Interview with Bryson Chun, IAIA MFA in Screenwriting Alum Soon to Write Live-Action Musical Feature ‘The First & Last’ For Tara Sickmeier’s Meráki
by Rey M. Rodríguez
In the rapidly evolving landscape of contemporary television and film, few voices are rising with the wit, heart, and cultural depth of Bryson Chun. A proud Native Hawaiian screenwriter born and raised on the Windward side of Oʻahu (96744 represent), Chun has brought his talent and perspective to some of the most beloved stories of our time — from writing for Doogie Kamealoha, M.D. on Disney+ to contributing to the highly successful Moana 2 for Walt Disney Animation Studios.
A graduate of the Kamehameha Schools, Kapālama, Chun’s path to storytelling wasn’t a straight line. Once dreaming of becoming a rockstar or Broadway performer — and still known to take karaoke a little too seriously — he discovered filmmaking in college at the University of Hawaiʻi, where he found a creative home that blended his love of writing, music, and storytelling. Since then, Chun’s work has screened everywhere from PBS and The Smithsonian Institution to The Criterion Collection and international film festivals. His scripts have landed on The Black List’s prestigious Indigenous Lists, and he’s been recognized as a fellow by Sundance, CAPE, imagineNATIVE, LA Skins, and ʻOhina Labs, among others.
Chun, who holds an MFA in Screenwriting from the Institute of American Indian Arts and is represented by Verve Talent and Literary Agency, is also deeply committed to mentoring the next generation of storytellers. As a visiting writer and teaching artist, he has guided students and emerging writers through programs at IAIA, Sundance, ʻOhina Labs, and beyond.
In this conversation, we talk with Bryson about his creative journey — from growing up in Hawaiʻi to shaping narratives in Hollywood — and how his heritage, humor, and heart continue to shape the stories he tells.
Bryson Chun. Welcome to the Storyteller's Corner of Chapter House, the literary journal for the Institute of American Indian Arts. We're so thrilled to have you here. You will be the first screenwriter and director to be interviewed by us. It is even more special because you are an alum of IAIA.
I'm grateful. No, thank you so much for having me. I love it. It's always great to say yes to an opportunity to share insight with students and readers. So I'm excited.
Fantastic. Tell me a little bit about yourself, growing up in Hawaii, and then coming to the mainland.
I was born and raised on the Windward side of Oahu. I am a Native Hawaiian writer. I always feel like it was important to me that I got to go to a school called Kamehameha Schools, where all of the students were Native Hawaiian. It was a great education, but it was really special and kind of one of a kind in Hawaii. It is a private schoolset aside for Native Hawaiian students. Growing up, surrounded by culture and my peers helped to instill in me a lot of the values of my community. Something liberating about me going there was that they were so enthusiastic about supporting me and others in the arts. And so, I was in the marching band, musical theater, and I wrote for the school paper. I tried to do many different extracurricular things. And I ended up loving all of those as different parts of who I was. I've kind of found my way into film because it felt like it included all of those things that I enjoyed.
What was the curriculum like?
It was a standard college prep curriculum, but we had a lot of extra opportunities that were culturally based. We could do a Hawaiian ensemble, which was Hawaiian music. Kamehameha has a song contest. It was this amazing thing to be a part of, and I so rarely get to talk about it. But every high school student from each class competes against the other classes.
It's a musical contest. We would get a native Hawaiian song that was arranged, and we do these performances, and they would be on TV. There would be judges there to score you, and it was a big thing. You'd have bragging rights in high school. It was a college prep school, but there were so many unique things like that. Film felt like a combination of a lot of the things I loved, which were acting, storytelling, writing, and music.
What was the zeitgeist like in the Hawaiian community at the time?
In the early 2000s, we were going through an interesting time. At the moment, there was a state bill, informally called the Akaka bill, because it was named after Senator Akaka, who sponsored it. It was a Federal Recognition Bill for Natives. As students of a Native Hawaiian school, it was important to us. Our school was founded as a result of a trust created by a Hawaiian Princess. It was her land and her desire to start this school on 1,800 acres of land. It was because of that trust that we were able to create a school for Natives. But being governed by the U.S. federal government, we experienced controversy. Non-Indigenous people would sue the school because they'd say that it was discriminatory not to let them attend. The Akaka bill was something that would help to ratify the school and say that we can protect the culture, because of the trust.
It was the early phases of another Hawaiian Renaissance in a way. In the seventies, there were big Renaissance movements where the pioneers of Hawaiian activism made a statement. In the 2000s, it had another resurgence. Today, it is maybe more politically and socially active than ever.
