WEBVTT - Girls Like Scrub with Hayley Kiyoko 0:00:00.560 --> 0:00:04.240 Scrubbing In with Becca Tilly and Tanya rad and iHeartRadio 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.640 and two time People's Choice Award winning podcast. 0:00:10.960 --> 0:00:17.119 Hello everybody, we are scrubbing in. We have my favorite guest, Yes, 0:00:17.280 --> 0:00:18.360 favorite guest in the building. 0:00:18.440 --> 0:00:21.960 She is She needs no introduction, but let's give her 0:00:22.000 --> 0:00:24.960 the guest honors. 0:00:25.040 --> 0:00:28.240 She's a pop artist, she's an actress, she's an author, 0:00:28.240 --> 0:00:32.520 she's an LGBTQ plus advocate, and she is a director 0:00:32.560 --> 0:00:36.080 of a first ever feature film with focused features. 0:00:36.120 --> 0:00:36.519 Everyone. 0:00:36.600 --> 0:00:41.880 Welcome my fiance Hailey Kyoka. 0:00:42.760 --> 0:00:46.960 Thank you so much, fame, what a beautiful intro. Welcome back, 0:00:47.159 --> 0:00:49.440 Thank you so much. I haven't seen you guys in 0:00:49.520 --> 0:00:50.080 so long. 0:00:53.479 --> 0:00:57.240 We have so much to talk about, and I feel 0:00:57.320 --> 0:01:01.160 obviously so much pride for the reason of why you're here. 0:01:01.880 --> 0:01:04.520 But I just want to go ahead. 0:01:04.200 --> 0:01:08.440 And say that ticket sales are on sale for girls 0:01:08.520 --> 0:01:12.080 like girls in theaters right now, right now. 0:01:12.120 --> 0:01:14.520 So go get your tickets before you listen to our 0:01:14.520 --> 0:01:15.720 also or we get. 0:01:15.760 --> 0:01:18.759 Yes, everybody, take a pause, don't worry, want to take here. 0:01:19.280 --> 0:01:22.600 When you get back, go buy your tickets. Buy a 0:01:22.600 --> 0:01:24.800 couple extra seats so that you can bring some extra frame. 0:01:24.880 --> 0:01:29.120 Absolutely make a plan. Sell the theaters out. Yes, I 0:01:29.200 --> 0:01:31.640 know the scrubbers can do it. I believe in the 0:01:31.680 --> 0:01:35.960 scrubbers me too. I'm grateful for them, I say, grateful. Great, 0:01:36.160 --> 0:01:41.160 I'm grateful for them. I'm tired, grateful. I don't know 0:01:41.160 --> 0:01:44.160 why you're tired. You don't do anything. I don't do anything. 0:01:44.920 --> 0:01:46.160 I want to talk about. 0:01:46.240 --> 0:01:48.920 I mean, I'm so close to you and I know 0:01:50.200 --> 0:01:52.720 the ins and the outs and everything. 0:01:52.280 --> 0:01:56.200 In between, but I want to talk about what you're. 0:01:56.040 --> 0:01:58.560 Feeling right now, Like knowing that ticket sales are on 0:01:58.640 --> 0:02:00.880 sale for your movie that you your first movie that 0:02:00.920 --> 0:02:02.360 you directed, Like what are you feeling? 0:02:02.680 --> 0:02:06.320 It's so crazy, It's so surreal, Like I mean, I 0:02:06.320 --> 0:02:08.520 don't know, you just buy tickets growing up going to 0:02:08.560 --> 0:02:10.720 see movies, so to know, like you can go on 0:02:10.960 --> 0:02:14.360 Fandego or wherever and just like see girls like girls 0:02:14.400 --> 0:02:17.400 there and buy your ticket. And I mean, it's been 0:02:17.440 --> 0:02:20.360 a ten year journey, so it's like such a surreal 0:02:20.919 --> 0:02:25.440 feeling and I'm trying to stay present, but it's also 0:02:26.240 --> 0:02:30.919 you know, nerve wracking but exciting and yeah, I can't 0:02:30.960 --> 0:02:33.720 believe it's finally here, Like I mean, back and Beck 0:02:33.800 --> 0:02:35.840 has been on this journey for eight years, with me, 0:02:36.040 --> 0:02:38.440 and so the fact that the tickets are on sale 0:02:38.480 --> 0:02:40.440 now is it's insane. 