Something we haven’t really talked about on Lunar Stories is the intersection of business and art, but Misty Goh’s got you covered. Misty is an NYU Tisch junior majoring in Cinema Studies and minoring in BEMT (Business of Entertainment, Media, and Technology) and French. She’s got a lot on her plate: she currently works at Chelsea Music Festival, is Video Strategy Intern at Fullscreen Media, a global network of content creators and brands, and is in the process of producing a new film. We chatted about Cinema Studies vs. Film, the business side of the film industry and her Singaporean roots on comfy lounge chairs at the adorable Maman Tribeca last month. -Elaine

What’s your name?

I go by Misty, but officially it’s Yu Xi Goh (吴宇希).

How would you define yourself as a creative?

I’m going to be Creative Development Intern at Fullscreen Media this summer, but I actually wouldn’t define myself as a creative, though I have a vision in everything I do. That does include thinking outside of the box, but that doesn’t include an artistic sense.

For example, this year I am Production Manager at Chelsea Music Festival, so the biggest part is building a team, finding interns, as well as programming. I don’t know a lot about classical music. I don’t know the difference between Bach’s first symphony and the second, but I know that night is about Bach.

I’m also co-producing a new film called Ripple. It’s a senior thesis written and directed by Min-Wei Lee, and it’s based on a true story. It’s an all Asian cast and super diverse creative team.

So you’re more behind the scenes, in terms of production?

Yes.

But you’re a cinema studies major?

Yes. So I started out as an Econ major, and I realized very quickly that although I was okay at it, I wasn’t having fun nor was I enjoying the competitiveness. So I wanted to do something that I liked. Since high school, I’ve always really liked performing arts, so I thought Cinema Studies would allow me free time to do internships and things I like. In the end I can still produce films. The goal is not to be a director, like I said I’m not a creative. The goal isn’t to be an actor, either. So I guess I’m looking at the corporate, business side that Cinema Studies allows me to do.

How would you describe or define your Asian identity?

First and foremost, I am from Singapore, so I think of that as home. I was born there. I go back every year. A lot of my culture, my tradition is definitely from there that I try to bring here as well.

How would you say that applies to your work?

Right now there are a lot of pressing issues with diversity, especially in film, you know, Oscars So White, and other global movements. I think in film even though it’s white, rarely do you see people of Asian descent, so that is really important to me when I think about casting, who’s working behind the scenes. For this current short film that I’m producing I’m trying to think of not only an all women behind the scenes crew but also include more people of color and Asians. Same with the music festival. I mean, if you look at classical music it’s predominantly white, but if you look at behind the scenes there are more people of color. Not everyone can afford to play the violin. It’s something about class that you can’t avoid with that sort of industry. I’m always thinking about including all these different people to work with to better the environment.

“Right now there are a lot of pressing issues with diversity, especially in film, Oscars So White, and other global movements. I think in film even though it’s white, rarely do you see people of Asian descent, so that is really important to me when I think about casting, who’s working behind the scenes.”

I remember we were talking about your internships with production companies, kind of their attitudes towards this industry’s treatment of women and people of color…

Yeah. So I was really lucky to have been working with Wild Obscura films. Basically it’s two female bosses–one’s mostly a producer and one’s a director, though each does both. The first day I came in, they said to me, you know we stand up for women, that’s what we do here. If anyone says anything sexist, racist, or ableist or anything against you, you should come talk to us about it. Though we can’t do much to change the industry, we can refuse to work with that person. So that gave me a lot of confidence and comfort knowing that they’re a small company they’re willing to do so much, just for an intern. I just think it’s commendable to be able to stand up to that. It’s so easy to think, you just have to suck up, you just have to adhere to it so that you can rise above the ranks later on, but the fact that they’re doing this, it meant a lot to me.

Do you identify as a person of color, and what does that mean for you in America?

I think everyone in Singapore is a person of color. Racial harmony is a big part of Singapore. In the U.S., I think I’ve been lucky enough to be a part of communities where there are a lot of people of color, be it my boarding school, be it NYU, so I don’t feel out of it. But I definitely identify as a person of color.

So you went to boarding school in the States for high school. Do you want to talk about that experience, and do you feel American at all? Is it a part of your identity?

I do have the accent, so that’s funny. It was sort of an interesting experience because I’m definitely more Americanized than my friends in Singapore, my friends from Singapore here, but it’s also because I’ve lived in this country for so long, and I’ve always been going to American schools.

But if you met someone, you wouldn’t say I’m American.

No, definitely not. I think in the legal sense that’d be a lie. I feel like if I were to call someplace home, it’d definitely be Singapore.

So do you see yourself moving back to Singapore and living there?

