We were lucky to catch up with Hari Iyer recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hari, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

Currently, I am trying to finish my first feature film called LOTUS. It is my final thesis project for the New York Film Academy. Originally, it was supposed to be a short film, perhaps only 25 minutes long. But after shooting and editing, we found ourselves with a 70 minute feature film. Don’t know how that happened but I am extremely proud of it for many reasons.

First, I’m proud of it because of the contributions from everyone on the crew and cast. It was probably the first project I worked on where I felt the whole crew came together and tried to make something beautiful as a collective. Through rough 18 hour days in the blistering wind and cold for minimal to no money, the crew worked together as a family in the hopes of completing a film that at the end of the day, will probably only benefit me. It means such a great deal to me and I have such admiration and reverence for the talented people who worked along side me. I guess this is huge shoutout to all those people. I couldn’t have done it without them.

Secondly, this project is very meaningful because I wasn’t expecting to make a feature film this soon. I thought I would have to wait till I’m 40 before anyone trusted me with making a movie. But alas, I have one done. It reminds me that nothing is ever given to you. You have to make it anyways. It motivates me to always create and to always stretch myself in whatever I’m doing. Too often, people in this business are waiting for an opportunity, me included, but this movie reminds me to be proactive. It has also given me confidence in my career moving forward and how I should treat it. Keep creating and keep moving forward.

Lastly, I am extremely proud of the subject matter of the movie. It deals with God and Hinduism; a subject my family is incredibly interested in. I am so proud that I made a movie that my grandparents can watch and appreciate. That usually doesn’t happen. Combined with the fact that I wrote, directed, produced, edited and even did the costume design (probably my favorite accomplishment), it gives me confidence in what I can accomplish and confidence in my writing. A small victory I have with this movie is that we made for a relative cheap price compared to other independent features. It feels like validation that I can perhaps make something big out of something very small.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am a writer, director, and editor currently based in Los Angeles. Or at least trying to be. I guess I always wanted to do this since a little kid. Even if I didn’t know at the time.
I was a pretty vivid daydreamer, probably still am. Most of my time was spent on imagining my own versions of the movies and TV shows that I was watching. What my own Star Wars movie or Yugioh series would look like. Who were the main characters and what was the style? What was the storyline? I would either act them out by myself or with my little brother, who was forced to do this by the way…

I was very weird. Probably still am.

But I was ignorant to the movie business till probably high school. For the longest time, I thought the producer made the film. They “produce” the film. Duh! But then I started getting into directors; the usual of course. Nolan, Scorsese, Spielberg, Anderson, Tarantino. There I saw people who had authorial intent in their work. Not only did one get entertainment from their movies, one could almost understand them as humans through their work. As a neurotic kid who was emotionally unavailable to even himself, this sounded pretty neat.

I started making small movies in high school but soon graduated to proper filmmaking at the University of Pittsburgh. There, I made music videos for local artists and small commercials for the various student organizations and companies in the area. But I always would keep writing and conceptualizing my own work; whether it be TV shows or movies. Hoping to move to Los Angeles to follow the dream.

At age 24, I moved to LA where I did a Masters in Filmmaking from the New York Film Academy. Since, I have been working as an editor and assistant editor. I have also somewhat completed my dream of making a film as my first one is currently in post production and will release in 2025.

My mission is to continue my journey of self exploration through the medium of filmmaking. To discover myself and to explain myself. I hope people will come along for the journey.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

That you can do it alone. I used to think that one can create the next Citizen Kane in their room by themselves. It was almost entirely a factor of effort and perseverance. How bad do you really want it?

Now…. I still agree that those are important factors, but I believe the best skill in this industry is building a community. To network and meet the most people. To help and facilitate other people on your journey as well. This is the best way to create Citizen Kane. Even Orson Welles had immense help in making that movie in the form of Gregg Toland and Herman J. Mankiewicz. I learned that during the completion of my first film. I was surrounded by more talented people than me and that helped tremendously with the final product.

I guess it isn’t unlearning the previous way of thinking but learning that one can’t do it alone in this business. You need others to help you up. My biggest advice for anyone reading is to be nice and caring. Without any form of self reciprocation. I believe this is the best shot of making it in this business and in life.

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?

That even though my job is creative, I feel like I’m working 24/7. The grind never stops. I fantasize about having a simple 9-5 job. A position that allows me to segment work and private time in an easy way. But I don’t.

One usually bleeds into the other. I’m trying to do a better job of separating the two but it always comes with a struggle. At all times I am thinking of what I can do for my career. I’m always thinking – “I should be editing” or “I should be writing”. Even when I shouldn’t be. I guess it comes from the fear of the unknown. Being a creative always comes with this incredible stress. Is what I’m doing good? Will I be laughed at? Is it good enough?
Is anyone even asking for this?

I think I’m realizing that this uncertainty always persists. Even if you’re someone like Chris Nolan.
So I guess I have to do a better job of living in this uncertainty.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.hariiyerfilms.com
• Instagram: @hvhari
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hari-sankar-iyer-a286ba120