0:02:40.680 --> 0:02:43.400 I know, we're weally, I got pinch me moment. We're 0:02:43.639 --> 0:02:44.680 in it. You're in it. 0:02:44.960 --> 0:02:49.440 Yeah, it's like T minus whatever x amount under thirty days. 0:02:50.240 --> 0:02:51.600 This is it, Like, this is. 0:02:51.560 --> 0:02:56.840 The moment that we've been waiting for. And you know, 0:02:57.240 --> 0:03:01.920 hopefully the community and my friends and allies. 0:03:01.480 --> 0:03:04.240 Show up because I'm super proud of this film. You 0:03:04.280 --> 0:03:06.840 should be in time. I got to see the movie 0:03:06.880 --> 0:03:10.120 first of all, and yeah it was so we've got 0:03:10.240 --> 0:03:12.799 some viewership in the building. First of all. 0:03:12.840 --> 0:03:16.040 I also like, I don't know the strategy the timing 0:03:16.080 --> 0:03:18.320 of you releasing it in June. If that what the 0:03:18.320 --> 0:03:20.480 strategy was, I think it just worked out that way. 0:03:20.600 --> 0:03:23.000 Oh well, it's like perfect because I feel like this 0:03:23.080 --> 0:03:26.360 movie is like this summer. It's like it's just the 0:03:26.520 --> 0:03:27.919 vibe is like summer. 0:03:28.240 --> 0:03:30.440 Yeah, well the movie is set in summer, so it's 0:03:30.480 --> 0:03:31.720 definitely giving summer. 0:03:31.880 --> 0:03:36.080 Yeah, thank god, So I've done my job. Yeah, like 0:03:36.560 --> 0:03:38.680 it's not giving winter, it's giving summer. 0:03:38.760 --> 0:03:40.320 No, Like, if you if you came out with this 0:03:40.440 --> 0:03:42.480 in January, I'm going to be all confused. 0:03:42.560 --> 0:03:46.200 Yes, it's like really excellent timing. Thank you. Yeah, very 0:03:46.200 --> 0:03:47.160 well Voe thought out. 0:03:47.200 --> 0:03:48.720 But like when we went to go see it, like 0:03:49.120 --> 0:03:52.440 it's so crazy because your name is all over it, 0:03:52.640 --> 0:03:56.200 like you did everything, you did everything for this movie. 0:03:56.360 --> 0:03:58.280 And I was like so crazy because I'm like watching 0:03:58.280 --> 0:03:59.960 all the like all the credits go and it's like 0:04:00.360 --> 0:04:02.960 this by Haley Kyoko, Story by Haley Kyoko, Director by Haley, 0:04:03.080 --> 0:04:06.400 and I'll like, yeah, dang, Like that's usually a bunch 0:04:06.640 --> 0:04:08.800 like a bunch of other people, and when you did 0:04:09.000 --> 0:04:10.440 all of it, well, I've. 0:04:10.320 --> 0:04:12.920 Been kind of like, I mean, listen, it took an 0:04:12.960 --> 0:04:16.440 absolute team to make this happen. Yes, it wasn't just 0:04:16.520 --> 0:04:19.800 on my own, but I kind I'm like the baton 0:04:20.320 --> 0:04:22.840 r and like I feel like I've been passed, you know, 0:04:22.920 --> 0:04:25.680 like in those Olympic relay races and you passed the 0:04:25.680 --> 0:04:29.400 baton to the next person, and like throughout this whole journey, 0:04:29.560 --> 0:04:33.000 I have been the baton from twenty fifteen to twenty 0:04:33.080 --> 0:04:37.560 twenty six, and I'm kind of the connected thread of 0:04:37.600 --> 0:04:41.200 it because someone has to be pushing and fighting to 0:04:41.320 --> 0:04:43.960 get this movie made. And if you're not doing it, 0:04:44.000 --> 0:04:45.520 then who else will you know? 0:04:46.000 --> 0:04:48.400 If not you, who that's good, Yeah, exactly. 0:04:48.440 --> 0:04:50.119 But that's kind of what I want to talk about first, 0:04:50.200 --> 0:04:53.120 is like how many no's did you get before? I mean, 0:04:53.240 --> 0:04:55.240 we're all talking about the movies coming out, like it's here, 0:04:55.279 --> 0:04:57.680 it's coming, it's so exciting, but like, how many nos 0:04:57.839 --> 0:05:00.920 did you have to hear before you got the one yes? 0:05:01.400 --> 0:05:04.400 I mean so many nos, like hundreds of no's. You 0:05:04.440 --> 0:05:05.360 know what kept you going? 