Asha Chai-Chang on Financing Creativity, Accessibility, and Building Industry Power
Guest: Asha Chai-Chang
Titles: Filmmaker; Director; Producer; Accessibility Advocate; Founder, Funding Your Foundation.
Episode Theme: What happens when a filmmaker learns to fund their own path using finance, community, and strategy as creative tools.
Why this matters right now: As traditional pathways shrink and industry access tightens, creatives are being forced to understand money, infrastructure, and ownership. Asha breaks down how financial literacy, accessibility, and self-investment create real leverage, not just opportunity.
Asha Chai-Chang didn’t enter the industry through one door, she built several. From political science at Yale to finance and supplier diversity work, to directing award-winning projects and advocating for disabled filmmakers, her journey reframes what a “creative career” actually requires. This conversation connects the dots between art, money, and access and why knowing how systems work can be as powerful as talent.
What we talk about
Oscar Festival Win to LA Career Leap (00:16:14)
Funding the Creative Life Strategy Blueprint (00:21:05)
Access and Advocacy for Disabled Filmmakers Everywhere (00:24:10)
48-Hour Writer’s Room Reality Check Experience (00:09:28)
Invest in Yourself First Always (00:32:13)
Why you’ll want to listen
A real blueprint for funding your creative work without waiting for permission (00:21:32)
How community partnerships and local businesses can sustain productions (00:10:18)
A reframing of “failure” as a leadership and directing tool (00:12:21)
Accessibility as a creative and production standard not an afterthought (00:24:38)
Practical editing and captioning insights filmmakers can use immediately (00:30:23)
A reminder to prioritize yourself while building a career that serves others (00:34:49)
About the guest
Asha Chai-Chang is a filmmaker, director, and accessibility advocate whose work blends storytelling, financial strategy, and industry equity. With a background in political science and finance, she has produced and directed projects that have screened at major festivals, including Oscar-qualifying platforms. She is the founder of Funding Your Foundation, a framework helping creatives understand credit and financial pathways to fund their work, and a leading advocate for disabled filmmakers expanding accessibility across production and exhibition.
Listen now on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Watch the full episode on YouTube @TruJuLoMedia.
If this conversation resonates, subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a creative who needs to hear it.
Follow @SistaBrunchPodcast for clips, community, and resources.
Support the show and help keep these conversations accessible at Patreon.com/SistaBrunch or GiveButter.com/SistaBrunch.
Introduction
Fanshen Cox [00:00:00]: Welcome back to season 7 of the Sista Brunch podcast. We’re the podcast all about Black women and Black gender expansive people who are thriving, surviving, making it, killing it in film, TV, media, entertainment, all of the above. And that is no different for our incredible guest today. And I’ll say that we are filming this. This is the first time the Sista Brunch is actually filming from a recording studio. And here we are at You Podcaster, right in the heart of Hollywood. And now I am so excited to introduce our incredible guest, bringing a rare blend of creative vision, business acumen, and systems-level thinking to film and television. Welcome, Ms. Asha Chai-Chang . Oh, it’s so good to have you. I, I, we, we met officially, I think, at the Alliance of Women Directors, but I feel like we’ve been in so many rooms together.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:01:04]: Yes.
Fanshen Cox [00:01:04]: And I I've always been so curious about you and your journey. So we're going to ask you about any key moments that you want to share with us in your journey to ending up here sitting at UPodcaster Studios on the Sista Brunch podcast.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:01:18]: Oh, thank you, Fanshen. I'm so glad that you invited me. I'm so happy to be here. And for anyone who has low vision, I have purple hair. I'm wearing a red jacket with like this mocha color top and it's like black suspenders, really cute.
Fanshen Cox [00:01:34]: Okay. So, so thank you for doing that. And actually, it's so beautiful to have you in part as an accessibility advocate. And so I want to take a moment to do my visual descriptor, which is I am a light-skinned Black woman with curly hair that is currently a little frizzy and a green blazer and my Sista Brunch t-shirt on, which you'll be wearing at the end of this episode as well. So please continue with key moments in your story.
Asha’s Journey: Identity, Politics, and Film
Asha Chai-Chang [00:02:07]: Thank you. But yeah, so to answer, to jump right in for the journey, I always knew I wanted to be an artist, but I'm first-generation American.
Fanshen Cox [00:02:15]: So from, oh man. Yes.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:02:19]: The way I just combine it together is I describe myself as Afro-Latina and Caribbean Asian. I know I'm a Black woman, but I'm just saying, like, background-wise.
Fanshen Cox [00:02:27]: Yes.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:02:28]: So Jamaican, Cuban, Chinese is like my main mix.
Fanshen Cox [00:02:31]: Wow. Okay.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:02:33]: So that's why I get excited about I'm looking forward to answering the food question. I kept thinking today, I was like, Mom, what should I say is my favorite thing?
