Responses by Dan Koo, art director; Mimi Munoz, global culture and operations manager; and Titania Tran, writer and voice talent, Wieden+Kennedy.

Background: “We hope this film exposes what the model minority myth tries to hide: all of us—Asian, Black and Latinx—belong here in the United States. Together,” says Titania Tran. “This film is for everyone affected by the model minority myth: the Asian community labeled as a ‘model minority,’ the ethnic communities pit against it and, ultimately, the entire country whose progress is stalled by it.”

Design thinking: “We wanted to approach the model minority myth by humanizing it rather than overly intellectualizing it,” says Dan Koo.

“This film is an effort to end the ongoing violence against our communities—not only the Asian and Black communities but so many other marginalized communities,” says Tran. “Instead of looking outwards, waiting for someone to do something, we looked inwards—at ourselves. We asked ourselves, ‘What is our role in this?’ We recognized that we do play a significant role, both as Asian Americans weaponized as ‘the model minority’ and as people in advertising, a form of media that has perpetuated the image of the ‘model minority.’”

Challenges: “Working with limited budget and resources,” says Mimi Munoz. “Since this film was neither tied to a client nor asked of us, we had to work in unconventional ways. The small team on this project worked beyond their typical roles because we were emotionally invested in the message. You can recognize the heart behind the film because of these people. The budget and resource constraints only pushed us to find unique solutions that made the film as impactful as it is.”

New lessons: “This film confirmed for me that there is no shortage of talented people of color in our industry and industry-adjacent,” says Koo. “Without them, this film would not have gotten made with the love and the talent involved.”

“This type of work demands two types of experience: lived experience and industry experience,” says Tran. “The first, Dan, Mimi and I had. This was our story, and we knew how to tell it. The second, invaluable people like Hayley Goggin, executive producer at Wieden+Kennedy; our partners at Biscuit Filmworks; and so many others brought to this film. They were the industry veterans who believed in our story and did everything in their power could to bring it to life. They found doors, opened them and ushered us into rooms that we otherwise would have no access to. This film was a product of both.”

Visual influences: “Our visuals were inspired by films like Minari, Parasite and Tigertail,” says Koo. “These films captured the humanity of our communities in an authentic way that hasn’t often been depicted in mainstream media before—a way that embraced the beauty in the mundane and the reality of the struggle.”

Time constraints: “When people first hear that there isn’t a client tied to a project, they tend to assume there must not be any time constraints,” says Munoz. “While this did provide us with some freedom, it was not as simple as one would think. Our goal was to launch during Asian American Pacific Islander History Month 2022 to secure the media placement donations we needed to get this seen—to begin a conversation that needed to be had.

“In addition, since this was purely pro-bono, we were working with favors,” Munoz continues. “There was only so much time and effort we could ask from these folks. Due to the time constraints, we worked in unconventional ways and found unique solutions to get to the final product. All in all, I think these time constraints made the film exactly what it needed to be.”

Anything else? “This film is truly a labor of love by the team and all our production partners that gave their hearts, time and energy for a project we all believed in,” Koo says. “We all willed this into existence, and there was no other way it could have happened.”

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