0:05:07.520 --> 0:05:10.760 I was telling Beca like there was this this feeling 0:05:10.800 --> 0:05:14.680 in my body that I just I had to keep going, 0:05:14.760 --> 0:05:16.000 like I didn't feel like I. 0:05:15.960 --> 0:05:18.960 Had a choice because Girls Like Girls. 0:05:18.680 --> 0:05:21.200 When I came out at twenty fifteen, was so important 0:05:21.279 --> 0:05:25.400 for not only myself but for my community, and it 0:05:25.480 --> 0:05:30.240 was breaking stereotypes and barriers, and I felt like if 0:05:30.320 --> 0:05:33.080 I gave up, this story would not be told, or 0:05:33.160 --> 0:05:35.159 if it was going to be told, it was going 0:05:35.200 --> 0:05:36.440 to be told in twenty. 0:05:36.240 --> 0:05:37.320 Years or thirty years. 0:05:37.720 --> 0:05:40.320 And so that just the drive of thinking about my 0:05:40.440 --> 0:05:43.679 fans and the people out there, Like you think about 0:05:43.680 --> 0:05:46.320 a nine year old, I've had a night a twenty 0:05:46.400 --> 0:05:48.359 year old come up to me saying I was nine 0:05:48.560 --> 0:05:51.000 when I watched the Girls Side Girls music video, and 0:05:51.040 --> 0:05:54.240 now I'm twenty years old, out and proud and getting 0:05:54.240 --> 0:05:57.840 to go see the film in theaters with my friends, 0:05:58.120 --> 0:06:01.760 Like that is like totally why I never gave up. 0:06:02.240 --> 0:06:04.200 But yeah, I mean it was years and years of 0:06:04.279 --> 0:06:06.839 like how do you get a movie made? And like, well, 0:06:06.920 --> 0:06:08.400 you have to write a script and you have to 0:06:08.440 --> 0:06:11.479 develop the story and what does that look like? And 0:06:11.520 --> 0:06:14.839 then you know you're writing the script, and then it's like, okay, 0:06:15.080 --> 0:06:16.880 what is it going to cost to make this? And 0:06:16.920 --> 0:06:19.360 then you're like editing the script of figuring out how 0:06:19.400 --> 0:06:22.640 to execute a film for the budget that you may 0:06:22.760 --> 0:06:24.760 or may not have, and then you're just excellent, but 0:06:24.960 --> 0:06:27.280 thank you so much. And then you know and then 0:06:27.320 --> 0:06:29.440 you have the deck and then you go out and 0:06:29.480 --> 0:06:32.719 you pitch to all the different studios and they all 0:06:32.760 --> 0:06:34.240 say no, and they're like. 0:06:34.240 --> 0:06:36.719 But we care about queer stories. 0:06:36.279 --> 0:06:38.400 And it's like, well, why aren't you uplifting this one? 0:06:38.760 --> 0:06:43.760 But Focus Features raised their hand in twenty twenty and 0:06:44.960 --> 0:06:47.400 the movie was with another production company at the time 0:06:47.480 --> 0:06:49.719 and that fell through, and so there were so many 0:06:49.839 --> 0:06:52.520 iterations where I was like, I mean, I've celebrated with 0:06:52.560 --> 0:06:55.000 my family so many times, like we did it, the 0:06:55.000 --> 0:06:59.160 movie's happening, and then it falls apart, and you're starting 0:06:59.160 --> 0:07:02.320 from scratch all over again. And you're also just like 0:07:02.800 --> 0:07:06.239 as a first time filmmaker, you're having to convince people 0:07:06.760 --> 0:07:10.960 to invest their money into you and to believe that 0:07:11.000 --> 0:07:12.960 you can execute it well and that. 0:07:13.000 --> 0:07:14.840 People will show up for your story. 