Meet Charles Lai

We were lucky to catch up with Charles Lai recently and have shared our conversation below.

Charles , thank you so much for making time for us. We’ve always admired your ability to take risks and so maybe we can kick things off with a discussion around how you developed your ability to take and bear risk?

If I were asked this question a couple of years ago, I don’t think I’d say I was much of a risk-taker. Though, as of recently, I feel a switch in me that has been flipped on due to an accumulation of events and matters that I’ve had to face, which has gotten me to take a hard look at how I’ve been moving forward.

Over the past few years, from film school days at CSUN to now, post-graduation career endeavors, I’ve experienced a few losses in my family from illnesses and accidents, fractured relationships between friends, and immense failure. During my college years, I didn’t really give myself the time to process those life changes, as I kept busying myself with whatever film production work I could help out with because of this self-pressure to hopefully get some sort of foothold in the film industry. Once I graduated, I didn’t find myself in a place where I wanted to be, career-wise and mentally; I had a few prospects, but wasn’t very passionate about them. I had hit a wall and was burnt out. During this period, I stopped putting myself out there, lacked effort, and was doing a whole lot of nothing.

In that time, I could do a lot of thinking and deeply process the losses that had unfolded in front of me, which included my father and a few uncles. It led to trains of thoughts that had me reflect not just on their lives and my relationship with them, but also on my own life, its fragility and those around me, especially my mother, sister, and friends. I saw important people whose lives were cut too short and filled with regrets of things that they should’ve done, particularly with how they treated others and the manner they lived. That terrified me; I do not want to live a life I will regret, even if it’s cut short as well.

So now, I’d say I go into things with an attitude of “let’s just go for it.” As long as I’m treating others as best as possible, no matter how things may turn out, at least I know that I’ve tried. I would rather do something and regret it than not do anything and regret it. Life is weird and short, so might as well be good to people and try stuff out.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I’m a first-generation Chinese-American, born and raised in the Bay Area, and then later moved to the Sacramento Area, where I got into film production and photography during high school, making silly shorts with friends. I also gained some interest in illustration/animation around the same time. I moved to LA for film school at CSUN, where I did an emphasis in Producing. There, I worked on several senior theses as a Producer or 1st AD, participated in a few animation events, and had a student internship at the Cannes Film Festival. Outside of school, I’ve had the opportunity to work on sets, mainly as a 1st AD, for short films, verticals, music videos, notably by Raveena Aurora, and also to illustrate some posters.

Currently, I’m working at ReelShort, a vertical drama production company that gathers millions of views and regularly pumps out new content. I’ve been working as an In-House Production Assistant/Accountant directly under our producers for a year now. And while I must say, my journey with ReelShort will be ending soon as I find a change in direction for myself, I’m thankful for the opportunity and what I’ve gotten to learn working with the team. I was able to get to know more about the business and logistical side of film, away from productions. With this being my first full-time film-related job, I finally experienced a professionally structured environment where I could actually learn the standards of budgets, cost reports, scheduling, and dealing with actors/talent agencies. But now I’m looking to do something that fits me more.

I’ve decided to try to focus more on my own videography and photography to build a portfolio geared towards my interests. I feel like I’ve strayed from my passions due to the combination of self-doubt and the idea that I needed to work in any film-related position, regardless of whether it actually aligned with my goals. And right now, my goal is to get into documentary work, particularly nature documentaries, because I believe that there is much beauty in the world, our animals, oceans, mountains, and valleys, that should be protected and cared for. To make that happen, we need people to care about these things, and I want to help by being part of getting people to care. So in the near future, I’ll be committing myself more to the outdoors, documenting, and getting connected to those who work on this side of productions.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

I think the three most important qualities that’ve helped me are my discipline, determination, and the love of the game (entertainment industry). My parents instilled a good work ethic in me. Honestly, I feel really bad if I’m not consistently working on some goal, from my career to hobbies, or self-care. I believe if you have a goal, it’s important to be consistent, because even small adjustments to a daily routine and make a world of difference down the line. So when a desire or goal sets into place, I just have to be persistent with it or stubborn, whichever you’d like to call it. And my “love of the game,” for lack of better words, I really love and appreciate movies and TV and the art of creating them for what they’ve done for me. Movies were a place where I could find myself in at a time I didn’t believe anyone could understand me. It amazes me how people who could be long gone, or from way across the world, could tell stories that so deeply resonated with me. I’d like to be able to do that for someone else.

I don’t think I’m qualified to give anyone career advice since I’m still early into my journey. If anything, make sure you love what you’re doing, or at the very least, what you’re doing is helping you get to what you love.

Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?

I’d have to say my biggest obstacle is probably myself. It’s a work in progress. As I mentioned before, just a bit, my self-doubt and tendency to overcomplicate things tend to be a big barrier preventing me from taking action. While I am starting to get over that, I still need to take more risks and commit myself to trying. Part of that is straying from being comfortable. You don’t really get to learn much when you’re comfortable. If you’re feeling uncomfortable, that means you’re probably dealing with an experience you don’t know how to deal with, and when you get through it, you’ve more than likely learned something. Like I said, you just got to go for it.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/charles_churros/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-lai-67383b1b7/