Jieho Lee HBS '00 (Writer & Director, THE AIR I BREATHE)
By Amit Samuel
After more than five years, Jieho Lee (HBS '00) has finally reached the top of the mountain. THE AIR I BREATHE, a feature film he directed and co-wrote, opens this month. With a constellation of stars including Kevin Bacon, Brendan Fraser, Andy Garcia, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Forrest Whitaker, THE AIR balances Asian and American sensibilities - something Jieho has been doing his entire life.
For Jieho, graduating from Wesleyan meant freedom to pursue his creative ambition. For his Asian parents, it meant grad school. He compromised by directing music videos and commercials in the summers while attending Harvard Business School. Both endeavors played important roles in his development as a filmmaker. Though the summers spent directing sharpened his creative instinct, HBS conferred something perhaps more important: the ability to realize his creative vision. Harvard Business School may not come to mind as an ideal training ground for aspiring filmmakers, but for Jieho it was exactly that. It focused his creativity, rewarded collaboration, and emphasized results. A business plan is, in fact, not unlike a script. Both require clearly articulating an idea, assembling a team, arranging for financing, and effectively managing an enterprise with countless moving parts. It is, after all, show business.
With his formal education finally behind him, Jieho devoted himself full-time to his craft. One of his short films won best cinematography at the Florida International Film Festival - a first for a short film. The short caught the attention of festival coordinator and screenwriter Bob DeRosa. After the festival, Jieho went to see the production of DeRosa's stage play. Jieho, realizing that they shared the same storytelling sensibility, asked DeRosa to help him with an idea that came to him partially in a dream. DeRosa agreed. Ten months later, they had co-written THE AIR I BREATHE.
While Jieho worked on his film, he also followed a well-worn path to success in Hollywood. He applied to work at a talent agency, temped around town, and networked. Hollywood success, he quickly found out, was vastly different than Harvard success. At Harvard, success could be measured with extrinsic metrics: grades, standardized tests, and diplomas. Hollywood has no such metrics. There are no end-of-the year progress reports, no explicit core requirements. There is only a constant struggle between self-doubt and self-confidence. Unfortunately, the ability to weather sustained periods without any real progress is necessary - but not sufficient - for Hollywood success.
With a strong business plan and a well-regarded script in hand, Jieho began to flex his B-school muscle. He secured initial financing from his HBS classmate, assembled a production team, and worked to attach actors to his film. As a first-time director, an engaging story with interesting characters was not enough to attract top talent. Jieho also had to prove that he had a well-designed plan to bring the story and characters to life.
His plan, though, had to be constantly rethought and redone. During a film's development, the actors, the producers, and even the script itself changes repeatedly. For over five years, Jieho managed his film as its fortunes waxed and waned. Even though at the bottom of every Cup-o-Noodle dinner was the gritty residue of self-doubt, he held firm and ultimately achieved his goal. He shot his feature over one grueling month in Mexico City, and THE AIR I BREATHE had its festival premiere at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival.
With the theatrical release of THE AIR I BREATHE, Jieho has climbed a significant mountain. For many aspiring filmmakers, Jieho's achievement is the very expression of Hollywood success. But, when asked, Jieho doesn't express relief. He responds with a Korean aphorism, “mountain after mountain.” Whatever challenges lie ahead, Jieho no doubt has a plan.
Photo above: Jieho Lee (2nd from R.) and his THE AIR I BREATHE cast at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival