BOOKIE Directed By Bao Tran

Shane: Tell us about your film?

Bao: BOOKIE is a short film set in 1963 Seattle, where a gambling bookie
risks everything for a waitress down on her luck. It's a mix of noir,
soul music, action, and romance.

S: How did you come up with the idea for the film?

B: I was listening to a lot of classic soul and R&B while watching old
classic Hollywood movies, so it just all came together that way.

S: Was this a school project?

B: No.

S: How did you find your cast?

B: We held auditions in both Los Angeles and Seattle. Some of the cast I
worked with on previous films, and the final cast is a mixture of people
from both cities.

S: How long did the film take? (From conception to final edit)

B: 3 years.

S: What was the most difficult part of the shoot for you?

B: The shoot was really smooth, the cast and crew were great. It was the
preproduction that was difficult, finding the cast and crew and getting
them onboard for few resources.

S: Tell us about the films festival experience so far?

B: We've put on our own cast/crew and industry screenings in both Seattle
and Los Angeles. We just started our run in April with DisOrient Asian
American FF and the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival where we
were nominated for best short.

S: What has been your most interesting Q&A so far? What
was your favorite question? How was the dialogue afterwards?

B: People have been really curious about how the time period in Seattle
really was. We did a lot research beforehand and the scene in Seattle,
musically and racially, was so different from other cities in that era
to even today.

S: What films or filmmakers inspire you?

B: I really like James Cameron, he makes his own opportunities and gets out
there and just shoots.

S: What made you decide to become a filmmaker?

B: I saw Jackie Chan jump off a building and I thought, 'Hey I can do
that.' I couldn't, that's why I'm behind the camera now.

S: What is next for you?

B: I've got a feature that we're getting into preproduction for. It's
really exciting because the timing has finally come around for it.

S: What is next for the film?

B: We're continuing on our festival tour: New York Asian American
International, Stony Brook, and Hawaii International so far. You can
keep up to date on our website at:
http://bookiethemovie.com

S: If asked to give one piece of advice to a new filmmaker making their
first short film what would it be?

B: I'll steal from James Cameron: "I think the most important thing if
you're an aspiring film-maker is to get rid of the 'aspiring'... You
shoot it, you put your name on it, you're a film-maker. Everything after
that, you're just negotiating your budget."