The 3rd episode of our short web series “Company Car” is up for your enjoyment. This one takes a little bit of a different tone compared the Ep 2, but we like to have a little “aww” once in awhile. Check it out and pass it on. We’re really glad people are enjoying this show so please share it with others!

If you missed the first 2 episodes, don’t miss out! Watch HERE

The time has come. After months of working behind the scenes on this special project, “Away We Happened” is launching May 21st. We’ve partnered with AT&T to create a really unique video campaign that’s going to bring us, Wong Fu Productions, and our fans together! Watch the trailer first, then read below.

That’s right, we’ve only written the first episode, and nothing after. Each week, we’re going to ask a question or two at the end of the latest episode and see what answer the fans give on AwayWeHappened.com. From these suggestions we’ll put together the next episode, write, shoot, and edit it within a few days, and do it all over again. It’s going to be an incredible challenge, but we’re looking forward to accomplish something really amazing and look back on the series saying that we did it, with your help. Just go easy on us ok? haha

Hope you’re excited. And hope we can deliver, haha. The craziness starts May 21!

Check out the newest episode to our series “Company Car”! This one is full of special guests and it was such an honor and joy to work with such an incredible and funny ensemble!

OUTTAKES coming soon.

WATCH EPISODE 1 in case you missed it!

FUN FACTS:

• This is now Manny’s 9th video with us! Can you name the others??
• Ally and Manny have acted before. She played the girl who ruined his legal case in “Recess Court”!
• Not-so-fun-fact: Middle of the shoot our sound recorder started to malfunction. We brought in a back up, and that one ALSO broke. Thankfully the guys at JKFilms came to help in a bind and we were able to use theirs. Otherwise we would’ve had no sound!
• It was a very hot day shooting, Justin had a very physically tough task of staying under the blanket for those long takes!
• On April 1 (April Fool’s Day) We played a joke that the car got stolen so we couldn’t shoot any more episodes. This lead a lot of viewers to think that we really had to cancel the series! Sorry for joke! haha

Two After Noon is not about missed opportunities. It is not about unrequited love or losing out. Two After Noon is about first impressions. It is about two people that spend two hours together at two o’clock. What could happen? Realistically, what could happen? It seems like there are too many misleading movies and stories out there now. Of course they’re fun to watch, but they are so disconnected from truth and reality. How often do strangers “fall in love” so quickly and carelessly? Is the act of falling in love a necessary ingredient for romantic stories to be entertaining and engaging? I don’t believe it is.

Two After Noon revolves around the idea that two people can be thrown together, be attracted to one another, and connect on a meaningful level– but still not end up together. That may sound like a tragic notion at first, but that’s only if you interpret it as an ending. A common theme that fascinates me is that there are no real beginnings and endings; instead, everything is continuous and ongoing. There are so many things in our lives that are indefinite. Finding love and companionship certainly fit into that category. Sometimes you meet someone that seems, for a lack of better words, perfect. But then, for one reason or another, you don’t get to see that relationship all the way through. Instead, what that relationship could have been, is totally left in the dark. All you can hold onto is the indescribable feeling while it existed. But just because the relationship did not develop into something more, does that make it any less meaningful?

I can speak from personal experience that certain things have a way of coming around. Especially the things that you put away in your mind because you’ve attached an ending to them. I’m not saying to always dwell on misfortunes, but rather, to adapt to circumstances with a hopeful outlook.

As for Arthur and Erin, their story together may very well continue in the future but all we see is the two hour window of time they spent. Their impromptu date was a shared divergence from their plans but a glimpse of potential as well. When Arthur finally receives the phone call from his blind date, he’s thrown back on track while Erin is left by herself, again. Erin, while disappointed, is not too discouraged. It’s simply not in her nature. If there’s an “end message” to the short, then it’s to adopt the same positive, hopeful outlook that Erin keeps.

If you liked this short, you might also enjoy our “One Days: HK” series. The One Days is a collection of shorts inspired by the different people and places of Hong Kong. I guess you could say “Two After Noon” is our first attempt at creating an American version of The One Days. Enjoy!