Fanshen Cox [00:02:38]: Be so good. How are you going to choose, actually? Exactly.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:02:40]: I was like, what am I going to say? So much good cuisine. So because I am first-generation American, I knew that when I kept saying I want to be a filmmaker, they were like, yeah, that's cute. That's a cute thing for art. What are you going to do as your actual career? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I don't talk about this enough. I actually started out in politics. And that's hence the whole Yale background. It was political science and pre-law for Yale. I thought to become a U.S. senator. I was like really so sure that I'd like to, I wanted to talk about people of color as people of contribution. I wanted to really talk about what we've done, like what we've actually done in history, what we continue to do, the new trends we make, like all these great things.
Fanshen Cox [00:03:19]: Pre-law at Yale. And the focus was really on, I love this. You said people of contribution is how we think of people of color.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:03:28]: Our history gets rewritten a lot. And I wanted to create reminders of what we can do and how to contribute. And I also just figured that if I could maybe change laws or maybe if people saw us in a different capacity, that would help. And then I learned really quickly that we really can't actually change hearts with the law, but I can change hearts with art. So that is where I was like, Mom, I've done the walk here. But and she's like, well, as an artist, you need to make money. And I was like, okay, that is actually true. She's like, okay, can you just promise me? I know you want to go to school so bad. I want to study art and do cinema. But can you just take one finance class for me or even minor in it? And at the time, I was like, why? But then I thought about it, and I was like, oh, wait. I'll be an amazing producer.
Fanshen Cox [00:04:18]: Oh, my gosh. Yes.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:04:20]: Look at me thinking outside the box.
Fanshen Cox [00:04:20]: Thank you, Mama. Thank you, Mama, because that is something we're all lacking.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:04:25]: We're going to talk about it.
Fanshen Cox [00:04:26]: But so beautiful.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:04:26]: OK. OK. But we have a great relationship. So I listened to my mom. I was like, I will do it. So I started out in finance. She worked in finance, she’s an actual banker, super proud of her. But then I was like, okay, study finance. Learned a lot through accounting, got really fired up by economics. Then I started talking about finance insurance and I was like, there's actually something here for me to learn. And so I end up working, like getting internships and jobs working in like financial analysis. Then I actually got into minority spend. Like, you know how companies are supposed to spend money with minority-owned businesses? Supplier diversity. I was that girl who went in and it was like, I don't think the companies because they kept doing subcontracts, like, oh, this major company would get the money, they'll subcontract out to the minority-owned businesses. And I was like, do the minority-owned businesses know what they need to qualify? So I, maybe it's a little bad. I was like, how can I do this in a way that's legal? So I was like, let me just create reports and say where the spend is ideally for the corporation versus what they're pitching. And so I'm like, just to help to give you some information so that you can make better bids.
Fanshen Cox [00:05:43]: Yes.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:05:43]: And then get the million-dollar contracts yourself.
Fanshen Cox [00:05:47]: So you were producing something. You were helping to produce these small businesses. Yes. Which eventually would lead you to producing.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:05:58]: Kind of did. Wait. You hear me though. Your like, let her cook. Let her cook.
Fanshen Cox [00:06:03]: All the things. All the things that we wish we had. Like the things that we are missing frequently, yes. Yes.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:06:09]: Yes. So I was able to hear the contract negotiations. What are companies looking for? How do they spend? How do operations run? That's what I was mainly working. I was doing the finance portion in operations. And then I remember it's kind of good to go going into this, actually thinking back on what I started. I remember they actually, I told them, I said, why'd you hire me? They're like, actually, because you're really great at hosting events. I was like, that has nothing to, okay. They said, so can you put together a key supplier forum for us to bring all the key suppliers together for us to be able to know how to like mingle and chat and like maybe better negotiations? I did those. I ran like I ran kaizens to like better their market research and like help with that. So I was doing those kind of things, but I was like 19.
Miami, On-Set Learning & 48-Hour Film Project
Fanshen Cox [00:06:56]: I was going to ask you how old you were at this point.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:06:57]: So they were inviting me to like these meetings.
Fanshen Cox [00:07:01]: Couldn't drink at the meetings.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:07:02]: They're like, we signed the deal, congrats. And I was like, ginger beer.
Fanshen Cox [00:07:07]: Yes, yes.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:07:08]: Like it's like sparkling apple cider, please.
Fanshen Cox [00:07:13]: I couldn't even do it.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:07:13]: And I actually saw those like those napkin deals they talk about in movies. I've seen them. All right, this is why it's good. So afterwards, I'm doing a great job. I was like, they love you there. She finally found what she likes to do. And I was like, I am leaving to Miami. I'm going to work in TV. She's like, what? That is, you still want to do that film thing?
Fanshen Cox [00:07:32]: Yes, ok.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:07:34]: So Miami happened. We can keep it short. I worked at Taritín. That was like a Venezuelan TV station. I was like, we did bilingual skits.
Fanshen Cox [00:07:42]: How did you start working there? Because I always think it's so important to think about the connection. Now, of course, you came with these skills that, that, that in and of itself, I feel like would have helped you be able to pick. No.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:07:55]: So they didn't care. I was young and had a cute face, I guess, as it kind of was.
Fanshen Cox [00:08:00]: You do have a cute face.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:08:02]: Thank you. No, but I'm saying this, they treated me, they were like, yeah, like you can audition. And then I auditioned and I remember like being cast in like one of those, you ever, you hear those stories that someone gets into a TV series and they fly out to a different state? That was me. And that never got made. So I ended up being there and then working as an extra and, like, just wanted to get on set. I wanted to see, like, how other professional sets are run, not just what I do. And what I do, what I mean is, like, with my friends trying to make things or what I learned in film theory when I was taking, like, film classes. I wanted to, like, see it. Yes. So I did the 48, the 48-hour film project. That's where I got a chance to really like and that was in Miami. That's when I first started.
48-Hour Film Project: Writer’s Room Energy & Team No Sleep
Fanshen Cox [00:08:47]: Let's describe a 48-hour, because it's so brilliant. And it's one of those things that I think if you're here or in New York, you know. And they're so good to do because you learn so, OK, so yes, describe what is that, a 48-hour phone contest.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:09:03]: So the idea is that you get a character name. You get a prop. You get your, you draw for your genre. And there's one line of dialogue that you have to have in your project so they know for a fact it was made within these 48 hours. But you had to write that script, shoot it, edit it, and submit it within 48 hours.
Fanshen Cox [00:09:28]: Unbelievable. So you're not sleeping. You're not sleeping at all.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:09:32]: No. We were team no sleep. But that's if you really love it, you're going to do it. So I remember, like, it just became a really good format for being like, OK, this is what we've been given. Let's just, you know, you sit in a corner, or you sit in, like, a circle at first, and we just spitball different ideas. Like, what are you thinking? Where should we go with this? And then after a while, you realize you have to trim it down to a writer's room. And you get, like, I now understand in TV why they have a writer's room. Because at first, when the DP's like, we should, they're like, no, go away. Sit down. We need you tomorrow. Go sleep.
Fanshen Cox [00:09:57]: We're going to do a story here. We'll call you when we're ready. Yes.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:10:01]: We'll call you later. We're going to tell the actors to wear, we got it. We'll keep it simple. We'll send them to sleep too. Like, it became like that. So you knew the whole team would just be together. But the first time I did it, I wasn't in the, I was actually an actor for it. And I was helping to produce. Like, let me know what you need me to figure out because I know how to negotiate deals.
Fanshen Cox [00:10:18]: Yeah. Yeah.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:10:18]: So I was the person who's like, look, Asha, you know our budget's only like $200. How are we going to feed the whole cast and crew? I'm like, I got you. So we would like find either like local people to, like, contribute in some way, or like, we'll put your logo in there. Like, so shout out to the small businesses, like small businesses who are like.
Fanshen Cox [00:10:38]: But you knew how to talk to them too, from what you had done before.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:10:41]: And I knew what they needed, right? Was like, that was like the afterwards. I was like, we're going to market you as we win awards. We're going to talk about what you've done. And that's what we did. Or we would have a party afterwards, like go back to that place. I'm like, everyone spend money, spend money here. They gave us free muffins the other day, you know? Amazing. That's how we did it, just so everyone was able to eat and survive. And so I really enjoy doing that. And then, of course, I give, like, notes and things. But I wasn't actually seeing myself as a director yet. At the time, I just kept being like, we're good at acting. We did. We actually took home some awards for the first one we did. That was on "Clean." And then as a team, we're like, we might have something here. And so we just kept doing them together. And, like, we would switch up roles, which I thought was great. So, like, someone else, like, OK, you were the writer last time. Do you want to get in the director's seat? You were the producer last time. Do you want to try? Like, do you want, everyone kept just switching up different departments to see what it's like. Yeah.
Fanshen Cox [00:11:38]: And then finally, it's time for you to direct.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:11:39]: Exactly, that's what it was. Just fast forward. They were like, have you thought about directing? I was like, I mean, and then someone's like, well, you're kind of bossy. I'm like, no, I'm not bossy.
Fanshen Cox [00:11:48]: You just know what you want.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:11:52]: I just know how to speak. Up about what I like. I know what I'm looking for. Don't do this. Um, that's like the joke. And so that one was a disaster. I'm being honest. Okay, sorry, sorry.
Fanshen Cox [00:12:08]: Your first, but sure, I mean.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:12:10]: But, it was everything I needed to learn. It was, I'm sorry, when I say, when I say disaster, I don't mean like that. Did we actually make the film? Yes, in the 48 hours we did do that. So I know I'm like, I just.
Fanshen Cox [00:12:19]: Mean like, that's successful, right? You actually did it.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:12:21]: But honestly, I would say it was Failing is how I, it's how we won. Like, sometimes you need to fail up. Like, we just, that was the one because I also, we did differently, so I didn't have the crew that time. I was in a different state. I had moved to North Carolina.
Fanshen Cox [00:12:35]: Okay, okay. So, so, New Jersey, Miami.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:12:39]: Oh, you want to go this, oh, okay cute. You want to track it.
