Meet Pierce Stephan

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Pierce Stephan. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Pierce below.

Pierce, thanks for taking the time to share your lessons with our community today. So, let’s jump right in – one of the most essential skills for unlocking our potential is self-discipline. Where does your self-discipline come from?

The biggest people I have to credit for my self-discipline are my parents, the epitome of self-made, successful people. My mother is a Vietnamese immigrant, having fled the country following the fall of Saigon in 1975, and settled in Minnesota with a large family. As the oldest of four children, she took on an obscene amount of responsibility from an incredibly young age, supporting her family through a difficult transition. My father started out in Wisconsin (with dreams of dancing in the ensemble on telethons) before moving from state to state throughout his childhood because of his father’s work as a truck driver. They both carved their way through their education and eventually met in graduate school, working towards their Ph.D.s while balancing late nights at the lab and working to support themselves. My dad adjusted his lab schedule to night hours so my mom didn’t have to work alone, an adorable little love story they refuse to sap about. They’re awesome people and if they ever read this they’re going to get very mad at me for showing off.

Hard work has always been a mutual language for my family. My siblings and I always went for honors in school, excelling in math and science (before I swiftly lost interest in academics around junior high) and over-committing ourselves to extracurriculars. I am very happy to brag about my family. I grew up with actors, musicians, figure skaters, ballet dancers, volleyball players, tennis captains, amateur surgeons, and pottery makers all under the same roof.

In a family so fraught with over-achieving it would be easy to assume some level of parental pressure, but my parents managed to steer pretty clear. Our passions were celebrated, and my dedication stemmed from that celebration and not a feeling of obligation. I was nudged into math olympiads and computer science when I displayed an affinity for numbers, but when I (at the ripe young age of 11) decided that I would dedicate the rest of my life to the movies, Mom and Dad hopped ship without hesitation. They have been behind me unwaveringly ever since. They knew the key to your children’s success isn’t pressure but support. It’s never been difficult to self-discipline, because it has always been in the name of something I love. It has paved the way for me not only to dive into my work as an independent filmmaker but support a life in New York City as a self-employed artist.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

It’s hard to talk about what I do without mentioning my first feature-length film ‘BENDERS’ which I am directing and producing alongside an incredible team I had the privilege of meeting during my first couple years at Pace University. The film is a horror/black comedy that follows a youth hockey team after they’re trapped by a freak blizzard with no company but their own unstable adolescence. What unfolds is a satirical love letter to boyhood, the trappings of fragile masculinity, and the (violent) struggle to figure out who we are. We always tell people it’s a little bit ‘Slapshot’ and a little bit ‘Lord of the Flies’.

I’m incredibly invested in stories about bad people. It’s the only throughline I’ve been able to find in a very hyperactive history of interests (before settling on director, I tried my hand at creature effects, stop motion animation, and musical theater composition to name a few). My connection to broken characters is immediate and almost desperate, and I really enjoy it when a movie turns its brutal examination on me. ‘BENDERS’ is one of many attempts to put my head on the chopping block; to use filmmaking as an opportunity to figure out how any of this (us) works. I don’t understand why else I would be making movies.

And the most special thing about what I do is the people I do it with. It’s corny just as much as it’s true. We’ve cultivated a group of wildly different artists who connect through a mutual love of rolling our sleeves up and doing the thing. We’re hands-on, scrappy creators; part-indie filmmakers by necessity and part by passion. There’s something about tight-knit teams and the opportunity of limitation that has always been a recipe for beauty. One of my fellow producers Sitara and I always call back to our first project together where we hiked up to Connecticut and spent a weekend shooting and sleeping in the same location. Being with the cast and crew felt like a slumber party.

‘BENDERS’ is produced by myself, Sitara Nagrani, and Kyle Moon, as well as Maxwell Gorraiz and Remy Yin, who also star in the film. We’re currently in development and seeking funding through private investment ahead of a July 2025 shoot. If you or anyone you know is interested in getting involved, please don’t hesitate to contact us at [email protected] or visit us at bendersmovie.com (@bendersmovie on Instagram and TikTok).

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?

Kindness, patience, and curiosity! Kindness is non-negotiable. A lot of people confuse kindness with a lack of assertiveness or confidence, but it’s not. It’s just kindness. Conflict can be kind, criticism can be kind, questions can be kind, directions can be kind, and when we’re three hours over and the rain won’t stop and food came late and the scene isn’t working, it HAS to be kind. Drink some water, and get a good night’s sleep. I don’t need sunshine and rainbows, but decency and respect for one another are an absolute bottom line.

Patience is a constant journey for me, both with myself and others. I am at my most comfortable when I’m busy and in a rush, which has been very helpful in my work and very unhelpful in my general health and happiness. I really love what I do, but I have a tendency to translate that love into doing nothing else. I’m still trying to figure out how to maintain a balance because you need family, friends, good food, and patience to make this life work.

Curiosity is something Spielberg talks about and I’ve been shamelessly regurgitating it since I was in elementary school. So much of art, especially film, is about solving problems and communicating emotion. Every different endeavor, whether it be a technical challenge or a thematic question, could require something you don’t have. You can’t do anything if you’re not eager to learn.

How can folks who want to work with you connect?

I am always looking for people to collaborate with (it’s arguably the most exciting and rewarding part of this line of work), and unless the production calls for other specifics I normally only look for two things. The first is the kindness I was talking about before. No amount of talent, knowledge, or resources can offset a bad attitude. The second thing I try to look for is a different point of view, and the more drastic the better. I’m the sort of person who will continue to run with their idea, and if I work with someone who aligns with my perspective I can easily rocket into an echo chamber. It’s fun and uplifting when everyone agrees with you, but it’s also a one-way ticket to mediocre work. As I continue to develop my process, I’m learning that the more of a beating your ideas take, the better. What comes out the other end is pretty extraordinary.

If anyone reading would like to collaborate you can reach me at [email protected]! I’m always looking to grow both my personal network and our network of potential collaborators on BENDERS (feel free to hit that email as well). Thanks for reading!!

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