Q&A: Amanda Tan
☆ By Molly Sharples ☆
SHOWCASING AN ARTIST WHICH EPITOMIZES THE POWER OF INDIVIDUALITY AND COURAGE, Amanda Tan delves into her journey of self-discovery, growth and creativity. As a freelance filmmaker currently based in Chicago, Tan reflects on how she has evolved both personally and creatively as an artist, and, in turn, discovered empowerment and solidarity within the diversity that the film and photography industry now has to offer. Notwithstanding the difficulties that Tan has faced, her exploration of inclusivity and identity acknowledges the power of creatives such as Tan, to inspire, empower and ignite change. Read below to learn more about her advice for women within the industry, and her upcoming projects in film photography.
LUNA: A lot is going on the world - how are you taking care of yourself lately?
TAN: Watching a loooot of TV shows and movies. I binged so many things just to take my mind off the world because a fictional made up world was a good distraction from this current one. Trying to experiment with recipes off my head so I've been cooking a lot more. Reaching out to friends and reconnecting with some old ones too. Me and my friends played drinking games on group Zoom calls that were real cute. Those Zoom therapy sessions with my therapist definitely helped keep me sane too.
LUNA: As a woman of color, how have your perceptions of working in the TV/film industry changed since you first started?
TAN: Well, when I first started, I was relatively new to the scene so it's like I had a blank slate. My perception of working in this industry as a WOC didn't exactly change. It's more like they just materialized once I started working. I knew what I was getting into and that the majority of the people I work with were going to be white. You see that in reality when you go to a film school here, which I did, where that proves to be true. It'd be pretty hard to ignore the fact that when I walk onto a set, I'm most likely one of the few people of color in that crew, most times the only Asian woman at all. That was just the norm or the reality. One time, I coincidentally met 2 other people from Malaysia which is where I'm from on set and the excitement that ensued skyrocketed for me. There have been very few occasions in which I did see more POC in the crew than any other group and suffice to say, I was definitely excited and impressed. Last year I worked temporarily with a company doing art department work where everyone was white.
After that I went to work on a show in the costume department where it was the most diverse crew that I've ever been a part of. There were so many black women and men in the department, in the higher positions as well. It was important to me to recognize that the designer was a queer black woman. There were also more Asian people in the crew than any other productions I've ever been a part of. I've never felt more welcome in a space like this before. That's when I truly realized how deprived I've been of being in a diverse space and crew in the industry. Like I said, I was relatively new when I first started so I didn't get a head start on working on set back in Malaysia where people looked like me. I got my start in a country and industry where seeing people of color on set actually excited me. The bar is in hell at this point. I don't want to go back to what I "got used to" before. I feel way more comfortable being in a crew that's diverse and inclusive rather than being surrounded by majority white cis-gendered men. I want to continuously seek out projects to work on where diversity and inclusivity is the given norm and that the stories being told are the ones that need to be amplified.
LUNA: What’s been your favorite project that you’ve been part of so far?
TAN: This one’s a lil hard because I’ve been fortunate enough to be a part of some really amazing projects. I guess if I had to pick one, it’d have to be a music video I designed for an upcoming artist named Grace Kinter in Chicago for her debut. I got to cover a whole wall from floor to ceiling with “Thank You Please Come Again” plastic bags and cut hundreds of strips of orange bubble wrap to stick on the ceiling to dangle. That was fun. We shot the whole music video on a small budget with a small crew in the director’s apartment and she ended up leaving the plastic bag wall up for a while. Me and the director were close friends and we worked really closely to DIY most of the wardrobe as well as using some of our own clothes.
LUNA: You mention that the current immigration limitations are still a prevalent issue. How do you think this affects artists like yourself, pursuing a career in the TV/film industry?