Fanshen Cox [00:12:41]: Yeah, I'm trying to.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:12:45]: Okay. Born in New York.
Fanshen Cox [00:12:47]: Born in New York.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:12:48]: Raised in Maryland.
Fanshen Cox [00:12:50]: Oh.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:12:50]: It's OK. This is good. Yeah, Patel-McMarilyn. And then college in Connecticut.
Fanshen Cox [00:12:56]: In Connecticut. Why did I say New Jersey? I don't know why.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:12:59]: It's OK.
Fanshen Cox [00:13:00]: I didn't go to Yale. I don't know. Right. Right. Right. It was New England. I should have said New England.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:13:05]: You did it. You did good. All I was definitely, no, you were in the right areas. So I had moved to North Carolina. But I love that the writer, she was like, I really think you should get your chance to still direct. So let's go ahead and go for this. And so that first time, I didn't have the same kind of crew support that we had in Miami. So I had to crew up locally. And that's where I would say things kind of went awry. But it really taught me how much I wanted to do it. So I couldn't afford the nice mic stands or any of this. And I remember staying up late on eBay and where they have the bids, you have to do bidding wars for things. That was me. I was that girl who was bidding at zero.
Fanshen Cox [00:13:44]: So you were producing also, right? You're supposed to be the director. But..
Asha Chai-Chang [00:13:51]: But you’re still producing though.
Fanshen Cox [00:13:51]: And when it's that, you know, that budget level and you're learning, then you got to know that you're going to wear many hats, right? Like to get it done the way you want to get it done.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:14:01]: Yeah. Yeah, exactly.
Fanshen Cox [00:14:02]: Okay. Okay.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:14:03]: But you have to find people who are also willing to wear multiple hats. That's what I've learned with that situation.
Fanshen Cox [00:14:09]: You do. Shout out to the Sista Brunch crew. Shout out to Tasha. Shout out to Sam because that's what we found.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:14:15]: Yes. Exactly. People who get that when they, because then that's how you can all thrive together. And there's not this idea of like one person being overloaded. Yes. Which was, I was that person. So that first one, not so great. But I love that my friend was like, we're going to dive back in and try it again. And I was like, really? She's like, yeah, I think there might be something here. And so what did we do? No, I produced. I went back. I went back down to Miami. I left from New York. I went back to Miami. We did a few more projects. And then, like, I just kept, we just kept going. And then we did, like, SWEETED, which is, like, a different thing. A SWEETED festival means, like, it's based off of the concept of, like, a film that you've already seen, but you only do the parts you remember. It's kind of funny.
Fanshen Cox [00:14:56]: I don't know that one. Okay.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:14:57]: Yeah, that's another one. So SWEETED Film Festival, that was good. We took some awards for that one. And, like, I remember we did, like, Wizard of Oz. And it was, I don't mean to laugh, but it's, like, really funny how your brain will just be like, oh, no, there's some girl in a bubble, and there's, like, monkeys. And, like, the way that you just, and then you have to recreate that. And we wrote it in the way that you remember, which makes it so much funnier.
Fanshen Cox [00:15:18]: That's fun too.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:15:19]: And they're like, I know what you're going for, but I can't believe you guys did that. We're like, something, monkey, something. And then we did like Nightmare on Elm, was actually one, Nightmare on Elm Street, our sweated version of that. And I actually starred in there. And that was interesting. It was the first time I saw myself. Like, I was like, OK, first of all, I don't think people ever thought I can play Nancy, right? And so I definitely knew I turned the crowd around because in the Carolinas, they were not expecting to see my face. This is like Virginia, like that area.
Fanshen Cox [00:15:46]: Yes. Yes. Uh-huh.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:15:47]: They weren't expecting it. And, but I remember really liking, I was like, I did a great job. But I also am realizing I kind of want to go back to that director's seat again and see, now that I've seen what I'm doing more as an actor. Great.
Fanshen Cox [00:15:59]:OK. I'm going to have to make that But this is the thing. Well, we need to cut to. So many awards later. And this is only because. This would be a 3-hour episode just to get through your bio.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:16:13]: You're right. Let's stop. OK. You're right. Let's figure it out.
From North Carolina to LA & “Marquitos”
Fanshen Cox [00:16:14]: No, in a good way. No, no, no. By the way, in, In the best of ways. And this is why we do this, because we're like, how does the world not know you? Right? Just even looking at your bio alone, how does the world not know you? So that's why we're doing this. You have multiple award nominations, but our most recent, we'll keep this kind of evergreen, but our most recent is Oscar qualifying with Marquitos. So tell us about that. How did it come together? And yeah, what did it mean? Yeah.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:16:45]: OK, so this is the key thing. So getting to LA, so this is from North Carolina. I went from North Carolina to LA. And how I got here is a part of the story. So that's why I'm mentioning it. I told myself I wouldn't move to LA until I got into an Oscar-qualifying film festival. Like, if I didn't feel like my projects actually kind of would get to that level, I'm like, I won't come. And I'll never forget, it was January 1st. Like, literally, like I said, I had made a, pack with the world. I was like, okay, universe, God, if I get into an Oscar qualifying film festival, I'll move to, I'll move to LA next year. No problem. I'm moving. And God's like, great. January 1st. Happy New Year. You got accepted into an Oscar qualifying film festival. So I was like, oh, that means I got to move to LA. Moved to LA. And it was after that, I remember one of my really great friends, Christina, shout out to you, Trinity.
