The script tells the story of Claire Green, a single every-woman who grew up, and was practically raised on, the romantic pursuits evidenced in the movies of John Hughes (Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, Some Kind of Wonderful, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, etc. But most importantly Sixteen Candles). In high school, Claire actually finds her "Jake Ryan" who takes notice of her and asks her to the Lock-In (a sleepover at the high-school which was the late-80's way of getting kids off the street). To Claire, she has become the star of her very own John Hughes movie. However at the Lock-In, Claire's caught in a compromising position, to which her Jake Ryan refuses to ever speak to her again. We flash forward to the present where Claire is at yet another wedding for another friend and this is where she decides that indeed, John Hughes has ruined her life. Then and there she gives up on her fairy-tale aspirations.

However, this also means traversing the rocky waters of today's dating scene where I had the fantastic opportunity of showing how much that "scene" has morphed. She does happen to stumble upon a guy who, for all intents and purposes, is the anti-Hughes romantic interest, punctuated with the fact that he is a fan of the movie HEATHERS, which Claire sees as the downfall of the John Hughes brand.

To answer your question, yes there is definitely a Long Duk Dong reference, as well as a few others. However, I wouldn't say they are "on-the-nose" references, but more of winks to the reader. In essence, I felt that the John Hughes movies, even though they all seem to show upper-middle class White people, a lot of us, whether Asian, Black, White, Latino watched his films and felt a sort of reverence towards them because they were All-Americana. Also, for the fans of his films, there was a unification, not only for him being the voice of teenagers but also because we felt that we were all in on some inside joke. So I made sure that the script poked fun of everyone, making us laugh at ourselves.

The great thing is that my friends back in Chicago have taken such a shine to this script that they made me John Hughes Ruined My Life buttons and polo shirts. That's right, polo shirts with Jake Ryan as the logo. What's also interesting is that I heard that the actor who played Jake Ryan (Michael Schoeffling) gave up the life, moved to Pennsylvania to make furniture. This knowledge has driven many of my female (and some male) friends to gush "Isn't that what Jake Ryan's supposed to do?" Followed by a long sigh...

Can you tell us about your screenwriting background? What were the challenges in writing this particular screenplay?

Well, my screenwriting background is pretty limited as this is my first fully-completed screenplay. I was in finance for 10 years and moved to NY from Chicago to start a film production company, Kulture Machine, comprised of myself and 4 writer/directors from Columbia University's Graduate School of Film: Dennis Lee, Joe Turner Lin, Julie Anne Meerschwam and Francisco Ordonez. Our main goal was to provide each other with a support system in making each of their thesis films. Our first film was Dennis Lee's JESUS HENRY CHRIST which cemented the fact that we enjoyed working with each other and realizing that we all shared the same narrative sensibility, while having differing thematic choices in film. This being said, I tend to skew towards larger-size high-concept films (read: I'm the least artsy guy in the company). The one thing that I have going for me was that I read a tremendous amount of screenplays. Coming from a world where my writing was about discounted cash flows and net present values, reading screenplays is a tremendous joy for me, especially the good ones. I realized very soon that a screenwriter has only 115 pages or so to tell a story. Even so, most people will stop reading a script after 10 pages if it's not compelling enough.

This particular screenplay actually had its genesis before I moved to NY. I was having a drink with a friend of mine: she was in her late-20s then; very pretty, very charming, very single. We began discussing how the dating world had changed and become very impersonal. Instead of hand-written notes, everyone was texting each other with carpal-tunnel ferocity. A mix tape used to mean something because it took 4 hours to make. Now you can download iTunes in the blink of an eye. You could have 10,000 Myspace friends but maybe 3 real friends that you interacted with on a weekly basis. She then told me this: "I was promised something as a girl. I was promised a Jake Ryan". I blankly looked at her and told her to face the facts: "John Hughes ruined your life".

I began thinking that this would be a great premise for a romantic comedy. She agreed stating that there were so many other people like her. But what I really wanted to make was a "real" script. I knew I would be fooling myself if I thought I could make the modern-day equivalent of a John Hughes film. I also wanted to stay away from making a parody of his movies (we've seen that). So in order for me to get into the mind of Claire and make her real, I asked my friend for one thing: her diary. Reluctantly, she agreed to give me her diary that spanned from early junior high to her college years. This was definitely a treasure trove of information. I had Post-Its everywhere on this sucker. For example, as a teenage boy I would ask a girl to a dance... and then go play basketball. To her, getting asked out to a dance was a 16-page soliloquy: "Oh my God, he asked me to the dance but it was real quick and he seemed pretty shy. He was wearing this awesome Generra sweater and had his jeans cuffed showing his worn-in Tretorns. Now I have to get a new dress but I have to make sure that Debbie doesn't know what color I'm getting because she's a total skank and the last thing I want to do is have other people think that I want to be like her..." I think you get the point.