The industry there is so small, it is growing though. I think this year we had two films go to Cannes, we just won something at Sundance, which is very exciting. I think a sound mixer from Singapore was just nominated for an Oscar, for La La Land. So there’s hope that the industry will grow, but for the next 5-10 years, I think the U.S., Europe or maybe China is a better place to learn, to develop and build my career before I go home.

Earlier you talked about Asian communities and having that at NYU…

I definitely have a Singapore circle of friends as well as this literature circle that is mostly Singaporean. It’s not exactly a book club, it’s a potluck so you just bring in stuff, and you have all of these Pulitzer-prize winning, New York Times bestselling authors and here they are, just sitting in someone’s living room reading for an hour. You make really interesting friends from all walks of life, they might not even be in the art community, most are, but you get people from architecture, business. It’s called Singapore Unbound and they curate the Singapore Literature Festival and Second Saturdays readings mentioned above. Sometimes it’s poetry night, other night it’s more short stories, they also have open mics as well. I just think it’s a really nice community.

Do you feel like there’s much of a community within Tisch?

I transferred into Tisch so I was maybe two years late because I also did a semester abroad. So I think this is my first year actually in Tisch and even then I spend half my time at Stern doing my minor in BEMT, so I don’t feel a sense of community in Tisch or even in terms of NYU. Of course we have friends that go to NYU but at the end of the day I don’t think we’re friends because of NYU. I guess yes because we met there, but I don’t think we meet at NYU, we don’t talk about NYU, other than, oh shit I have an exam coming up.

“The first day I came in, they said to me, you know we stand up for women, that’s what we do here. If anyone says anything sexist, racist, or ableist or anything against you, you should come talk to us about it. Though we can’t do much to change the industry, we can refuse to work with that person. So that gave me a lot of confidence and comfort knowing that they’re a small company they’re willing to do so much, just for an intern.”

You transferred into Tisch from Econ, and you told me that in high school you were planning on going into physics. How did that decision come about and how did your parents take it?

I was really involved with physics in high school, but I was putting the same amount of hours in labs as I was in theater, because I was stage managing all of the productions as school. I was working late nights, figuring out the cast and crew with the director, all of these problems on set…so I don’t think it was that unnatural for me to switch from Econ to Tisch.

My parents are very liberal and supportive of me going into anything as long as I was happy, so I’m really fortunate to have that.

When you tell people that you switched from Econ to Cinema Studies, do they usually not see the connection?

Definitely, but I do think some aspects of the market is interesting, it’s important to know what’s going on. It’s also just nice to be in the arts. You know your future is going to be about managing your own finances and to be able to know how to do that yet also manage your own stuff, is nice.

We’ve been interviewing a lot of artistic people, but part of what we wanted was diversity and intersectionality and just things that you wouldn’t expect, and I think your work and what you want to do in the industry is very…people don’t think about that aspect.

My culture is very practical. If you think about the Singaporeans at NYU, 90% are probably in Stern or Econ just because they want a stable job and they want to graduate. Not many people are in the arts. It’s been driven into our minds that Singapore is just this small red dot, like we have to fend for ourselves in this big world. It’s not like we’re “old money” because we’re not–we’re such a young country. There’s so many different factors that put us out there and I feel like in order to make it visible we’re growing more and more materialistic. I think Singapore is the most expensive place to live in in the world. It’s crazy.

So to be able to sustain that, there are so many different choices we have to make–like sacrificing marriage until later in life, limiting your number of kids, relationships, career trajectories. That’s why we’re driven to more practical solutions to financial problems. It’s not just that our parents want to be lawyers, doctors. They want us to sustain ourselves. I think we think in terms of 5 years from now instead of next month or next year.

Have you ever felt, in the film industry or in life in general, that your identity as an Asian person has influenced the way that people treat you?

I have been hired for being Asian. I mean, the reason I got so far with the music festival is because I can speak Chinese. The reason I could do so much in Paris was because I can speak Chinese, I can read Chinese. I don’t think that being Asian is such a bad thing. (laughs) Especially with the market going to China, and especially being able to speak English and Chinese and being able to work in a professional setting in both. And French is just a bonus. So I think that knowing what people in China want, what people in America want, finding those similarities that those share, and finding out how to market a film in that way, that’s very desirable for most production companies.

But so many investors are going to Hollywood from China, like HuaYi Brothers had a major part in The Edge of Seventeen. That’s why the lead guy was Asian! He’s a Chinese guy who plays a Korean, but I’m okay with it. (laughs) Baby steps. So things like that give me hope in the industry. I do think we’re moving forward. I think being able to sort of know what we want here in America and compare that to what they want in China, which is definitely the blockbuster action type…I’m not sure if I’ll end up having that kind of job, but it would be a nice job to have, sort of connecting the two and being that bridge. That’s the dream.

Interview by Elaine Lo and Amy Ni.

Find Misty’s upcoming film, Ripple, on Facebook here.