Fanshen Cox [00:17:40]: Thank you, Christina.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:17:41]: Yeah, seriously. She was like, there's a program for Afro-Latinas. You're writing a script, right? You're submitting it. I was like, I'm Chrissy and I'm actually sick in bed at TIFF, which is like weird. So I don't know if I'm going to get in time. It's due at midnight. And she's like, get up. Like, you better get up.
Fanshen Cox [00:17:56]: Yes, we all need that friend. And let Sista Brunch be that friend for you. Like, get up.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:18:01]: Yes. That was her to me. She's like, get up. She's like, you're going to write this. I'm like, okay, okay. And she's like, just write what you know. It's easy. Write about your life. I was like, okay, okay. Let me think. I know I'm the Afro-Latina with the Chinese last name. I know this is, I'm going to do this. And I just remember, like, thinking about marketing, which is something I did just, you know, I did like marketing, experiential marketing to make money, like, for my projects, to be honest. The only thing that gave me flexibility. That's why I took it up. And I remember people laughing at me like, you went from the corporate jobs to this? And I was like, yeah, flexibility now. And it pays really good money.
Fanshen Cox [00:18:34]: And like, that's the two skills that we all need that we don't have is the financing and the marketing. Yes, we got everything in between. The problem is we can be smart and write good things, but if we don't have those two things, nobody will ever see our work. So I love it. Yes, you had all those skills.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:18:53]: Okay, so then afterwards, so I wrote, so my, thanks to the push from Trinity, I wrote the script. And I remember like about to submit it and I heard a voice and it was like, actually get some rest. You got the, you got a good head start of what you're gonna write and you're gonna be able to submit later. I'm like, no, but it's due at midnight. I checked the website. Just by luck, they were like, actually, we're going to extend it. I was like, oh, I can breathe. OK. But I have the bones now because it was on the right. Went back to LA. I was like, I'm not going to be late this time. I'm not going to wait until it's almost midnight to submit it. I'm not doing that again. Resculpted it, put it together, made a pitch video. Amazing. Oh, I'm going to laugh about this, guys. Practice your pitch videos. Be yourself. I really mean that. So in my case, I really say that. Be yourself. Because when I was myself through it, I made a playful joke about like being in, about being like in consideration. I said it like as if they were like my friend, like, you guys, I'm in consideration for this thing, wish me luck. And so they were like, she's funny. And I was writing a comedy anyway. And that was Marquitos. I pitched it to them. And I got the approval for funding. And it was the same time. And it was, oh, that's another thing, putting your mind on it. So I had actually received funding for, it was for All by Design, and it was through the Flip the Script filmmaking competition. And it came after I had told myself, I'm no, I'm going to start using other people's money to make my movies.
Join Us on Patreon
Fanshen Cox [00:20:15]: If you are enjoying this episode of Sista Brunch, you have got to join the whole community. And we are over here, all these conversations we have on Sista Brunch, you will be able to do this with us weekly, even daily on Patreon. So you can find us at patreon.com/sistabrunch. You can join us for free. I mean, if you've got funds, we appreciate that too. You can have a monthly membership. Membership or join us for free. You're gonna get, uh, behind the scenes. You're gonna get some sneak peeks at episodes. We've got merch. We've got conversations going on over there that you can't see us having publicly, really. This is our place to really talk about all the things that we talked about at those original Sista Brunches in person. We are doing over on our Patreon, so join us there.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:21:00]: Hi, I'm Asha Chai-Chang, and you're listening to the Sista Brunch Podcast.
Let’s Talk Finance
Fanshen Cox [00:21:05]: We will take this opportunity to segue into finances because we don't talk about it enough. And, you know, there are all kinds of reasons and stigmas, etc. But it's so important to understand. So either or both cost, like budget for marquidos or whatever you'd like to talk about. And then also salaries. You said you did experiential marketing, right? So what was that like? How did that sustain you? How much was that?
Asha Chai-Chang [00:21:32]: So first I, I worked on getting my expenses really low, and that was through relationships. Um, like not love, really, I mean like relationships, like talking to people and being like, hey, find me a place that's about this much. I don't want to pay more than, like I had a certain amount and.