Listening to the radio recently, I had an observation that I’m sure many of you shared… what happened to all the slow songs, specifically, the slow LOVE songs? Without sounding too much like that guy who says “music was better in MY day”, have you noticed that slow songs on pop radio don’t really exist anymore? And if they are slow, they’re usually sad, but there are no current, popular, slow, love songs anymore, and this made me wonder… what do teenagers in high school slow dance to nowadays? Because, when I was in school, the songs we slow danced to were by current artists and on the radio. But then another thought crossed my mind… do teenagers even slow dance at all anymore, since there’s no music for them?

Since I’ve been out of school for awhile, and don’t have any close friends still in high school, I did some “research” by going onto my FaceBook page and just asking you guys randomly… Here’s just a few of the responses I got…

Just as I had suspected! Either no more slow songs at dances, or they play old ones (from when I was in school, haha)

Growing up as shy awkward teenager, one of the biggest, most nerve-wracking, yet potentially thrilling moments of my adolescence was the slow dance. The sweaty palms and butterflies, trying to find the right timing or wording, waiting for the fast music to fade out, or worst yet, the song coming on while your date or girl was off somewhere you couldn’t find her!! haha. School dances are arguably the biggest events of adolescent years…but without slow dancing in there, I feel like they’re really missing out on something special, something magical and meaningful.

“Take It Slow” is about two teenagers who may have missed out on this magical moment at their first dance together, because popular music didn’t allow for it, but taking matters into their own hands. I hope that despite the DJ not playing any slow songs nowadays (because there are none), that people will still find a way to have this special and sweet moment together, because there are really few things like the innocent romantic emotions that come from slowly swaying with a person you really care about to a good, sweet song.

On a personal level… I miss slow dancing. As we grow up, it’s one of those things that don’t happen much anymore.  Now, people just wanna bump and grind. I mean, that’s fine and all… but the good stuff, the deep stuff, is in the slow dance.  But maybe, that’s what makes it more special, now that we’re older, because we don’t get to do it as often.

And since slow dancing is so rare I strongly encourage those who are in a relationship, or soon to be…to take advantage of that dance partner.  Don’t waste the opportunity you have everyday, to simply play a slow song, in your room, from your car, wherever…and just dance with them. It’s easy, too! All you gotta do is just sway, so no excuses like “I can’t dance”. Just get close, close your eyes, and move. Please, slow dance whenever you can, don’t take it for granted… because there are fewer and fewer opportunities to (if at all) as time goes on.

BEHIND THE SCENES

The first episode of our new mini series is out! “Company Car” is our latest project, and we’re extremely proud to have Subaru on board to help us bring to the screen this idea which we had since late last year. Even more glad to bring along Manny who’s been our friend for a couple years now, always being down to act in our projects. Check out some production photos here, and be sure to watch the behind the scenes videos below!

BEHIND THE SCENES

OUTTAKES

Check out our latest sketch comedy! “HUGGER” is loosely based on real life. While Phil isn’t as intense or intimate in reality, he does tend to give Chris longer hugs than normal… but only because it makes Chris uncomfortable, haha!

Just a fun, one afternoon shoot with our friends. Huge thanks to Jerry (the last guy to run) for letting us use his house…and his daughter. It was his idea to throw her btw.

OUTTAKES – (yes, we threw a child)

BEHIND THE SCENES

Check out our latest skit “Wan Percent”. We shot it a month ago with a few friends and had a really fun time organizing a “fauxtest”. I think the neighbors were scared, haha.

In case you are not familiar with the subject in the short, the 99% is a movement that’s happening in the US (it’s highest point was Oct 2011) when they started the Occupy Wallstreet protests, in which thousands of people camped outside of big bank buildings in financial districts around the country. It’s basically a movement that says the top 1% wealthiest people are not paying their share of taxes, and being honest with their finances, and it’s hurting everyone else, the “99%”. Without going into detail about its actual mission, we just had an idea to play on the term “1%” as many of us our age understand; in terms of school. We all know about wanting to be in the top percentile at your school or on test, so being 1% is actually good! In terms of the skit, we were just combining the two into a funny misunderstanding, and also lightly alluding to the fact that real movement itself has been criticized for being a bit unorganized and unfocused. In the case of this sketch, so much so that they completely missed and misunderstood their target wrong.

NOTE: This is not our opinion of the Occupy Movement. To those who are offended or think that we sympathize with the 1% you are gravely mistaken and completely missed the humor of this video. Please understand that this was a satirical skit poking fun at the misunderstanding of the 1% subject (a student, not a dishonest banker/CEO), and that the leaders are actually trying to organize everyone.

