"Talk to Taka" - Interview with Rich Kim after winning MogulMaker contest

06.03 - Posted by Editor

		Rich Kim's short film "Talk to Taka"wins the $100,000 prize in the AtomFilms MogulMaker contest!   You heard right! He won!   Interview by Greg Pak

06.3.00 Filmmaker Richard Kim, best known for his hilarious short film "Kung Pao Chicken," has just won $100,000 to make an eight minute short through the MogulMaker contest at AtomFilms.com -- and AsianAmericanFilm.com readers helped him do it by voting for him online! AsianAmericanFilm.com editor Greg Pak interviewed Kim by email in the aftermath of his stunning victory.     Links AAF Rich Kim interview number 1     "Talk to Taka" website   "Kung Pao Chicken" on AtomFilms.com   "Kung Pao Chicken" mini-review by Greg Pak   Post your opinions on the Message Boards!   AAF   What was your reaction when you discovered you'd won?   RK  A couple of friends were with me at my apartment. In the minutes leading up to the 12:00 midnight winner's announcement, I managed to slip into a cool, numb ambivalence... braced for both a loss or win. As soon as I saw that we won... I hastily shut all the windows... and screamed! Joy... relief. I gave my friends big bearhugs.... squeezed everyone so tight they couldn't breathe. Then I broadcasted an email, because I knew we won by the support of soooo many people, and they needed to know, and be thanked.   AAF   It was a pretty big win -- you got 41 percent of the vote out of a field of five candidates. To what do you attribute your astounding plurality?   RK   The Asian American filmmaking community rallied huge support, quickly spreading the word, until emails reached far beyond our community, to our greater sphere of friends, co-workers, and the bigger world we move around in. Also, our online pitchtape was clearly distinct from the other candidates'. Eel Jin (The MogulMaker) and I strove to put together a colorful pitch. We hoped voters would think "Hey, even their two-minute pitch is a blast... so their movie oughta be fun too... so I'll vote for it." The pitch will be kept up at the www.click2asia.com entertainment section, as well as at the Atom site.   AAF   According to the rules of the MogulMaker contest, your producer is going to cast from actors at iam.com. Do you have any concerns about this part of the process?   RK   I'm curious more than concerned. I'm actually amped to see how the internet's producing potential plays out with "Talk To Taka"... using iam.com, creativeplanet.com, emails to the crew, the talktotaka.com website to get feedback along the way... to make it as much of an internet-produced film as possible.   AAF   What's the schedule for shooting and finishing the film?   RK   Shooting at the end of June, posting before September.   AAF   Anything our readers can do to help?   RK   AsianAmericanFilm.com readers already helped tremendously. I've received enthusiastic emails, and the readers got all their friends excited too. Please keep updated and involved through our website www.talktotaka.com where readers can talk to me, ask questions, make suggestions, explore ideas.   AAF   So just between you, me, and the fence post, how much are you paying your starving-filmmaker self out of that $100,000?   RK   AtomFilms allots a $10,000 director's fee which I'm sharing with my co-writer Bryan Oh. But there's a lot of campaign postage and photocopies I need to pay off first... 7000 "Vote for Taka" postcards went out last week by snailmail.   AAF   Again, congrats! Also, I'm organizing a works-in-progress screening for the Asian American International Film Festival in NYC in July -- would you be interested in screening a cut of "Talk to Taka" then?   RK   I saw the announcement on this site... What a great idea, Greg... I'd love to test-screen an avid dump of the rough... It would be immensely helpful... I've never had that benefit before.   Check back with AsianAmericanFilm.com for updates about "Talk to Taka" and information about the works-in-progress screening at the Asian American International Film Festival in NYC! If you have a film of your own you'd like to show in the works-in-progress screening, email Greg directly at greg@asianamericanfilm.com.     Return to top