TAN: Because of the restrictions of my current visa, I’ve always had this constant fear of doing something that could get me deported, like I couldn’t just randomly pick up a freelance paid gig when I was still in school because I wasn’t allowed to work legally except on an on-campus job. I always feared the government would be on my ass. I’ve graduated and now have a legal work permit but there are still lots of limitations that come with that. It’s definitely prevented me from going after certain projects in my time here, hindering myself as an artist. All the energy I spend on worrying about my immigration status and how to stay here longer takes away more energy that could’ve been spent on something creative or productive, it just sucks the life out of you sometimes. I’m in the process of applying for another visa now and the standards I need to meet in order for that to happen, for how worthy you are as an artist in the eyes of the government, makes you feel like what you’re doing is never good enough. I think long term, that really weighs down on anybody’s confidence as an artist, especially if you’re pursuing a career in TV/film. That industry even for an average American is tough enough to achieve success in, let alone break into.
LUNA: If you could offer any advice to female artists looking to immigrate to pursue a career in industries such as film and photography, what would it be?
TAN: Do your research on everything early (like visa options, lawyers, testimonies from people who’ve done it). Network as much as you can, production is such a collaborative career and the film industry is heavily moved by “who you know”. Having a supportive network in your pocket will prove to be really beneficial. As cheesy or corny as it’s going to sound, never be too afraid to try and just go for it. I’ve let my fear get in the way of myself before out of fear of failure. That’s just self-sabotage. I’m slowly learning that I’ve got to just give it my all or give nothing at all. Finally, and I cannot stress this enough; save save save as much money as you can because these lawyer fees ain’t pocket change lol.
LUNA: You talk about how you want to engage more with film photography in the future. Why would you like to expand in this creative industry in particular?
TAN: I've always been drawn to the idea of capturing people on camera. I was always the one with a camera taking pictures and videos of everything at school, with my friends with my little digital camera ever since I was 10 or 11. There was a point in time when I fell out of love with photography but I soon found my way back into it and started getting into film photography on my own time. I definitely still consider myself a novice but for me, there's a joy in photographing people as part of a memory. Images and photographs have the ability to tell so much and so little depending on how an individual perceives it. To me, there's a lot of power in that. I love hearing people's stories as much as I love telling them, so I see this as a route I'd like to continuously explore. At the risk of sounding pretentious, going to film school really helped me develop a different kind of appreciation for film photography in particular. There's a certain quality that analog film provides that makes it so much more real to me. Looking back at my mom’s old photo albums filled with developed film photos, I always liked having the physical photo in my hand. It felt like that one photo in my hand managed to capture a moment in time and that’s how my brain operates whenever I think about what to shoot.
LUNA: How do you feel your different artistic interests come together with your work?
TAN: They definitely come together through the places I draw inspiration from. I’m very inspired by architecture and interior design so that comes into play with my interest in the art department for film and tv where I get to design and decorate a set. I’ve always been in love with fashion and that comes to play with my interest in the costume department. I learn so much from film photography as a visual narrative, so I’m constantly inspired by that as well. As a filmmaker, you can learn so much about composition from photography.
LUNA: What have you been inspired by lately?
TAN: Very inspired lately by the way the community around me and around the world have come together to speak up and show up for the Black Lives Matter movement. With all the uprisings that are happening, we're in a time where communities have sped up the progression on how to do consistently better than before to defeat the system and dismantle everything we've ever learned from our textbooks. The art and music that artists have churned out during this time in response to the world is also crazy inspiring to me. People are so united and my faith in the people have never been stronger. The amount of resources constantly being shared everyday to help educate everyone is amazing. It's inspiring so much positive change in people. I hope the momentum never stops.
LUNA: Are there any new upcoming projects you would like to talk about?
TAN: There’s a photography project I want to do in collaboration with a friend of mine since last summer that I never got around to. It’s pretty ambitious for me because I want to put on several hats for this one. I would like to photograph her on film as well as style her myself and design the mini set for it all in my apartment. It’s going to be sort of DIY-ish because I’ve just envisioned this in my head for a long time so it’s becoming a passion project of sorts. I’m hoping I’ll get around to it this summer. The other thing isn’t really an upcoming project but more of something I would like to come to fruition someday. I’m not a screenwriter but I’ve been sitting on this script for a short film I wrote through my screenwriting class. Since my focus was in production design when I wrote it, I wrote the script around one specific scene in an interior set I’d like to design someday. It’s based on these twins that both become artists when they grow up but only one of them is successful and the other one is driven to insanity. It’s based on a story Salvador Dali has told about a brother he had who died before he was born.
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