We were almost not going to release this short. Why? Because of the recent explosion of the KONY2012 campaign. You see, even though we shot this short over a month ago, before Kony became viral, we couldn’t release it then because we had to edit it, and then go on our huge 2 week tour to SE Asia and Australia. We planned to release it as soon as we got back. But then the Kony video was released a couple days ago, and we were worried that since we were flooded with requests to promote KONY, people would think this was our response to that video…or we were subtly making fun of activism and supporting causes. This is totally not the case. Wan Percent is not our response or opinion of Kony, not even of the 99% movement, and we are also not teasing activism and human rights. For our official response to KONY2012, please click HERE, otherwise just enjoy “Wan Percent” for what it is.

Fun Facts:

• We were considering titling it “The Juan Percent” and using a hispanic kid, but the shoot was such short notice, and we already had a friend who was available.
• “Alex Wan” is the younger brother of a friend of ours, Amy, who’s the girl in a past music video we made “Red Light”
• The house we used is the same house we shot Alyssa Bernal’s “Cali” video (used the backyard) and “Forever Valentine” (used a guestroom/backyard). Now we just used the front. We’re running out of locations on that house!
• Lana and Nathan who play the protest leaders have been in a variety of our shorts. The cooking couple in “Two Weeks Later”, the stylist and makeup artists in “The Christmas Story” and more!

We know that Linsanity has taken over the world by now, and it’s possible that your twitter and facebook feeds are flooded w/ JLIN posts forever…but we just couldn’t resist making a video about Jeremy and the amazing impact he’s had in our society. What he’s done in just a short 2 weeks (but coming from a lifetime of hardwork of course) is just something we can’t ignore, it almost wouldn’t make sense for us NOT to make a video about him!

So here is our Jeremy Lin inspired sketch, based on something I’m sure a lot of you are experiencing…JLin fever…Linfluenza. This idea came up because it’s happening to us. We can’t stop watching his highlight videos, interviews, and articles. It’s come to a point where… it’s like an addiction, haha. So this video is based on truth and we were so lucky to find some amazing actors to work with.

Tanya is a girl we’ve already had in our shorts several times. She was in David Choi’s “Won’t Even Start” mv, the hairstylist in “The End of Wong Fu” and the drunk girl in “Two Weeks Later”. But most notably, she’s Kelly on Nickelodeon’s “Big Time Rush”. Tanya’s always been so cool with us, doing the supporting roles, and this time we got her as the main lead. Leonard is an actor we found through Randall Park (Too Fast) and has been on MTV’s WildnOut! Leonard definitely MADE the short. It was our first time working with him, but he came in and just blew us away. He was the perfect guy for the role, so funny, and made the short even better. The two of them made the shoot a lotta fun, and the finished product something we’re really proud of (for something we threw together in less than a week!)

Anyway, hope you enjoyed our take on the Linvasion. We’re so proud of Jeremy for persevering through all he’s been through and shining in this spotlight, while being humble and grateful. You’ve been an inspiration to Asian Americans, and non-Asians alike, and just a freaking good basketball player overall! Keep it up Jeremy! And we’ll keep watching you… proudly!

Last year around this time we first got an email from a company called FremantleMedia. After a quick search we learned what a big deal this was. This was the company that makes American Idol, and distributes countless other mainstream programs here in the US and abroad. We thought, what could such a big company like this want with us?

Our first meeting with the team of developers went really well. We clicked and could tell they understood Wong Fu Productions and the possibilities in new media. They had a track history of taking successful shows or series from the web and bringing them to television and they saw that potential in us.

So our goal with them? Create a web series like a tv show pilot episode. If it did well, they might be able to show networks its success and try to pitch them to turn it into a real television show. With this in mind, we set to come up with ideas with the destination of TV in mind, not just YouTube. The idea of HANS was among a few that we pitched them, but the concept came about because we thought, why has there not been a show on tv with an Asian family? There are African Americans, Hispanics, why not Asian? Without getting into the politics, we decided to create a story that melded the two cultures, in an effort to make seeing Asians in not such a strange light as the general TV audience might see it. Fremantle liked the idea and wanted us to go with it. They agreed with us that an Asian American cast has a place on television and wanted to support it.

