How to Turn Unlikely Friendships Into Movie-Worthy Stories

I’m visiting my grandma and she’s totally focused on a piece of paper. Naturally, I ask her what she’s looking at. 

She tells me they’re letters from my grandfather to her and her to my grandfather during war time. Some are torn, some are yellowed from age, some are typed and some handwritten. I notice there’s a suitcase next to her filled with hundreds of these aged letters.

I’m curious, so I ask if I can read one. “Oh no no no,” she quickly responds. “A few of these are a little too risqué for you.” 

She promises that these letters will be mine one day…  when she’s gone.

I’ll never forget that conversation with her that afternoon. My grandparent’s love story during wartime, the legacy of that love, and the way they saw the world are encapsulated and preserved in those letters forever.

My guest today on the Storytelling School Podcast knows and appreciates the power of the written word. Tricia Lee is not only recognized as one of the new top writers in Hollywood with many accolades for writing (and directing) to her name already, but her stories stick with you long after you hear them.

If you’re curious to know:

How can a different perspective influence stories you’ve seen a lot of times already? How did a wrong number become the impetus behind an award-winning feature film script? What can the animal world teach us about humanity?

Then listen in as we discuss family and life incidents, unlikely friendships, the impact of putting meaning and feeling into your stories, overcoming writer’s block, and more!

• Why truth (not necessarily facts) is key to a great story
• How journaling can help you solve “blank page syndrome”
• Why your story matters, even if you think it doesn’t

Tricia Lee is an AAPI female filmmaker who grew up in Toronto, Canada. She specializes in creating both heart-warming and heart-breaking but also humorously uplifting films. With her Canadian perspective, she likes to tell stories that look at the American Dream and explore ideas around voicelessness, belonging, and shared humanity. 

Tricia’s Good Chance feature script, which is being produced by Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way and Janet Yang, was on the CAPE LIST and was also the Francis Ford Coppola’s Zoetrope Screenplay Competition grand prize winner and the Cinequest Best Feature Screenplay winner. It was also a top 50 finalist in The Academy Nicholl Fellowship, a top 14 finalist for the Universal Studios Writer's Program, and was selected for the prestigious Producers Guild of America Power of Diversity Master Workshop.

In addition to these accolades, Tricia has directed three award-winning features such as Blood Hunters and Silent Retreat, with the former sold to Hulu and presented at Cannes and the latter released theatrically across Canada and sold to NBC Universal’s Chiller Network. Currently, she’s the showrunner and sole writer of eight episodes of 108 Media’s animated anthology, A Banquet for Hungry Ghosts. Soon, she will direct a biopic about William Hung (of American Idol fame) that she wrote with Don Handfield, and Tony and Tim Bui serving as producers.