Fanshen Cox [00:21:53]: Whatever you're comfortable with.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:21:54]: Yes, let me try to think what I'm comfortable sharing. Yeah, I'm gonna do, I'm gonna do like percentages, right? So say my So it would be like, I would, my goal was to make through and make at least 2 to 3 times it would for my cost of living per week. Okay. No, I said my cost of living for the month, I made sure I made 2 to 3 times that per week. Okay. So I literally, and that means in that case, I meant living somewhere I didn't think of. That's why people go North Carolina, Virginia. They kind of laugh. Oh, Virginia. I was like, yeah, because what I'm going to do from here is make that project, spoiler alert, that would take me to California to then be able to build up the right reputation and make that pitch to Netflix to say, here's the, can I get the money? Well, in this case, Latino Film Institute, shout out to them. So in case of them, so it was them who had it. And I actually really, they know the joke now. But I actually forgot it was Netflix that was funding it. And I was like, you guys, I'm a finalist for Netflix. And they're like, that's who you're talking to. But, but yeah, so that's like, that's how, you know, that's how I did it. So my brain was like, if I can make that much per week, um, and then I also, I'll be honest, I got, um, friends to help me with jobs too. And then maybe they would hire you or, uh-huh, both. We'd either work, we'd work tours together, you follow? You get, so we would, and we're like, okay, what we're gonna do is each of us get per diem. For example, like say they pay you per diem $150 a night or something. To be a manager, we're like, you're managing this side of town, this side of town, this. We're going to all stay here. So let's just be in this person's car. So we would keep the per diem money. Yes. We didn't have to, we would save on the gas and the travel back and forth out of Charlotte. I went to West Virginia. Wow. That's my next story. OK. I went to West Virginia. OK. Like when I'm saying places I drove to that I was like, I would never be here, but they needed someone with experience there. So I was, that was my marketing. I was like, actually, I need to be paid this much now that I, because as I built up skills, I was like, oh no, I actually have marketing experience and da da da da da.
Fanshen Cox [00:24:05]: Yes. Yes.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:24:05]: So I should be paid more money. And that's what we did. Okay. That was the goal. So I think that, I hope that answers that.
Fanshen Cox [00:24:10]: That does. That does. As comfortable as you are with it, we will take that. We will take that. So I would love to make sure we touch on your accessibility advocacy.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:24:21]: That's true.
Fanshen Cox [00:24:22]: Who, what, where, when, how? Like, why that in this industry? And it's so needed and so impactful, but not everybody does it. Like, not everybody puts the A in DEI, right? DEIA. So why?
Asha Chai-Chang [00:24:38]: Yeah. So for me, I'm a, so I'm a disabled filmmaker myself, and The short of the story is that All By Design was being, we filmed it during the pandemic. I have respiratory disabilities. So when I was asking people to keep their masks on on set, and you know, they want to, oh yeah, it's hot, I get it. No, no, no, this is actually life or death for me for real. And so I started the conversation while I was on set just being like, I know what my access needs are right now, and I know that I really need you all to wear the mask, but what are yours? Like, how can we work together? And the crew was like, nobody asked me that before. Like, no one's ever talked about that before. And so it was after that that I went from, like, masking my disability or trying a way to kind of hide from it to start talking about it more on productions. And also, that same friend that I was, we were, like, writing all those stories together. I told you, like, from Miami to here, like, years. I remember she also, she has sickle cell anemia. And there's a lot of times I was her producer for, like, a lot of the production we worked on. And so we were like, people don't, we're all Black women. And so I was like, girl, like, no one's looking out for us. Like, so we need to figure out a way to be able to make our work really push to get into Hollywood somehow. Yes. And support each other. But then with her disability as well, she can't really always hide it either. So we filmed some of it. We made it actually into a documentary that went to PBS. Like, things went like, yeah. So we did a lot of great things just by supporting each other. And then we, she wanted to start, I'll give credit where it's due. She wanted to start, she's like, we should have some programs for disabled filmmakers to be able to just like, can we also get qualified for BAFTA and the British Academy or for the Academy? Like, how can we get there? And I remember just, I was like, I'll support you however you need me to, what do you need me to do? And so we start, you know, working on putting together a program. We originally pitched it to one festival, didn't take it. So I'm not going to put, say anything about that. But Slam Dance, right? Keeping it cordial. Slam Dance Film Festival said there's a, Slam Dance Film Festival is here. We'll to support you. And we're like, Slam Dance? We never thought about them. But I get it. They're kind of, they're like rebellious in their own right. Like.
Fanshen Cox [00:26:53]: And they were like you're not going to take our movies? We're going to make our own.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:26:55]: Right. That's the history.
Fanshen Cox [00:26:55]: So then they were open to this. Exactly.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:26:58]: They're like, where is that? This, we don't mind being the people to support you. Are you kidding? I was like, thank you. So then that's where Unstoppable, which is a program for disabled actors, like disabled actors and filmmakers have a place to be honored with their work. So beautiful. And then after that, there was no turning back. It was like, oh, Hollywood knows that you are disabled. Yeah. And that you started this program.
Fanshen Cox [00:27:20]: And that you know what you're doing. And that, and then it's because not.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:27:23]: Everybody, You're saying it nice. At first I was worried.
Fanshen Cox [00:27:25]: I mean, in the best of ways, right? Like, not everybody who's disabled is doing the advocacy work, and they don't need to, right? Because we also need folks who are disabled who are just out there being creatives, but also to do both is really admirable and impactful and important. So I wanted to make sure we touch on that. But we also have to ask you the Let's Talk Tech question.