Artistically, did it impact you?
I took for granted that I was a native Hawaiian, someone who was very fortunate to live in my homeland and be in Hawaii. I'm a Hawaiian person, but I think that it was a time in my life where I was navigating what it means to be a Hawaiian. And what does it mean to be a Hawaiian artist or storyteller? Like many Native cultures, Hawaiians are storytellers by nature. So much of our history and culture comes from oral storytelling. I was trying to grapple with what my part is in that larger journey of storytelling. Once I started to embrace that identity, and saying, “Well, what do I have to say about who I am and about this place?” That's when my writing started to have more meaning and started to resonate with people. My time in that space was helpful as an artist.
That's interesting. Did you start writing in high school?
My first dream was to write a book to become an author. But once I figured out that this would be a lot of pages and words, my enthusiasm waned a little. However, I did enjoy writing and engaging in creative writing. Once I started studying screenwriting more seriously, I saw the form, and what it what it could do, I realized that this could become a job.
When making a movie, the screenplay is an integral part of the process. It's not just a blueprint. It's a piece of art that's being interpreted. Also, I think that's when I found my voice. It fit that medium so clearly to me. So, it connected a lot of dots.
Did you have any role models or anyone that you looked up to?
Being a young dude, I was into Tarantino a lot. I thought his writing was so crazy. It was something that didn't feel boring on the page. There was something crazy about how he was writing. At the time, I also liked Kevin Smith with his movie, “Clerks.” It was big.
It's hilarious.
Totally. I felt more closely related to those characters than to other kinds of characters, like young slacker kids. And, I thought, I can do this, too. I can make these great big blockbuster films, or even very dramatic Oscar-worthy projects. There's a place for fun, exciting, funny, weird things. And sometimes, you can make something weird and silly, and still deep and resonant. It gave me some perspective. Another script I would mention was “Juno” because it was so new and earnest.
In the early 2000s, Diablo Cody wrote that script, and that was one of the first scripts I may have sought out to read on its own. I remember you could buy it in the screenplay section of a bookstore. That must have been probably 20 years ago or so, but she was another inspiring screenwriter.
I'm curious as to why you write.
I have always been interested in storytelling. I was a pretty shy kid growing up as an only child. I had friends at school, but I was a quieter kid. I remember being in elementary, and it was my 3rd-grade teacher, Mrs. Sirocco. She was big on reading, and so, more than any teacher I had had up to that point, and maybe even beyond that, reading was a fundamental part of her class. So we were constantly reading. And then at one point it just shifted into writing our own stories, and I remember it's the first thing I can remember writing was as a 3rd grader.
I had a dog who was my first ever pet that I had from when I was like in preschool. He was probably 5 or 6 at this point. Sadly, he got really sick and died. I remember thinking I miss my dog, so I am going to write a story about him. I remember writing it and explaining what it was like to see my sick dog pass. Maybe one day I would get another dog or something like that, but this connection would never be the same.
My teacher was moved by it, and she talked to my parents about it. She told them to read my story. I remember feeling encouraged and thinking that this is a way I can communicate with people. I didn’t have to always be this gregarious person, but I could still communicate something through writing. That was the first time that it had ever occurred to me. It was the first step in the journey.
So how do you get off the island? Was that a painful process?
It feels like something you're meant to do. Maybe that's just the story we tell ourselves, that you have to do it. You grow up and move away somewhere. But, initially, I just did it for college. Once you want to be a screenwriter in earnest, and for me, being a TV writer in particular, it was a necessity to say, Well, okay, I have to make my way to LA, somehow. Being from out of state and being across the ocean, it's really difficult to try to break in. For me, my path went through fellowship opportunities, and I got into Sundance.
How did you find them? How did you find the fellowships for those who do not know the process?
N. Bird Runningwater, who was the head of the Indigenous program at Sundance at the time, happened to come to Hawaii to do a panel about the Native Lab. He said this program is something that we all should apply for. Up to that point, it was not something that I would have thought of.
But there have been some great Pacific Islanders who have done it. And that was my gateway into it because it was the one fellowship I had ever heard of. I didn't even know what a fellowship was. But having seen N. Bird Runningwater come and give this presentation, I was like, Okay, I'll try this. I had a short script that I had written on a whim to see if any friends wanted to make it. No one wanted to make it. And so I was like, Okay, I'll just submit it before I throw this away and throw in the towel.
I felt very lucky that I was selected to be in that Sundance Fellowship. And then beyond that, it was just one thing led to another. It was like one fellowship led to another, led to another.
When you do a fellowship, what does that mean?
