CHOPSO interviews the director Rob Lee on his web series Who’s In Charge now streaming on Chopso.
C: Tell us Who’s in Charge is about?
Who’s in charge is about Richard, a corporate lawyer who fell on hard times as he’s been suspended by the bar to practice law and his assets were frozen at the same by the SEC. His only option is to move in with his daughter, Juliet to get try get some sort of structure in his life as he recovers as well as build a relationship with her as he was an absentee father who only provided finances for her. Chaos ensues with Juliet’s gorgeous roommate Annabelle and Ricard’s best friend since childhood, Larry as he makes attempts to get his life in order.
C: What was in the inspiration behind your series?
I’ve known the other producer and lead actor John for years and we got together to talk about productions as he was looking to build material for his reel and I’m always looking for fun creative projects to develop, thus we came up with Who’s in Charge to not only give John reel material, but also to give other actors opportunities to shine. Knowing that John is a lawyer was the perfect starting point to start the script.
C: What advice would you give to young filmmakers today?
3 things that I always keep in mind over the development of projects.
1. Always give 100% effort as any project is a team effort and if you don’t, you’re hurting the team…even if there are just two of you.
2. Be adaptable and willing to help in other areas if needed, especially in smaller productions as if someone calls in sick, someone else may have to step up and help out. As a producer I’d have to fill in some spots as whatever is needed to help production move along. If you don’t know ask and learn and if not capable don’t try and do it. I’ve worked with most of my crew on other projects in the past and some things they still don’t let me help out with such as setting up lights or putting away chords as they will be a tangled mess.
3. Make sure you enjoy the project. Only develop projects you believe in as a producer or jump onto a project as a crew if its a project sound interesting or fun as you don’t want to be stuck on a project for days not being happy. On the acting side, casting is important as you want to take the top talent for the role…but you always want to gauge them on a personable level to get an idea of what they may be like on set as chemistry is not only important between actors…but with crew. We made sure we did casting calls for all the major roles except for John…and I wrote in some roles for friends in mind like Mike Sun Lee, Mike Hagiwara, and the late Elisabeth Sung. Projects are stressful and disagreements happen, but I look at each set I’ve been on as family as you roll with the punches and even if things gets bad, you’ll be there for each other as if it’s something you believe in and having fun for the most part things get smoothed over easier. Even though most of my projects are paid….you shouldn’t be doing it for the money.
C: How can people hear about what you’re up to next?
My production company is Burnt Gum Entertainment. The social media and website will hopefully be more active in the Fall as it’s been dormant for so long. I’ve got a few projects in the pipelines, but nothing I can talk about yet. I have been running an online hosting show in which we do interviews at various events to highlight individuals http://www.ideatetv.com We cover a wide range of events and it goes back to my answer of advice on doing something you enjoy.The one project I can mention which isn’t in filmmaking rather a set of gaming cards I developed which as I hope to get in finished in time for the Christmas holidays. It’s currently being tested and I developed it as a way to try and bring friends and family to play games and interact with each other rather then being glued to their phones or video games.Of course if there is a large demand on Who’s in Charge due to being seen on Chopso, we would look into a second season…as story ideas have already been laid out and hinted within the series.
Check out Who’s In Charge on Chopso now.