Let’s Talk Tech
Asha Chai-Chang [00:27:49]: I know, I know. We're talking a lot about my journey.
Fanshen Cox [00:27:52]: I know. Well, we'll, we'll, like I said, part 2 without questions. So yeah, we want to know, and this can be, my goodness, in your directing work and your producing work and your advocacy work, a, a technical term or an actual piece of technology that you use that if someone who doesn't do what you do, if they heard it, they would have no idea what it is?
Asha Chai-Chang [00:28:19]: We said no idea though.
Fanshen Cox [00:28:21]: Oh, well, I mean, that's an exaggeration.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:28:24]: I like it. I like it.
Fanshen Cox [00:28:26]: It's a challenge. It's a challenge.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:28:29]: I guess that is a good one. I was at first gonna say another one, but yeah, Premiere Pro. Yeah, tell us about Premiere Pro, right? Uh, Premiere Pro has become my friend ever since I realized that as a filmmaker, it's important to know how to edit your work. As a filmmaker, you should know how to edit your own work too. Editors, I love y'all, but I love.
Fanshen Cox [00:28:48]: Y'all because you don't want someone else to do it for you, right? Like, you want to know how to do it. Yes.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:28:54]: Yes.
Fanshen Cox [00:28:55]: Yes. And we like that because, you know, listen, Adobe, if you're listening, you know.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:28:59]: I mean, I'm just saying, like, you.
Fanshen Cox [00:29:01]: Need to sponsor somebody, you know.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:29:04]: Adobe Premiere Pro.
Fanshen Cox [00:29:06]: Yes. Great editing software. And did you teach yourself?
Asha Chai-Chang [00:29:11]: I did, actually. So I had to learn myself. And then I did. And then also follow, like, watching. I'm like, I'll shout out to like, like Lauren. I remember like being an amazing editor. I was like, can I just like watch you a little bit? 'Cause I always saw it in the tutorials. I like see the different shortcuts and stuff. Eventually I got better, but yeah, a lot of it was self-taught, observing. Thank you, editors. Let me shadow and look at what you're doing. And yeah, it was, it was probably the most user-friendly. Like I did have to learn Final Cut in school and other, but Adobe did a great job doing Premiere Pro and making it easy. And then also having on the go, so you have like, you have Premiere Rush now.
Fanshen Cox [00:29:45]: There's so many things.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:29:46]: Premiere Rush just sounds like It sounds exciting.
Fanshen Cox [00:29:50]: Wait, so what is Premiere Rush? Like, what's the difference between Pro and Rush? What all can you do?
Asha Chai-Chang [00:29:56]: So for Rush, that, it's like, it's like almost like shorthand editing in your phone. So I did that for a lot of my reels, like my Instagram reels. I was able to like, you know, taking out, uh, the, the background for audio or like quickly cleaning things up. It just makes things easier. Captioning for accessibility. So thank you.
Fanshen Cox [00:30:11]: Yes, thank you. Oh, while you're on that, can you tell us what are some best practices for captioning? And while we're editing, are there specific things that we should look out for?
Asha Chai-Chang [00:30:23]: Yeah, I mean, obviously with your lower thirds, I would say, okay, there's a couple of things I'm thinking. Why did you say that? Okay. If you do actually have on-screen talent that is signing, please use their whole, like, try to use as much as of like from the, We call that from like the hip up. And the reason why is that, and when signing, and also the sounds are important, so please don't edit out their sounds. Now, um, for captioning though, definitely darker background, white towards the front, like just keeping that going so that there's, there's a sharp, when there's a sharpening of contrast, it's way easier to read. Yep. Um, and pacing matters. Pacing does matter as well with captions.
Fanshen Cox [00:31:06]: Okay, it does matter.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:31:06]: Those are some good practices.
Fanshen Cox [00:31:08]: How about punctuation? Uh, is this, you know, I mean, grammar, like the, you know, I mean, periods and capital letters.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:31:15]: Yes, please.
Fanshen Cox [00:31:16]: I'm curious about, you know, the proper,.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:31:18]: Yeah, prop, yeah, we call it proper. We could probably, proper case, is it called proper casing?
Fanshen Cox [00:31:22]: When you have like that? Yeah, yeah, that does actually matter. Okay.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:31:26]: Um, saying who is speaking does help as well. Okay. Um, and also realizing that sounds, like, again, yeah, sounds matter. So even if you're thinking it doesn't matter to They go, I hear that. You do. But yes, keep them in.
Fanshen Cox [00:31:40]: A horn if you hear a horn. Oh, to describe the sound as well.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:31:42]: Describe the actual sound.
Fanshen Cox [00:31:44]: Yeah. Laughter, all of those things. And I take it with Premiere Pro you can do that.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:31:48] You can.
Fanshen Cox [00:31:49]: I love this.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:31:49]: Yes, you can actually. No, to be actually honest, it's actually really easy. And inside of the actual editing software, they have it where you can set the, like, a universal standard for captioning. So.