They're all a little different. But usually it's an organization that is trying to uplift talented, but unrecognized or unsupported writers. They usually bring in mentors from industry like professional writers or directors, who will come in and give you advice and help mentor you with your work.
How did attending Sundance change you?
Oh, I mean it changed everything. It was a very validating feeling, because we are all a little bit crazy to put our work out there in the world at all. It's stressful, at least for me. It's an anxiety-inducing process for people to read your work.
When somebody reads it, who you admire and says, “Hey, this is good,” or “This is worthy of being read and worthy of being produced.” It's a very validating feeling, and it was the first time in my mind that I thought, well, maybe I could do this. It was that first little bit of confidence that helped me to continue the journey.
When you get to Sundance, is it similar to how you workshop it at an IAIA Residency?
Yes, it's very similar to workshopping at Residency. It's reading your work out loud and having mentors and the other fellows and peers give you notes. A lot of it is building confidence. It is people telling that your stories are important and that they matter. The fellowship does two things: it should improve your writing and it should increase your confidence in the writing.
And did you find it to be a positive experience, or was it a very critical place?
It can be a mixed bag. I've been in a handful of different fellowships, and I've been able to take away something from each one. Sometimes they are hard, sometimes they will put you through the ringer, or there are mentors, or whatever, that are strict or tough, and it's all valuable in the end. All of these experiences do make you a better writer or storyteller, largely, and for a lot of us who don't live in Los Angeles and don't have the connections. These are great opportunities to get your work in front of the right people.
I assume one fellowship gives you credibility to apply to the next one. Is that fair to say?
Yes, absolutely. It definitely helps that you. You have people vouching for you. So when you have one fellowship, it often can lead to another and another. So my first fellowship I did was for a short film, and they helped me workshop it. And then I went off and actually made that short. Eventually I started doing different fellowships where I was writing feature films, or I was writing TV episodes or TV pilots. It was a natural progression in terms of the writing getting bigger and also the fellowship getting bigger. It is a natural progression into working professionally as a writer.
That's great. When was your first big break?
I always say that so much luck involved is involved in any kind of creative endeavor, but it is especiall true with screenwriting. Some people don't like to admit that. But it requires everything from hard work to luck to come together all at once.
For me, it was having the right people who told me if you want to be a television writer, you need to be writing television scripts. You need to have these samples ready, because a lot of people will find that lucky moment, that lucky opportunity where somebody comes to you and says, Oh, yeah, let me read what you got. And if you actually haven't done the work or haven't been prepared, and you have nothing to share then that lucky moment was for nothing.
I had mentors and friends in my periphery who were saying, “Hey, you should write a pilot if you really want to do this. You need to be writing an original pilot of your own.” And so that is when I wrote Poi Dogs. That opened all the doors for me in terms because it said a lot about my voice, and it was an interesting enough concept that people were excited to read it, or if they read it they would want to just meet and talk about it.
Then I got one of those lucky moments where I had heard just through the “coconut wireless.” And it's basically this idea that there are no secrets in Hawaii. If something's happening, someone's going to call someone who's going to call someone. And everyone finds out because it's a very small island. And so, through the “coconut wireless” I heard that there was a show that was being shot in Hawaii. It was the Doogie Kamealoha show, which is a Disney+ reboot of the the old Doogie Howser show and they were looking for a new writer.
I just heard about it, because they shoot in Hawaii, and a lot of people who worked on that show are from Hawaii. And so this rumor was floating around, and it went to not just me, right? It went to all the aspiring writers that live in Hawaii. But it comes down to who has the sample, right? Who took advantage and said, I have the writing that you need to hire me. And so it was just super fortunate that I had heard about it through friends, and part of that was just maintaining good connections and networking, and having the right script in the right place at the right time.
I got hired to be on their second season. And it was the start of everything, and I'm very grateful to that show. It was a blast to be a part of, and it was my first Hollywood experience. It was very, very exciting.
And were you writing in Hawaii, or in LA?
So it was a Zoom room initially because of the pandemic. And so I was still writing a little bit in Hawaii, or working in that room on Zoom but then, about halfway through, we started meeting in person. So I moved up to LA for that.
And does that open you up to Moana 2?
