We were lucky to catch up with Calvin Chin recently and have shared our conversation below.

Calvin, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?

Oh boy, I wish I could provide a straight solution to creative happiness haha. Overall yes, I am grateful and excited to be working in a solid creative space…but also at a bit of a crossroads right now. Every so often, uncertainty and anxiety creeps into my soul with regard to the next steps in my journey. The film industry’s landscape is changing and with the recent writers and actors’ strikes (#solidarity), I have no idea what the future holds anymore. I guess you could call it a mid-career crisis?

For better context, I have been into filmmaking for a while now, even before graduating. I got my foot in the door as a movie trailer editor for major studio blockbusters, and it’s a great job at a great agency. However, my goal has always been to edit the movies themselves. I want to edit feature films in the long run – maybe direct a few if I’m lucky.Even as I continue to network and build my portfolio of trailers and short films, it has been very difficult transitioning into feature length content. Many of my peers still see me as just ‘the movie trailer guy’. In my heart, I am also still a filmmaker.

I am proud of my current projects and milestones achieved at Tiny Hero – I have my coworkers to thank for that. Maybe once I have successfully rebranded myself to do what I really want I will feel more fulfillment. I am relatively happy right now, yes….but I’m not satisfied. Not yet anyway.

As for the second question, switching industries is admittedly a shower thought that comes and goes…but that’s about it. It usually ends with me realizing I am better off on my current path. Funny story though, I told my parents when I was eight or nine that I would become a biology professor. They were so excited…and then disappointed lol. But they’re cool with my choice now I think!

Calvin, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Sure thing! I’m an editor and director who got started making silly videos on YouTube in 2007. My first ‘film’ was a poorly animated battle between Naruto, Michael Jackson, Tom Hanks, and Confucius….12-year old me thought he was doing something no one has ever seen before. Which is still accurate, I guess.

Eventually, I took filmmaking more seriously and graduated from the USC School of Cinematic Arts in 2018! As mentioned earlier, I currently edit movie trailers for major studio clients, which involves a lot of creative labor from watching and breaking down unreleased films, to creating music and sound design edits, to dialogue and visual shot selections, followed by adjustments based on feedback and marketing direction. I also have edited and/or directed a number of independent short films on the side, with the hope of breaking into feature films in the near future!

My favorite movies are underdog tales and genres that tackle existentialism (i.e. Everything Everywhere All At Once). Exploring who people are from both personal and cultural perspectives is what interests me most as a storyteller, which is why many of my passion projects are within the BIPOC and LGBTQ communities. I also love action movies like John Wick LOL

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

I don’t have any specific advice other than to be kind. Please be kind to artists. Please listen to them.

Right now, many of my WGA and SAG-AFTRA friends are on the picket lines fighting for livable wages, health, and the right to follow their dreams without being replaced. The exploitation of AI technology and labor conditions are important topics that impact everyone and go far beyond Hollywood….and yet, a lot of people don’t really seem to know what’s going on. This has resulted in ignorance and misunderstandings among a few of my peers and friends outside of LA, some of which I refuse to talk to anymore.

As I’ve said, I started my creative journey pretty early on and have had my share of both supportive and toxic peers growing up. I don’t expect those people outside of art to understand us anymore…but they should at least listen. This ties back to where I stand in regard to happiness….artists deserve more respect. Hopefully, the creative community will gain some of that respect back when the dispute between unions and the AMPTP resolves. There is a world where both sides of this Hollywood situation wins…it is our job as a society to see to that. Otherwise, who knows which industry will tackle AI and labor conflict next?

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

This is actually kind of a heavy one that I haven’t told a lot of people…back in school, I used to be an online forum moderator for a niche community of videogame animators and artists. I was writing and directing a major passion project at the time – an independent action-fantasy animated series. It was overly-ambitious but my confidence in finishing it grew as a result of being in a leadership staff position among 9,000 + members. Overall, I was just happy to be part of a creative community, regardless of how niche and small it was.

Then, after five or six years, it was destroyed. The original founder of the website was caught doing something he shouldn’t have legally….so he wiped the entire forum to cover his tracks. The public excuse was something along the lines of cleaning up toxic Internet threads, but whatever the case, the nuke drop destroyed my work. Years worth of community building, activities, and resources. Gone. Permanently. I was devastated and cried for weeks. It felt like a major blow to my career way before my career even officially started.

Somehow, I moved on and realized this path was always going to have major ups and downs. What matters is how one prepares and responds to the heartbreak…and boy is there a ton of it in this business. The hope is that as long as I continue to work on myself and blend with the right crowd, I will find that confidence again and eventually hit my goals.

Also, work-life balance! Cooking, hiking, gym, videogames….just doing other things outside of film has been great for my sanity :)

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.calvinchin.org/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/calvincshinobi/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/calvinchinfilms/

Image Credits
Tiny Hero, Clio Entertainment Awards, Film Independent