0:07:14.920 --> 0:07:17.440 And so a lot of the journey has been just 0:07:17.600 --> 0:07:22.800 convincing people that this story deserves to have a platform 0:07:23.000 --> 0:07:26.720 and to exist, and that we haven't had representation like 0:07:26.760 --> 0:07:29.480 this for our community in a very long time, or 0:07:29.560 --> 0:07:32.320 if we do, it's once every twenty years, and it 0:07:32.320 --> 0:07:34.880 shouldn't be like that, Like we should have representation all 0:07:34.920 --> 0:07:35.960 the time every year. 0:07:36.320 --> 0:07:38.600 I just have to say, like that is like serious 0:07:38.640 --> 0:07:41.680 perseverance and like I don't know if tenacity is the 0:07:41.760 --> 0:07:47.520 right word, yeah, because like I just like you hear 0:07:48.600 --> 0:07:50.600 just like rejection, like I when you hear nos so 0:07:50.680 --> 0:07:52.880 much to keep being able to push through that and 0:07:52.960 --> 0:07:55.160 keep going and have so much faith and hope and 0:07:55.240 --> 0:07:57.520 like in you and what you can produce and what 0:07:57.560 --> 0:08:00.600 you can like bring is like really admirable. 0:08:00.960 --> 0:08:01.280 Thanks. 0:08:01.320 --> 0:08:06.760 It definitely I'm not like religious, but it definitely challenged 0:08:06.760 --> 0:08:10.120 me to have faith in the fact that that it 0:08:10.240 --> 0:08:13.560 was going to work out eventually and then I like, listen. 0:08:13.320 --> 0:08:14.600 I had yourself. 0:08:14.920 --> 0:08:18.240 Yeah, And I had tons of moments where I'm screaming, crying, 0:08:18.720 --> 0:08:23.800 like just devastated, feeling so alone and trapped and like 0:08:23.920 --> 0:08:28.040 on my own journey. And so that was like an 0:08:28.040 --> 0:08:32.200 extremely isolating experience trying to get this film made. But 0:08:32.320 --> 0:08:35.760 then the tides kind of turned when you know, the 0:08:35.800 --> 0:08:38.280 other production company kind of dropped out and then Mark 0:08:38.320 --> 0:08:41.720 Platt Productions raised their hand. You don't know Mark Platt, 0:08:41.720 --> 0:08:44.000 He's produced Wicked and. 0:08:45.920 --> 0:08:50.920 So small these really small films projects, and you know, 0:08:51.040 --> 0:08:53.599 he believed in the story and his team believed in 0:08:53.640 --> 0:08:56.920 the story, and it worked out with them and focused 0:08:56.960 --> 0:09:00.160 features to kind of come together and and cheer me 0:09:00.240 --> 0:09:02.199 on and support this project. 0:09:02.240 --> 0:09:05.040 And so that's when it was a really interesting turn. 0:09:05.080 --> 0:09:06.679 I remember talking back about it where I was like, 0:09:06.720 --> 0:09:09.280 oh my gosh, I actually feel supported and I think 0:09:09.320 --> 0:09:10.560 this actually might happen. 0:09:10.720 --> 0:09:12.520 Like the energy really. 0:09:12.160 --> 0:09:16.760 Shifted, because before it was just like constant rejection, constant knows, 0:09:17.080 --> 0:09:19.160 you know, budgeting it out for a certain city and 0:09:19.240 --> 0:09:22.120 then that falling through and trying to go shoot it, 0:09:22.160 --> 0:09:24.439 and then there's like a fire and then there's the pandemic, 0:09:24.520 --> 0:09:28.360 and there's one thing after a next, and finally when 0:09:28.440 --> 0:09:31.640 Mark Platten Focus came together, I was like, oh, this 0:09:31.760 --> 0:09:36.240 might actually happen. Like this, the energy shifts and you realize, 0:09:36.280 --> 0:09:39.560 like when things aren't working and you're banging down the doors, 0:09:39.600 --> 0:09:42.000 like sometimes you want to keep banging on that door, 0:09:42.400 --> 0:09:46.000 but sometimes those doors are broken, Like sometimes those door 0:09:46.160 --> 0:09:49.520 you should your energy. You actually have to completely shift 0:09:49.520 --> 0:09:52.840 and go to an entirely different building and start knocking 0:09:52.920 --> 0:09:54.880 on those doors, and then a door start and then 0:09:54.920 --> 0:09:55.640 a door opens. 