So I had my Claire. The other factor that I made sure I focused on was that this script would require heart. I didn't want to make a stereotypical date movie in which you had to drag the guy kicking and screaming to the theaters. So for that, I really looked to the Farrelly Brothers. One of my favorite films is THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY. So there is definitely some bawdy humor in the script, but humor that propels the story -- not just poop and fart jokes for the sake of getting a cheap laugh.

But I have to say, writing a comedy with a female protagonist was one of the most difficult things I had encountered. I mean you can take a Ben Stiller, crack him over the head with a 2x4, break his arm, and light him on fire... and it's funny. Trying to do that with a woman... that's just plain sadistic. However, I am glad this is the case. It forced me to look beyond physical slapstick comedy and make the humor genuinely funny.

The press release notes that "Over the course of four days, Tribeca All Access Connects arranged more than 550 meetings for program participants." Can you give us a sense of what that kind of intense experience is like? Any particular highs or lows?

I had the privilege of being at TAA last year as a producer for Dennis Lee's THE LIFE & TIMES OF HJ HERMIN in which Dennis won the TAA Creative Promise Award for the Narrative Section (we subsequently changed the project's title to JESUS HENRY CHRIST since it is a feature based loosely on his short film).

It is definitely a speed-dating process. Each meeting is a half-hour long and some people have either read your script, read an excerpt of your script, or only know the logline to your script. You have to go into it with both feet on the ground, knowing that your script is not going to get purchased or optioned on the spot. What it provides however, is a tremendous opportunity to meet with industry that you might never get the chance to meet with. And to have all these meetings within the confines of a central meeting place over a short span is fantastic. I mean for me to accomplish what I did in 4 days, would have taken months and many flights to and from LA.

What I tell other people is that I use these meetings as a way to put my face to my name and gauge their interest in the hopes that this will generate another meeting. It is a lot like dating: you want to basically get to "first base" at these initial meetings but also don't want to come off as a slut.

I would say the high is definitely hearing that someone enjoyed reading my script. Maybe it's the Asian in me but, as I'm sure you know, it is so great to have someone spend an hour out of their time to read something I wrote when, in all honesty, he or she didn't have to. The other high is the great staff of Tribeca, including the very pregnant director Beth Janson, who look after the participants and champion our cause. I mean, the festival just ended on Sunday and she had a beautiful baby girl on Monday.

As for the lows, it's just the nature of programming so many meetings in a few days. Sometimes it is difficult to meet all the other participants of TAA. However, for the ones I was able to meet, we bonded very well and were very supportive of each other. This definitely was not a cut-throat environment. It was funny that this business can be such a small world. For instance, I have always heard of Eric Byler and the first day I met him he only introduced himself as "Eric". We talked at the orientation luncheon and it didn't hit me that he was "the" Eric Byler until I asked him what he had worked on before and he told me it was CHARLOTTE SOMETIMES.

What did you learn from the experience? Did your pitch change during the course of the event?

What I learned from this experience is that this is probably the toughest business to get into. Not only is it highly competitive, but no one owes you anything. You are never given the chance to rest on your laurels. When you are given the opportunity to discuss something that you have a passion for, truly appreciate that fact. Also, even though it is a highly
competitive industry, it's much better to be supportive than to be backstabbing. Karma's a bitch.

At the meetings I had the chance to meet with production companies, individual producers, agents and managers. So I made sure to do my homework on every single meeting. Remember, this is speed dating. You want to know who this person/company is and what projects they've worked on. This is the chance to make the best first impression. For some of my meetings I knew, or knew fairly quickly once the meeting began, that this particular script of mine was not a perfect fit. Therefore I had to switch the focus to other projects that I'm working on that may be more up their alley. Or I would also talk to them about other comedy scripts I'm working on. The person may not be the right fit for your project, but they may know someone who is.

What's next for you and the screenplay?

Well, after I was able to placate my mother into not freaking out about me giving up the "business world", I was hoping to have some time to rest. But of course that's not the situation. I have some good momentum going and I need to capitalize on it. Not only do I really want this script to be made but I'm hoping it will also jump-start my writing career. So first thing is to get back and reconnect with the people who displayed the most interest in the script. Also, I'm not repped yet so I'm trying to find a good agent who will be a go-getter and who I connect with to see what the best possible strategy is for this film. AND (cross you fingers) looking to try and meet THE John Hughes.

In the meantime, I'm co-writing a sci-fi script and a new GOONIES-type script. I've also begun writing a couple of more comedies and will be producing Dennis Lee's feature FIREFLIES IN THE GARDEN for this Fall. Oh and I've been a bad dad, so I'm planning my dog's birthday party for later this month.