I just wanted to make movies, but I never though about, "How am I being perceived because of my culture or my skin?"

There are the relationships you make. All of the friends I made in grad school are the closest ones that I have.

The Ryan Murphy television world has assistants who have become producers and writers and. If he trusts you and you have a unique way of seeing his world, he nurtures you.

Being exposed to the Ryan Murphy machine, it is very much a personal extension of him. So, if I can learn from that and tell longer stories that are quite personal, and balance that out with features, then that would be the ultimate dream.

It's a great asset to you, on your first film, to bring some people with you from the television world because they understand the speed that you have to work with to get your grand ideas down.

At some point, you have an opportunity to not be a first-time filmmaker anymore. You can embrace the genre and show the world how you can tell stories on a bigger scale.

I still think that being thrown in a very competitive environment where you really have to see what you are made of - certainly when you come out of nowhere - was good for me.