0:09:56.880 --> 0:09:59.240 I mean, I've seen you know, I have said this 0:09:59.280 --> 0:10:01.079 so many times. I don't I have a knockin' I 0:10:01.120 --> 0:10:04.400 don't know anyone who has worked on something like this 0:10:04.600 --> 0:10:08.040 for ten years and just person like had the goal 0:10:08.120 --> 0:10:10.640 to get it done and got it done. I want 0:10:10.679 --> 0:10:13.520 to go back to twenty fifteen when you wrote girls 0:10:13.559 --> 0:10:16.920 Like Girls and directed the music video, choosing not to 0:10:16.960 --> 0:10:21.600 be in the music video because of your own personal fears, 0:10:20.880 --> 0:10:25.960 and the shift from going from that to then casting 0:10:26.200 --> 0:10:29.640 two half Asian leads. Can you take us on that journey? 0:10:30.160 --> 0:10:30.400 Yeah? 0:10:30.440 --> 0:10:34.480 I mean, I think girls Like Girls the universe kind 0:10:34.480 --> 0:10:37.240 of mirrors my journey when I wrote girls Like Girls 0:10:37.240 --> 0:10:41.880 in twenty fifteen, I wasn't out. I wasn't confident in 0:10:41.920 --> 0:10:44.680 who I was, and so when I was writing with 0:10:44.840 --> 0:10:48.080 Lily and Oen the lyrics for the song, I wanted 0:10:48.120 --> 0:10:51.360 to sound like I was confident and that I could, 0:10:51.720 --> 0:10:54.959 you know, stealing kisses from your missus, you know, doesn't 0:10:55.040 --> 0:10:57.880 make you freak out. Like they're very like bold lyrics, 0:10:58.240 --> 0:11:00.160 but I didn't feel that way at the time. So 0:11:00.160 --> 0:11:04.520 it's trying to like manifest feeling embodied and who I 0:11:04.760 --> 0:11:08.040 was and self love. And when we were doing the 0:11:08.120 --> 0:11:11.079 music video, I didn't want to put myself out there, 0:11:11.160 --> 0:11:13.640 and so I'm so grateful for Stephanie and Kelsey. They 0:11:13.640 --> 0:11:16.960 did an incredible job in the music video, but I 0:11:17.040 --> 0:11:19.160 kept my I was like coming out, but I kept 0:11:19.160 --> 0:11:21.840 myself separate still. And so then we went on this 0:11:21.960 --> 0:11:25.720 like long, long journey where it's really cool where that 0:11:25.920 --> 0:11:28.679 was the first step, and then there was you know, 0:11:29.000 --> 0:11:31.800 the novel, and now there's the movie. And the movie 0:11:31.920 --> 0:11:35.880 is the most authentic version of this story where the 0:11:36.000 --> 0:11:40.720 characters are their most authentic selves, and getting to cast 0:11:41.040 --> 0:11:45.600 actors that represent the characters so well reflecting my own 0:11:45.679 --> 0:11:49.000 journey back to me is really beautiful and like now 0:11:49.000 --> 0:11:53.079 I'm on stage waving the rainbow flag and screaming girls 0:11:53.120 --> 0:11:57.160 like girls and like super proud of being a lesbian. 0:11:57.480 --> 0:12:01.440 And so it's a really beautiful thing to witness where 0:12:02.040 --> 0:12:05.800 this ip has kind of grown with me, and so 0:12:05.920 --> 0:12:08.400 of course it's changed. You know, It's like the book 0:12:08.520 --> 0:12:13.240 is its own experience, and you can, you know, divulge 0:12:13.280 --> 0:12:15.800 in the description of a jacket for a page and 0:12:15.800 --> 0:12:19.280 a half, but in the movie you only have ninety minutes, right, 0:12:19.320 --> 0:12:24.000 And so the movie is you know, you know, a 0:12:24.040 --> 0:12:26.920 glance here and a touch here, and getting to visually 0:12:27.040 --> 0:12:32.360 show the feelings that I felt growing up being queer 0:12:32.520 --> 0:12:35.319 and being in the closet and falling in love with girls. 