Weiko Lin immigrated to the United States at age 8, where he didn’t know English and felt shy as a student. But, one teacher invited him to perform as the Mayor of Munchkin City in a performance of The Wizard of Oz, which was the first stepping stone that inspired him to become a storyteller.
“I started telling stories through characters, expressing myself through acting. I fell in love with theater. I started as a playwright, directed plays, then evolved into screenwriting. In a way, I was always adapting, always trying to fit in,” said Lin. “I didn’t write about myself, but after my mom passed away, I started writing from my own emotional feelings.”
In many ways, Lin’s writing comes from a place of pain, but also a place of fear. He was already a professional screenwriter, but after the loss of his mother, his work became more authentic. “The work was suddenly a part of me. I think having the avenue to express the grief — not dark and sad — but grief that becomes hopeful.”
Lin was essentially studying American films to learn English, but the deeper he got into the craft, the more he found himself. “As an immigrant, you’re just observing and listening. You may not understand the words, but you see what people are trying to express to one another — the actions. You study body language, learn action, then as you learn the language, you learn action then dialogue.”
Weiko Lin
The next level, of course, was finding his voice. During his mother’s final days, he left a notebook with her to write down her thoughts as he traveled back and forth back to the US for work. “She didn’t write much, but in the few pages she did write, it gave this emotional inspiration for me. After she passed, I was reading these life lessons. It’s about her fears. It’s the same as character.”
He continued, “She had a fear that I wasn’t going to be taken care of, which is a mother’s job. I wasn’t married. I was writing. She felt unsettled. I sensed this fear in her words and I realized the writing I was doing wasn’t as authentic as it could have been. I wasn’t writing through my emotions, I was writing through craft. Afterwards, I started writing everything through this lens of fear.”
The Lens of Fear
“With every project, despite the genre, the first question I ask myself is: what is the fear of this character? That’s the emotional feel for the movie. That has informed how I write, after the loss, dealing with grief. My mom passed away 15 years ago, but every character I write, there’s a character dealing with loss.”
Personally, this loss is something that Lin carries with him. “It feels like yesterday,” he said of his mother’s passing. “That’s my emotional engine. That’s what I used to fuel my writing.” This is true for the protagonist, but also for the secondary characters in the story.
“They say great movies are about great characters, but great movies are actually about great character relationships,” said Lin. “It’s about the dynamic. You don’t remember the character for themselves, but the characters’ dynamics with each other.”
Within the fear of any individual character, there’s an impact to all of the other characters. “It’s mainly about the fear of the main character, either how the character overcomes it through the journey, but also their relationship with another character.”
For screenplays that lack fear or deeper character dynamics, Lin said most people are too obsessed with plot. “When people say ‘write what you know,’ they mean, ‘write what emotions you know.’ A lot of times, people focus on the craft, set pieces, and you need that frame, but what’s lacking is the emotional element of it.”
“People neglect their authentic emotions. Not everyone has to do the fear stuff, that’s what I do, but you have to tell the emotional point-of-view. Most people start with craft, but movies and storytelling is an emotional thing. That’s how you connect with your audience.”
For the screenwriter, the fear of any individual character is always there, but that doesn’t mean it always rises to the surface. “Initially, we may not realize the character’s fear, but I try to infuse that in the arc, when they change at the end. All screenwriting books have craft, but the fear lens is what works for me.”
To marry the two elements together, it’s best to show how a character overcomes the fear in the final act of any movie. “How do they overcome that fear? They may not even recognize it, but the audience will recognize it.”
Global Audiences
Beyond the initial lens of the work, Lin has also written in depth about story ideas, characters, one page outlines, and even the business side of screenwriting in his new book, Crazy Screenwriting Secrets: How to Capture a Global Audience.
Lin uses cooking metaphors to describe the different processes of the book. “Act 1 is the appetizer. Act 2 is the main meal. Act 3 is the dessert. So I see storytelling through a culinary lens. But there are so many screenwriting books, so it’s about how readers connect to those lessons.”
In the second half of the book, the author writes about streamers and global audiences. “I used Chinese audiences, because I’m Chinese and China is the biggest box office in the world so I know that industry well, but the idea is more about any international audience.”
Main cast of Squid Game. Photo courtesy of Netflix
“Hollywood has always been a global thing, making movies for the world, but the book is about being aware that you’re telling stories for the world. Don’t just write characters that are Americana. Tell universal stories. It doesn’t have to be English.”
As examples, he mentioned Squid Game and Parasite. “There are so many different languages. Just because it’s a foreign language, that doesn’t mean it can’t connect with an audience. If Netflix is buying something, they’re buying it for 200+ countries. That’s how they’re making their decisions. Being aware of the global conscience is critical. Being bi-cultural opens more doors.”
Some misconceptions about connecting with a Chinese audience include “decorating a scene with lanterns” or “putting a Chinese character in there” joked Lin. “Or, move it from Chicago and set it in Beijing. It doesn’t work that way. And, if you just do the American fish-out-of-water in China, this worked before, but doesn’t work anymore.”
Niche Audiences
In the past, the idea of connecting with a large audience meant writing shallow material. But, with steamers like Netflix, it would seem the more niche, the more universal. “When I first started, I thought you had to be general. But now, the more specific, the more you stand out.”
“You can be a popcorn movie, but with a very specific point-of-view. I don’t want to beat the drum to death, but with inclusive characters, think about perspectives we haven’t seen as much on the big screen. And, inclusive means everything. Gender. Sexuality. Ethnicity. All those things, but then make a universal character. Then, you can stand out.”
Main cast of Parasite
Combining hyper specifics with universal emotions is what makes writers stand out today. Coming back to Parasite, the 2019 Oscar winner from Bong Joon Ho, is about class warfare and fear. “The insecurity of the father and son are so touching. Will I be stuck in this poor, working class place forever? The father’s fear is that he cannot provide. The son fears his father will always live in poverty.”
“For subjects and themes, you can fear anything and everything. Fear is there, but then I’m all about grief, duality, and how to become hopeful. As an immigrant, I think about the duality. You’re trying to be in a space where you are Taiwanese, but then I’m an American. I’m not just telling stories about that, but about duality in general. Fight Club is about duality. On the surface, you’re one thing and then you’re fearful of your true self coming out. I love those characters.”
In some ways, Lin sees genres differently than other writers. “An example I love to give is Get Out and Crazy Rich Asians. They’re two movies. Both scored $250 million worldwide, with no-name casts. But, they’re both pretty much the same movie or at least the same fear: will my significant other’s parents accept me? That’s the whole premise. That drives the whole movie, the whole emotional engine.”
As for last bits of advice, Lin would advise novice writers to “live with great artists.” For him, this means walking around museums and watching great films. He breaks apart similar storylines not to take ideas, but to see what’s missing from his own work. “One is an outline phase. One is more visceral inspiration. Then you have to be authentic. Write the stories you are meant to write. Writing is a way of life. Don’t anticipate what will sell. Approach it as a craftsman. As a storyteller, you have to write as a way to tell stories.”
This interview has been condensed. Listen to the full audio version here.
