– KPOP Demon Hunters -
Head of Story
When Maggie first asked me to be her Head of Story for KPOP Demon Hunters, I asked “Why?!”. So did Netflix, I certainly didn’t fit the mold they had in mind for this project. But Maggie went to bat and said it had to be me, I was the only one who would ‘get it’, etc etc. She actually spent a good year convincing me to do it, and eventually poached me from Pixar.
I didn’t want to leave Pixar where I was working remotely as a Story Lead on a new film (Covid times, remember those?). Once the studio needed me to move there, and I realized I couldn’t uproot my family for bay area without significant strain on my kid having to change schools and just the financial stress of living in such a crazy expensive area - Maggie said I could do the HOS role remotely, so I took the job in Dec 2021 over the holidays, arranged a convenient roll-off with Pixar in Jan, and started the show! Sony would fly me down for a few weeks ahead of screenings, or our trip to S.Korea.
As Head of Story my first job was to take two previous screenplay drafts, two sets of studio notes as opposed to the one we usually get (Sony and Netflix), then wrangle that into a cohesive story outline that addressed notes, their vision, and I could use to launch a story team on. Oh yeah, no story team.
Then my job was to build, hire, train, and oversee a brand new story department and team into our first screenings - what the studio called ‘their best first screenings ever’, and an unprecedented amount of which made it to the final film! I’m very proud of that and the team who made it happen, as for most of them it was their first feature film experience ever in story!
Beyond building and leading a new story team, I was quickly asked to also advise Maggie and Chris as an unnofficial Co-director, as well as work with them writing it. Yes, three jobs. 80% of the work I did to help shape the film goes buried and unseen, but part of my job was to also to write and storyboard a few scenes as north stars for story to follow in terms of establishing personas, narratives, and cinematic vision for our tone and new form of action/music-video fighting.
Some of these are rougher than others as I was often squeezing this work in-between everything else I was doing - and often would just do thumbnails/roughs as my writing process (Miyazaki style screenwriting), then pass them on to a story artist on my team for follow up passes once Maggie and Chris were happy with what I wrote & boarded.
Writing & Storyboarding
These are the initial scenes & beats I was asked to spearhead writing and storyboarding as tentpole direction for the story to aim for, solidifying character personas, cinematic vision, and a unique tone that could juggle our range of genre-blending naturally.
*Note - the actual ‘screenplay pages’ we do last. In a story driven show, we write and re-write ‘miyazaki style’, with the writing and storyboarding all one process (different than in Live Action or most TV Animation). Later, those scenes are adapted into a final screenplay form and compiled into a ‘master script’ document for voice records, continuity, and executive review.
MEET THE GIRLS / PLANE FIGHT (2022)
Story to Final | Story Pitch | Comp1 | Comp2 | Script Pages
This was the first scene I was tasked to write and storyboard to establish the tone of our characters, world, and narrative through meeting the girls, the demons, our action, and how they balance all of this with their pop-star personas. Originally created/pitched to an incomplete/in-development version of the track "This is how it's done", then titled “Bite Back”. Also Chloe was named “E-Na”. Without a film to show early on, this was the story pitch used to help lock the initial deals with KPOP artists & labels.
MEET UGLY (2022)
Story to Final | Story Pitch | Story Reel | Comp
This was a scene I wrote and storyboarded to introduce Jinu and the Saja Boys, while setting up chemistry between Rumi and Jinu to anchor their relationship in a fun way that we could immediately subvert into their rivalry so that we knew there was romantic tension bubbling under the surface.
DERPY TIGER (2022)
Story to Final | Story Pitch | Story Reel | Comp
My goal here was to create an on-screen persona for the Derpy Tiger Helen designed, and write/board it as an intro that would help Maggie & Chris convince the studio to put him in the film as a messenger for Jinu, and Rumi’s first spark that there might be more to these ‘demons’ than just scary monsters. It worked and then he went into character design.
Screening One :: Final Cut
The film’s first internal screening was met with extraordinary praise, described by studio executives as “one of their best first screenings of all time.” That moment was a testament to the tireless dedication of our story team, including Hye Lynn Park, Alex Chiu, Sooyeon Lee, Christina Chang, Alicia Chan, Jessica Stanley, Ray Xu, Bridget Underwood, Lauren Sassen, Rad Sechrist, Hanna Cho, Guillermo Martinez, Jerod Chirico, and Maggie Kang herself writing and boarding as well. This teams creativity and collaboration carried the project through intense challenges. Unfortunately, Sony prohibits sharing that first cut, with editorial led by Spinal Tap editor (yes THAT Spinal Tap) Kent Beyda.
As the project’s initial Head of Story for year one into screening two, I helped shape the foundational structure and character arcs that remained largely intact in the film’s final cut, a rare outcome in animated feature development. Looking back at my early editorial passes, it’s incredibly fulfilling to see so many core story moments survive into the final release - especially from screening ONE! That is definitely a first.
Dun Dun Done
Midway into the production, I made the difficult decision to resign due to a chronically problematic shift in executive leadership that significantly impacted the professional culture of the project, and treatment of the artists on my team. This wasn’t exclusive to story, more art leads and a number of others resigned as well shortly thereafter, and that same leadership retaliated by changing my credit on the film.
Still, I’m proud of the hard work everyone did to make something neither Sony or Netflix had much faith in, turn into their most successful film to date, and a vehicle for numerous spinoffs and sequels.