0:12:35.640 --> 0:12:37.480 There were I don't really know what I'm allowed to 0:12:37.480 --> 0:12:41.360 say about the movie, but there were so many times 0:12:41.360 --> 0:12:44.080 when I was like watching it with like what you 0:12:44.080 --> 0:12:46.320 were saying, with like the grays of a hand or 0:12:46.360 --> 0:12:48.880 like a touch or like just certain things that I 0:12:48.920 --> 0:12:49.280 was like. 0:12:49.559 --> 0:12:51.600 Only women can understand that, do you know what I mean? 0:12:51.600 --> 0:12:53.520 Like I felt all details. 0:12:53.120 --> 0:12:55.240 Yes, and like I felt all those like the longing 0:12:55.280 --> 0:12:57.520 and the like the wanting, and like I like really 0:12:57.640 --> 0:13:00.160 felt all that. And I was like, I think just 0:13:00.160 --> 0:13:02.520 because I knew that like it came from you. I 0:13:02.559 --> 0:13:04.920 was like, that's a woman's touch. Like guys don't. 0:13:04.720 --> 0:13:06.880 Get that, do you know what I mean? Like focusing 0:13:07.000 --> 0:13:09.560 on other stuff, yes for sure, But there was so 0:13:09.720 --> 0:13:10.559 much but. 0:13:10.559 --> 0:13:13.120 It was like so beautifully done and there I just 0:13:13.160 --> 0:13:15.640 like felt it so much. And then there was these 0:13:15.640 --> 0:13:17.600 other little things that you just like put in there 0:13:17.720 --> 0:13:20.400 that were so nostalgic to me as like a kid, 0:13:20.520 --> 0:13:23.160 like having a crush and falling in love and like 0:13:23.200 --> 0:13:24.640 all those things. 0:13:24.679 --> 0:13:25.480 Back in the day. 0:13:26.000 --> 0:13:26.880 What was the year. 0:13:27.000 --> 0:13:28.400 It's two thousand and six. 0:13:28.600 --> 0:13:31.560 Yeah, yeah, But like there were so many nods to 0:13:31.640 --> 0:13:35.040 that that like really brought back these like vivid memories 0:13:35.120 --> 0:13:37.800 of like when I had a crush on someone and 0:13:37.840 --> 0:13:40.520 they and they entered on the aim, the sound like 0:13:40.559 --> 0:13:43.560 the yeah, the opening of the door and like all 0:13:43.640 --> 0:13:45.520 that stuff. Like I was like, oh my gosh, Like 0:13:46.040 --> 0:13:48.199 I was coly too, do you know what I mean? 0:13:48.240 --> 0:13:50.400 But just like a straight version of Coli. 0:13:50.400 --> 0:13:54.760 Totally, and like Girls Like Girl is unapologetically girls Like Girls. 0:13:54.840 --> 0:13:58.760 But this story is so universal because whether you're straight 0:13:58.960 --> 0:14:04.320 or queer, everyone has had to confront their crush, yeah, 0:14:04.360 --> 0:14:06.720 at some point in their life and had to be 0:14:06.920 --> 0:14:08.320 like do you like me or not? 0:14:08.679 --> 0:14:11.960 Is this a thing or not? Are we going steady 0:14:12.080 --> 0:14:14.720 or not? Like? What where are we at? No? Like 0:14:14.920 --> 0:14:17.760 I resonated with Cohali so much as a character. 0:14:17.920 --> 0:14:21.760 I literally some clarity, get me, some answers, use your 0:14:21.800 --> 0:14:23.000 words of affirmation. 0:14:23.560 --> 0:14:24.880 Yes, come on. 0:14:25.240 --> 0:14:28.640 But it's so interesting because there's going to be people 0:14:28.680 --> 0:14:31.720 who resonate with both characters so much. Because I watch 0:14:31.800 --> 0:14:34.280 it and I resonate with Sonya and I think about 0:14:34.320 --> 0:14:37.000 who When I met you and fell in love with 0:14:37.040 --> 0:14:39.400 a woman for the first time, I was turning thirty, 0:14:39.480 --> 0:14:41.400 so I had a sense of self of like knowing 0:14:41.440 --> 0:14:44.280 who I was. And I think if I was in 0:14:44.360 --> 0:14:48.480 high school navigating those feelings of my religion and falling 0:14:48.480 --> 0:14:50.480 in love with my best friend, and how would I 0:14:50.520 --> 0:14:53.640 handle it? I probably would have handled it how Sonia did. 0:14:53.680 --> 0:14:55.960 So I have a lot of empathy and compassion for her. 0:14:56.040 --> 0:14:59.720 But I know from a Coli standpoint, there's like frustrations 0:14:59.760 --> 0:15:02.360 of a sad like feeling. 