It really did. It's interesting, because I think that's also one of those lucky things that you don't know how these things happen sometimes, or where your work is floating around, or who's seeing it? And I remember I was working. I was in the room for Doogie, and at the time
my agents got a call, and they were like Hey, there's people at Disney who are interested in meeting with you for a project, but it's a secret. We're not quite sure what it is, but, we had to turn it down because you're already in this room. So, in my head I'm thinking, boy. But what is it? We don't even know what it could have been? They're like, out of fairness, I'm already working on a show and I loved being there so it wasn't like I would have left. But you know it's really interesting. My agents had to tell them, “hey? If you're still interested in June or July or something, you can circle back.” And I thought, Well, there's no way they're going wait that long. But fortunately, in July, they called up again, and my agents were like they want to meet with you, and it's we think it's Moana.
And that's so crazy. What are the odds of that? Or how did they find me? And it's still a little bit of a mystery, in terms of I have a lot of champions that I'm so grateful for in my life, but I have no idea the specific route that, or whatever list that got me on their radar. But yeah, I think it helped that I was in the Disney family already.
It was such a lucky opportunity of just some of the work I had done somehow got on the radar. I think maybe it was my script. Somehow the same Poi Dog script got to them, but also it was just such a full circle moment that first short film that nobody really wanted to make, and it ended up getting into Sundance. One of the directors of Moana happened to see that short film somehow online. And that was the thing that put it over the top, I believe..
He brought the short film up in our interview. And he said I saw this film, and it was so beautiful, and I think the way you told the story. It was very rooted in culture, and so he was like the way you handled that, I thought it was really well done. I'm so grateful to him for seeing it. And this is David Derrick, who was one of the directors of Moana 2.
Did this all happen when it was a Disney+ program and they decided to make it into a theatrical release?
I joined the project when it was still a TV series. So, when we were working on it, it was very similar story to what is there now, because obviously we got really far in the process with that. But it was just at the time it was split up into 5 episodes, and it was meant to be a miniseries. But I think a lot of the core pieces are still.
The heart of the story is still intact.
Yes, that is what is so amazing about the movie.
It was amazing being in that space and working with those amazing artists and directors, and producers. It was such a wonderful product that came out of it. You're always trying to balance in a sequel being true to the story that was set up in the first one and yet you want to grow and make something bigger and go farther in the new movie. It was so wonderful to be a part of that process.
Tell me what a typical day is like for you.
It's sort of crazy. It's quite unlike a lot of writing environments. It's very much like working in an office, in a sense. But a creative office.
You spend all day in the Disney animation building, the one in Burbank. It’s a pretty, magical place. When you go in there's art everywhere, and one of the cool parts is when you go up to the top floor, which is where we all worked on the third floor. That's where not everyone can go there. Only the production people can go there because all the secrets are there. It is what they call a story room. It's a big-sized conference room, but the walls are covered in art that is related to your project, your movie. So, we had Moana concept art, and we had different artists who had made all sorts of different things. Here's an image that might go into Moana 1 or 2, different things like that. We had different illustrations of the brand new characters that we were adding. We had just pictures of canoes everywhere, you know, all kinds of very creative images that we were able to just immerse ourselves in every day.
But really, so much has already left the station. You've only got the wheels on the train, and you're building it as you go. It's so crazy because production is already kicking off. People are drawing storyboards, and you're still writing pages, and actors are coming in to read lines, and you're still meeting to talk to some department about what the ocean is going to look like. And then someone else is just drawing clothes all day. So what are the people going to be wearing? And then someone else's job is hair. And then someone else's job is jewelry. It's just like it's nonstop. You're bouncing from one meeting to another to another, and there is no end to the creative choices that you're making every day and so much of that is on the directors. But, as the writer of the project you're there for so much of it, and your opinion is valued there, and it's just such a crazy process, because it's all happening at once. Sort of you're doing everything, and you also know this movie has to come out in one or two years from now. How do we get there?
Indeed.
You're constantly iterating. You're writing new pages, trying new ideas. The artists are drawing them. People are starting to see. Oh, he wrote, a scene that takes place here. There's somebody on the animation team that is building out a set in virtual space that looks like a monster's cave or something. So there's constant movement of departments. Hundreds of people are coming to you with questions and asking for things. And you know another fun part of it was the music. So we're having meetings with the songwriters who are writing the songs that eventually Moana and the other characters are going to sing. So it's a full day of working at a pretty grueling pace, but in a creative, stressful, fun, environment.
So what advice would you give a screenwriter who's thinking about getting into the business?
