t have any definitive answers to the problems Hanh’s facing, we do offer an idea of what her future might hold as she tries to make a small decision that will have a big impact on her life. The audience will hopefully be left asking themselves what they think she should do, asking themselves why they think that, and what that says about themselves.
Would you like to add anything else?
I’m not sure what Hanh is writing for her answers, but I guess I just want to say that, as I stated before, Hanh, Solo took almost four years to complete from conception to the final product. I learned more making Hanh, Solo than on pretty much any other project I’ve ever done, and, so far, I’ve had more success with it than anything else I’ve made. It’s not perfect, but I almost feel obligated to say that since it’s impossible to me to not see its flaws, but I do still think it turned out good, and hope that others can enjoy it!
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
A few months after we wrapped up Hanh, Solo, Hanh, some of our friends, and I started shooting a feature that I’d written and have been shooting and directing. Now, when we still had about four or five days of shooting Hanh, Solo left, Hanh decided to move from Philadelphia to New York, making it a little more difficult to finish the series, but also making us a little more motivated to get it done everytime she would come down to visit. Of course, now that about two-thirds of the shooting of this new feature has been completed, Hanh moved from New York to Los Angeles! We’ve been shooting everything we can without her, but we’re going to wait to finish until the winter so Hanh can fly back and finish shooting with us. It’s about a group of friends who make movies in their spare time, and hopefully we’ll have it done by this time next year!
Interview: November 2018
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
Hanh, Solo
Stuck dating guys she doesn't like and working at her dead-end job, Hanh finally finds the courage to pursue her dreams.
Length: 86 minutes
Director: Jason Taylor
Producer: Hanh Nguyen, Jason Taylor, Jay Dancy
Writer: Hanh Nguyen, Jason Taylor
About the writer, director and producer:
Hanh Nguyen, Jason Taylor and Jay Dancy are all from the Philadelphia, PA area, and have been making movies together for over a decade. Having all met during high school, they continued their love of filmmaking well into adulthood, having collaborated on a number of short films, features, and various web content.
Key cast: Hanh Ngyen, Jay Dancy, Anthony Martinez-Briggs, Karl Stafford, Brian Duffy, Pat Hickman, Mike Koller, Dan Imperiale
Looking for (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists): We’re currently exploring our options for distribution and have been actively trying to spread the word through social media and film festivals.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hanhsolomovie/
Where was this filmed: Philadelphia, PA
Funders: Independent
Made in association with: Pennsylvania People Productions
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month: We’ll be screening episodes at NYC Webfest and the Lancaster International Shorts Film Festival in November, and the PA Indie Shorts Film Festival in December!