Fanshen Cox [00:32:00]: Yes.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:32:00]: And then you can go line by line. Thank you. And it's free, by the way. They don't even make you pay for it as an addition.
Signature Sista Brunch Question
Fanshen Cox [00:32:05]: That's so, that's brilliant and important. Okay, yes. Now our signature Sista Brunch question.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:32:11]: So, oh wow, we're here.
Fanshen Cox [00:32:13]: Yeah, I know. But that's why I said you're just gonna come back. You have to, because it's so much more.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:32:18]: I know, we didn't talk about the financing and the monies.
Fanshen Cox [00:32:20]: I, well, you talked about a little.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:32:21]: Bit, but no, I like them. We're talking like trademarking, copyright.
Fanshen Cox [00:32:25]: So by the way, what we will ask you to do is come on our Patreon. We're gonna offer Ms. Asha Chai-Chang on our Patreon to do kind of a webinar.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:32:36]: Yes, I would love to.
Fanshen Cox [00:32:36]: And bring members. Okay, good. All right. We're going to hold you to that.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:32:39]: Can I do that for film making? No, seriously, I want to do, I want to do it.. Oh my gosh. Like finance, financing for filmmakers.
Fanshen Cox [00:32:45]: Can you? Done! So then we'll leave this one with this, which is you and your younger self are sitting down to a sister brunch. What are you both eating? And she can be 20, over 21, or she could be 8 years old, whatever age you want to imagine her to be. What are you both eating? What are you both drinking? And then what do you tell her?
Asha Chai-Chang [00:33:09]: Oh, that's so cute. So younger me, oh my gosh, younger me was like obsessed with arroz con pollo and like she wanted some, always wanted to have some curry in there, dumplings. That was her. Older me definitely would be having like more greens on the side, like green salad, like having a little bit with my oxtail. Like that's, I'll be more into that for me now. The younger me would tear those carbs up. Okay. And she loves,
Fanshen Cox [00:33:36]: You could do that, right? You could and still be fine.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:33:38]: Exactly. And then maybe like a nice pineapple soda or ginger beer. I love ginger beer. So those, I think we'd both be having either one of those two.
Fanshen Cox [00:33:48]: Have you found a good Jamaican spot here in L.A.?
Asha Chai-Chang [00:33:52]: Should I shout them out? There is one.
Fanshen Cox [00:33:53]: Yes, you should.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:33:54]: Oh my gosh.
Fanshen Cox [00:33:55]: Why don't we, Sponsor possibility. Please.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:33:58]: Yeah. So I would say We Jammin'. They've seen me so many times. We Jammin' restaurant has seen me seen me quite a few times. Thank you for making amazing food. It feels like home. So thank you.
Closing & Partnerships
Fanshen Cox [00:34:08]: Yeah. Thank you so much. This has been incredible. And as you said, way too short. I know it flies and it's not fair.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:34:17]: It really was. Can I plug one thing though?
Fanshen Cox [00:34:18]: You can plug all you want. Go. Yes.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:34:20]: So in the, so yes, we are going to do, I guess you would say a partnership. Yeah. A partnership between me and Sista Brunch Podcast. We are going to do like a financing for filmmakers course or something. And I'm going to bring a lot of the tools that I have from Funding Your Foundation that is now trademarked. So Funding Your Foundation is about that. It's the idea of starting out with everything from personal credit, then how to build into business credit, because that's how, that was a big part of my journey, how I was able to get here.
Fanshen Cox [00:34:48]: I love it.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:34:49]: Oh, and I was going to say one thing. Invest in yourself. Invest in yourself. That was the biggest thing that if I was to ever say What I would love to tell my younger self from then was not only just focus on, I know you care about everyone else. I know you always worry about everyone else's happiness. Invest in yourself. And if that means spending quality time with yourself, listen to your instinct. You are smart. You are brilliant. And the world really does want to see what you have to make. So keep making great things and invest in yourself. It's worth it. You're worth it. That's what I would say.
Fanshen Cox [00:35:22]: Thank you so much for really for being here. We're honored to have you. This is great. We're excited to follow your journey. And support you and uplift you. So really, thank you so much for being on the podcast.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:35:34]: Thanks for having me. Bring me back. We will.
Fanshen Cox [00:35:38]: We will.
Asha Chai-Chang [00:35:38]: This is good.
Fanshen Cox [00:35:41]: Sista Brunch is brought to you by TruJuLo Productions. Our show creators are Anya Adams, Christabel Nsiobuadi, and me, Fanshen Cox. Our season 7 producers are Tasha Rogers and Samantha K. Henderson. Our associate producers are Charlie T. Savage and Ashanti Groves. Sista Brunch is recorded on the unceded territory of the Tongva and the Chumash people in Hollywood, this time at Upodcaster Studios. Thank you so much for listening and watching and sharing and subscribing and reviewing us on Apple and Spotify. We're so grateful for all you do for our community, and we're grateful for you for being part of our community. Thank you so much, and we'll talk to you next time.