0:15:02.400 --> 0:15:07.000 Like also resonated with Sonya too, so it's like there. 0:15:06.840 --> 0:15:09.360 Are You're more of a person? 0:15:09.760 --> 0:15:10.240 Ali? 0:15:10.440 --> 0:15:10.680 Yeah? 0:15:10.720 --> 0:15:11.440 But I love that. 0:15:11.520 --> 0:15:14.640 I love that you made a movie that is representation 0:15:14.880 --> 0:15:19.760 for queer people and that we really haven't seen yet. 0:15:20.160 --> 0:15:22.920 And yet there's people that are going to go who 0:15:22.960 --> 0:15:26.600 don't have that exact represent that exact experience, but they're 0:15:26.640 --> 0:15:27.680 going to leave being like, oh. 0:15:27.680 --> 0:15:28.720 My gosh, I remember that. 0:15:28.760 --> 0:15:31.400 I remember falling in love with someone. 0:15:32.120 --> 0:15:35.480 So and like when you're sixteen, seventeen years old, you're like, 0:15:35.520 --> 0:15:36.760 I'm going to marry this person. 0:15:37.160 --> 0:15:39.520 Yeah, everything I said today, Yeah. 0:15:39.320 --> 0:15:42.400 You're like, this is the one. I'm not meaning anyone else. 0:15:42.520 --> 0:15:43.400 Yeah, this is it. 0:15:43.680 --> 0:15:47.400 Yeah, And so it was really important, you know, when 0:15:48.000 --> 0:15:52.640 approaching making this film. You know, they are young protagonists, 0:15:52.720 --> 0:15:55.960 but it is told through a mature lens because I 0:15:55.960 --> 0:15:58.240 think when you're that age, you think you're twenty. 0:15:57.960 --> 0:16:01.040 Five, you think you're thirty. You're like, I know everything 0:16:01.240 --> 0:16:01.480 you know. 0:16:02.200 --> 0:16:05.640 And so that was really important for me and how 0:16:05.680 --> 0:16:10.240 we approached, you know, the cinematography and just the storytelling 0:16:10.280 --> 0:16:10.640 of it all. 0:16:27.960 --> 0:16:30.160 Can we talk about your first day on set and 0:16:30.520 --> 0:16:33.240 the getting house of that, because yeah, I've always thought 0:16:33.240 --> 0:16:35.320 about it. I never thought about it until this day, 0:16:35.360 --> 0:16:37.840 but I we well, actually I want to get back, 0:16:37.880 --> 0:16:39.920 I want to get to where we where you filmed 0:16:39.920 --> 0:16:41.840 the movie, because I think that was one of those 0:16:41.880 --> 0:16:44.800 things of like you talk about banging on every door 0:16:44.840 --> 0:16:47.200 and it's locked or it won't budge, and then the 0:16:47.280 --> 0:16:50.080 right door opens and then the doors continue to open, 0:16:50.760 --> 0:16:52.160 so you can go ahead. 0:16:52.160 --> 0:16:55.200 And yeah, so I mean, you know, we budgeted the 0:16:55.240 --> 0:16:58.880 film to shoot in so many different places in Canada specifically, 0:16:59.440 --> 0:17:03.080 and they can tinuously fell through. And then finally when 0:17:03.080 --> 0:17:05.320 the stars were starting to align and I got the 0:17:05.359 --> 0:17:09.760 green light after the book, and. 0:17:08.320 --> 0:17:09.000 They called me. 0:17:09.040 --> 0:17:10.879 And I don't know if a lot of people know this, 0:17:10.960 --> 0:17:13.760 but you don't necessarily get to choose where you're shooting 0:17:13.800 --> 0:17:16.400 the film. So even though the story is set in Oregon, 0:17:16.920 --> 0:17:20.080 you could be shooting the film literally anywhere, depending on 0:17:20.440 --> 0:17:24.200 what the production decides and tax you know, credits and 0:17:24.240 --> 0:17:26.400 all that stuff. And so they call me and they're like, hey, 0:17:26.480 --> 0:17:29.520 we're going to shoot this movie in Colonna, Canada, which 0:17:29.560 --> 0:17:30.760 is east of Vancouver. 