If I Knew You Better

Fei Wu is the host of the Feisworld podcast, a documentary filmmaker, & a digital marketer. She left China to finish high school in the US, where she’s lived for almost 20 years now, but lately she’s been revisiting her China roots and supporting her artist mother, whose paintings illustrating Chinese literature classic The Dream of the Red Chamber made her famous and which are now getting a permanent gallery home in Qingdao. We also touch on Fei’s passion promoting palliative care for the sick & dying, which she developed after her father’s long illness and passing when she was a little girl. This topic just became highly relevant to me, too, as my own father died just this past Monday (after the interview was recorded). The first 10 minutes of the show is me talking about that, but the interview with Fei is fun, enlightening, fresh, and optimistic about the power of art to transform. Please enjoy this very special episode of the show, and visit https://www.crazyinagoodway.com/knew-resources for links and more.

Steve Katz has possibly the most eclectic background and resume of anyone I’ve ever spoken to. His early influences in the 1960s, like Ray Harryhausen and Famous Monsters magazine, mixed with watching rehearsals at the nearby Westport Country Playhouse with visiting directors like Woody Allen to the influence and support of his parents to propel him into an artistic life from the very beginning. That led him to, among other things: learning film cameras via a cousin in New York who worked on TV shows like “Car 54, Where Are You?”; putting together psychedelic light shows in NYC at places like the Fillmore East and working with bands like The Grateful Dead, The Doors, The Byrds, and Sly & The Family Stone starting at age 19; playing bluegrass banjo; working on John McTiernan’s first film; befriending “Saturday Night Live” writing legend Michael O’Donoghue and seeing a legendary short film he directed, “The Clams”, go on to open a season of “SNL” and catch a big break as a TV writer; he continued to work and grow and eventually established himself as a writer-director-producer in Hollywood; created the first digital previz on the feature Clear and Present Danger; and eventually, all his experience brought him to - yes - China, where he has been involved in many projects big and small. But of all the references I just name-checked, the one that originally cemented Steve’s name in my mind back in the day was that he wrote a truly legendary cinema book called Film Directing: Shot by Shot, published by the then-upstart Michael Weise Productions. It was released in 1992, which is when I was in film school, and it instantly became required reading in my Film Production courses! It’s familiar blue cover was updated a few years ago to announce the new, 25th anniversary edition, which was freshly and thoroughly revised for the digital age. It’s easily the film book I have gifted to more people than any other, and it was a real treat to get to hear some of Steve’s stories in-depth. Among the crazy but true tales already mentioned, we scratch the surface on Steve’s several engagements as Michael Jackson’s personal filmmaking tutor - a story he has NEVER told before! Steve was resident at the Neverland Ranch for months at a time, was flown into luxury hotels to work with the star, sometimes just watching movies late at night. He also saw things in his time around MJ that will likely merit another show entirely, but we will have much more on that topic another day. We even overlap on his interest in the intersection between art and neuroscience, among many other wonky and highly specific topics. To top it off, he’s also a good friend of one of my best friends, Kevin Geiger, so the “small world” meter is off the charts with this one for me. More on all that later. For now, though, you can visit the blog post at https://www.crazyinagoodway.com/knew-resources for links, contact information, and I hope you enjoy this epic conversation with Steven Katz!

Elliott Zaagman has built a professional life as a writer, podcaster, investor in, & consultant to the leaders of some of China’s most famous (& infamous) tech companies. He appears in print & on-air internationally speaking truth about that environment. Ell co-hosts the China tech Investor podcast w/James Hull and has been on my other shows several times too, so we started from a place of comfort and dove deep from there. LINKS: https://www.crazyinagoodway.com/knew-resources

Millions of people in the tech & startup world know Steve Hoffman as “Captain Hoff” from Foundersspace, a leading incubator from Silicon Valley that is now omnipresent throughout China. But very few people know that his FIRST career was as a development executive in Hollywood, and this is the first time Steve’s talked about all this in-depth since beginning his China adventures. The lessons he's learned from his success shaping startups & stories are invaluable, & applicable regardless of your vocation or location. I especially love his closing thoughts: “Are you putting your time into the most important things? Given who you are and where you are in your life, what's the most value you can be creating for the people around you and the world around you, and can you focus your energies on that instead of getting distracted by all these other things?” This was a very fun and special conversation, so I hope you check it out. LINKS: https://www.crazyinagoodway.com/home/steve-hoffman-2019

Lee Chen is a familiar face on US TV, but her own story is more impressive & incredible than the many shows she’s appeared in. For starters, she’s probably the only successful Hollywood actor who got their start in a "Chairman Mao Thought" propaganda performance troupe towards the end of the Cultural Revolution in China. She was born in Inner Mongolia, was a founding-class member of the Johns Hopkins Chinese Program at Nanjing University, then moved to the US for grad school - earning two Master’s degrees - and began a dual professional life as an academic and an actor. She landed in Chicago after grad school, and fell into studying acting at the famous Piven Theater Workshop. Lee worked and studied for years, moved to Hawaii for a second Masters, did every theater production she could, and finally moved to Hollywood. Today, Lee has built an eclectic film, TV, & theater career with roles ranging from the dramatic to the absurdly funny. She also worked diligently over a 20 year period to move her ENTIRE family - one by one - over to the US from China. I was lucky to meet Lee when she accepted a role in a small film I produced, and when I heard her incredible story I knew I had to get her on the mic to share it with you, too. I am cross-posting this show "If I Knew You Better" and my original China-focused podcast “Big Fish in the Middle Kingdom” too, but no matter where you hear it, I hope you enjoy it. DO NOT MISS this one! MORE: https://www.crazyinagoodway.com/home/lee-chen

Raymond Ma is a talented and hilarious actor who has worked with everyone from Ali Wong and Awkwafina to Chuck Lorre and Aaron Sorkin. He was born in Hong Kong, discovered by Jack Lord on the original “Hawaii 5-0”, & lives in Los Angeles. This talk is funny, practical, & gets a little deep, too. Please check it out, & visit https://www.crazyinagoodway.com for more!

Stewart Cararas is a songwriter-musician as well as a music engineer & producer in Los Angeles. He’s from Monroe, Louisiana, and his road to Hollywood is positively cinematic. Great talk! LINKS: https://www.crazyinagoodway.com/knew-resources

Frederick Taylor is an award-winning director & producer & the founder of Tomorrow Pictures (https://www.tomorrowpictures.com). I’ve known Fred for 30 years, but it was great to sit down with him and REALLY get into it all. Great first talk; enjoy! Theme music by Carl King, logo by Ronald Paredes. Visit crazyinagoodway.com for links & more.

Welcome to “If I Knew You Better”, the new podcast from Brendan Davis! The show asks fascinating people the questions YOU’D ask, too, if you knew them better. Today we intro the show, next week we have our first guest. Enjoy!

MORE INFO: https://www.crazyinagoodway.com