It really only takes one great piece of writing. And I have a couple of pieces of advice. Ira Glass from NPR has this great quote, which I'll paraphrase for any person who's pursuing something creative. When you first start out you're often let down or disappointed by the work that you're creating, and I think so many people give up at that phase, or they give up at the next phase, where they've written a little more, and it's still not great, or whatever it is that they're doing creatively. But he calls it the gap, and there's a gap between your taste and your talent, your abilities, and the only way to bridge that gap is through work. You have to keep doing the thing you do over and over and over to get to bridge the gap between what your taste is telling you is good and what you're able to make. So many people will spend a long time getting stuck on one idea or one script and then thinking, Well, I wrote the thing. Now, where's my golden ticket to Hollywood? But I think an important part of the process is to keep writing and keep improving. I still feel this need after years of working professionally or working on my own and writing dozens of scripts. Only now do I actually feel a little more confident. I think I had doubt the entire time. You doubt what you're doing. And obviously, there's always going to be some form of lingering doubt, I think any healthy person has it.
But only now do I feel like I have a sense of my voice and what I what I can do, and it only comes from just iterating over and over, trying new ideas, constantly writing and finishing. You have to finish things. Don't just write half of a thing and feel good about it. You need to finish things.
The other side of it that I think a lot of people don't talk about is that writing that great script is half the battle.
Everyone who's trying to be a writer in earnest has a great script. They all do. You're surrounded by really great writers. A lot of them are better than you, so many of my friends are better writers than me, but you have to be able to communicate who you are and what you're writing is about to people. A lot of people don't realize that having this piece of paper, or PDF, or whatever that you're getting in front of people. It being good is half the battle. That's the bare minimum you need for that script to be good.
What you also need is the ability to say, here's who I am as a writer and as a storyteller. And here's why I tell these types of stories. And here's why you should invest in this story. This is why this needs to be made. It's an uncomfortable thing to say. It may be somewhat of an awkward thing to do. To be good at or to practice, but being able to sell an idea or sell yourself is is really valuable. So something to think about is that any meeting you take in LA will be some version of somebody saying, Well, tell me about yourself, you know, and you have to. You've got maybe in a minute or two tell your story, and you have to think, “Why is my story even important?” Maybe it's not. But how can I communicate it in a way that is interesting, or that informs them that this is why I write the things I write, and so I always like to say, a good piece of advice is that everyone who's doing this. You're a great writer, and you're a great storyteller. So what is the story of you? You're the main character. What is your story? And how do you communicate that to people? Being able to do that effectively is a valuable skill.
Wow! I love that. Thank you. Moving on to the business side, how did you get your agent?
It sounds like you had very good ones. They took good care of you.
Yes, I was lucky because of a bunch of things at once again. You need so many things to go right. And it was the script Poi Dogs, that to be honest, a lot of the development of that I did while I was at IAIA. I was iterating on that premise, and I was doing fellowships at the same time.
And I think you mentioned it before, my script made the Black List. This Indigenous list is the first time they had ever done it. It was a partnership with Sundance and imagineNATIVE, and some other Native organizations. But paired with the Black List. And so I was a finalist on this list that went out, and there was an article on Deadline and a bunch of other things happened at once surrounding this script. It just also happened I had a mentor who knew an agent who was looking for projects, and they kind of slipped this script into the mix. And it also, again, all the luck has to come in together at once. There was a TV show that was Hawaii-based that was about to be made. And so this agent that saw my script was like, Oh, this guy could be a great writer for this TV show.
And I interviewed for that and did not get it. But the agent was like, Don't worry about that. Let's keep working together. Let's keep going for it, like we'll find something. And so it took a lot of things and a lot of luck. But I'm grateful, and I still have my same agents, and they're great.
That's fantastic, alright. Well, I took up a lot of your time.
Well, I appreciate it. Rey.
It’s really going to give people a lot of hope and wisdom, so they can continue to keep doing what they're doing, especially for the screenwriters that are coming in.
I want IAIA to be this hub of great screenwriters. I want it to just be overflowing with screenwriters. We have years where we have quite a lot of them, and some that are far fewer. And I'm always like, come on, let's just load this program with great writers. I am working in TV or film right now. The floodgates should be open, so I appreciate being apart of it.
I agree. Well, this will help tremendously. Thank you so much for your time and wisdom.
Rey M. Rodríguez is a writer, advocate, and attorney. He lives in Pasadena, California. He is working on a novel set in Mexico City and a non-fiction history of a prominent nonprofit in East LA. He has attended the Yale Writers' Workshop multiple times and Palabras de Pueblo workshop once. He also participates in Story Studio's Novel in a Year Program. He is a first-year fiction creative writing student at the Institute for American Indian Arts' MFA Program. This fall his poetry will be published in Huizache. His other book reviews are at La Bloga, the world's longest-established Chicana-Chicano, Latina-Latino literary blog, Charter House's blog, IAIA's journal, and Los Angeles Review.