0:17:31.480 --> 0:17:32.440 Have you heard of it? 0:17:32.800 --> 0:17:34.960 And most people who are listening to this podcast, most 0:17:35.000 --> 0:17:39.879 people don't know of Colonna, Canada and Colonna east of Vancouver. 0:17:40.160 --> 0:17:42.359 It's kind of in this valley and it's called like 0:17:42.400 --> 0:17:47.600 the California of Canada. And I'm like shook when they 0:17:47.640 --> 0:17:51.399 call me because my grandparents are buried there, and I 0:17:51.520 --> 0:17:54.960 grew up going to Colonna, Canada. 0:17:55.680 --> 0:17:56.360 What are you all? 0:17:57.280 --> 0:18:00.520 I grew up visiting my grandparents on my Japanese side 0:18:01.119 --> 0:18:02.480 and we would go every. 0:18:02.240 --> 0:18:03.080 Three or four years. 0:18:03.080 --> 0:18:05.600 I have a baby photo of me taking my first 0:18:05.680 --> 0:18:09.840 steps during the holidays in my grandparents' house, which is 0:18:09.960 --> 0:18:12.280 four streets down from where we shot. 0:18:13.480 --> 0:18:15.440 And this whole film and. 0:18:15.400 --> 0:18:20.120 The process has been really embracing not only my sexuality, 0:18:20.160 --> 0:18:23.680 but also just like my culture and being half Japanese 0:18:23.720 --> 0:18:28.240 and representing that on the screen and getting to a 0:18:28.280 --> 0:18:31.160 place where I felt confident in being able to tell 0:18:31.240 --> 0:18:32.560 my authentic truth and story. 0:18:32.640 --> 0:18:34.920 So the fact that we ended up shooting this. 0:18:34.920 --> 0:18:37.679 Film where I got to visit my grandparents you know, 0:18:37.760 --> 0:18:41.679 burial site, and got to be shot at this restaurant 0:18:41.720 --> 0:18:43.560 that my grandma used to take us to, which is 0:18:43.560 --> 0:18:47.439 like the only Japanese restaurant in town, which is like 0:18:47.440 --> 0:18:48.920 one of the last scenes in the film. 0:18:48.960 --> 0:18:51.000 Oh yeah yeah, where she works. Yeah. 0:18:51.119 --> 0:18:53.879 So it was very like that was like a moment 0:18:54.080 --> 0:18:58.560 where I was like, oh, this, whatever happens, this was 0:18:58.600 --> 0:19:02.480 the post was meant to be, like the timing of everything, 0:19:03.200 --> 0:19:04.919 like this is a homecoming. 0:19:05.520 --> 0:19:10.080 Yeah, it's not freaky that's so freaky. It's very meant 0:19:10.119 --> 0:19:13.480 to be though. Yeah, yeah, yeah, so you you. I 0:19:13.560 --> 0:19:15.239 go up there with you for that. You had been 0:19:15.320 --> 0:19:16.240 up there for a few months. 0:19:16.280 --> 0:19:17.800 And then I come up to be there for the 0:19:17.840 --> 0:19:20.240 first day shooting and we get up super early and 0:19:20.280 --> 0:19:22.960 we drive to set. And Hayley, as you know, she's 0:19:22.960 --> 0:19:26.680 been an actress, she's been part of sets all the time, 0:19:26.800 --> 0:19:29.080 this is the first like director position. 0:19:29.760 --> 0:19:35.159 So we show up to set and it's chos it's chaos. 0:19:35.359 --> 0:19:39.560 I am getting yelled at because someone's unhappy. I'm getting 0:19:39.600 --> 0:19:43.200 like screamed at because you know, it's like high tension, 0:19:43.320 --> 0:19:43.520 you know. 0:19:43.560 --> 0:19:45.480 Yeah, And also like you're the one that people everyone 0:19:45.520 --> 0:19:47.280 has to like. You're like the manager of it all. 0:19:47.480 --> 0:19:50.440 Yeah, you end up like they say, like directors are 0:19:50.440 --> 0:19:53.560 like the therapists of set. But a lot of the 0:19:53.600 --> 0:19:56.639 times when you're making a small indie film, you have 0:19:56.720 --> 0:20:00.359 to hire people that are super passionate. So with passion 0:20:00.680 --> 0:20:05.520