Fast forward a few months of developing the outline and scripts and we were shooting out first “meant for tv” web-series. Hopefully that gives you some insight and understanding as to how this idea came to be, and why we made it. We’re really glad we had this opportunity and hope you enjoy the coming episodes. Who knows, if we get some great response and views, this might have a chance to go to TV! How amazing would that be? But it’s up to you, so please share the video and series with your friends of all backgrounds. Hopefully you don’t just see this as an Asian show. Yes It has Asians in it, but it’s not just Asian jokes and stereotypes. It’s about emotions everyone can understand and a family trying to reconnect. Of course, with a Wong Fu Productions twist Thanks for watching!

EPISODE 2

In this episode, we focused more on revealing more about the relationships he has with everyone at home. A little scene with his mom, Patrick, Ellen, and the family as a whole each show a bit more personality about the characters and how they’ve been living in the time that Derek’s been gone. We chose to have these scenes because we felt it was important for the viewers to learn more about each character and how they’ll possibly continue on in the series.

You may or may not have noticed during the time of the release that we were 2 days late in releasing this episode. This was due to, what we announced as, “an unexpected major technical issue”. Now that it’s out, we’ll just tell you what happened. Since this series is co-produced with Fremantle (a HUGE media corporation) we have to send each episode in for their approval before releasing. Before we left for our Malaysia tour, we submitted the video not expecting any problems, as we’ve been showing them our progress throughout. But while we were there, they came back to us with some bad news from the legal department. The posters in Patrick’s room had to be changed. You see, originally they were a poster of Cloud from Final Fantasy, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. We shot with this posters to give character to Patrick’s room, not thinking it’d be an issue, we were wrong. And so, we had to get our good friend and visual effect editor, Derrick, to go in and frame by frame, replace those posters with an ISA and Wong Fu short poster. And since we were in Malaysia, we couldn’t get him the files to work on until we got back, 1 day before release. So he worked like crazy for 3 days to fix the issue. Now, hopefully you didn’t even notice that those posters were put in AFTER. Movie magic Thanks Derrick!

EPISODE 3

Finally…we get introduced to the dad, Andrew Han. After fearing his first meeting with his new stepdad, Derek finally faces it, only to be surprised that Andrew is nothing like he imagined. In fact, they have a lot more in common than he thought.

We’re so glad to have the amazing Randall Park lend his talents to this project. He definitely brings in a new energy to the series and this was exactly how we had intended it to be. When we were conceptualizing the father figure for the series we went back and forth a lot about how we felt he should act. Should he be a traditional “Asian father”, strict, accents, generation gap? Well, while we definitely think that could be funny and that there’s a place for that… we didn’t want him be that stereotype, completely. TV already has an terrible problem depicting Asians always with accents, and we didn’t want to add to that. While it may have been more accurate, we’re trying to change the general public’s perception. (PLUS, it’s very hard to find actors of immigrant background, most older Asian actors within our reach are from the 2nd generation, for obvious cultural reasons. Furthermore, we really just wanted to work with Randall again, haha) So we ultimately decided for a more westernized father, and to make him rather cool and outgoing, but with hints of the stereotypes peeking through. Randall fit the part perfectly. An awkward, but firm, dad that is a little lost but still finds joy in his family.

We also find out more about Derek in this episode. Wanting to give him more depth, Derek reveals more about his past and feeling of defeat and regret. Making both him and Andrew vulnerable allows them to connect and create a friendship that can continue through the series. The whole goal was to make these two unlikely people, friends, and if the series continues, we want to show more of their relationship grow.

EPISODE 4
So this is where the series ends…for now. We did our best to round out the series with bringing “Phil” back in, showing that Derek and Andrew are going to have a good friendship together, and that the Derek is finally happy to be home. There’s definitely a lot more Derek and the Hans can go through, and we’ll just have to wait and see if we can bring it all back.

Like we said in the ending audio commentary, we’re really glad we got this opportunity to work with a great team at FremantleMedia. They were awesome people to work with and we’re sure you’ll be seeing more stuff from us with them involved, whether it be more HANS episodes, or a new series. Who knows, maybe we may end up on TV with a show someday, but this is just the beginning. Let us know your thoughts in the comments below! Thank you again for watching the episodes and sharing with your friends!