Meet David Yang | Filmmaker & Production Company Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with David Yang and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi David, putting aside the decision to work for yourself, what other decisions were critical to your success?
One of the biggest decisions I made was probably to have a “can do attitude”, but also knowing when to put my foot down and draw the line. It becomes easy as freelancers or startup business service provider to say yes to all your new potential leads and clients. But I think once I realized the power of saying No, it was a game changer for me. Rather than trying to work with all the new prospects coming my way, I set boundaries. I would vet my leads with a kick off meeting to see if we were a right fit or not, and making sure I’m doing work that helps me and the client grow and prosper, rather than taking on jobs I know we aren’t a good fit for and it would just hurt my work and not be fair for the customers. I gave me more power to decide the projects I want to take on and perform better for the clients.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My career has taken many turns throughout the years. Straight out of college I was working as an associate producer and Key Grip for a local Video Production company called Snakebyte Productions in Oceanside. For the longest time I was gaffing on projects in LA until finally recently opening my own production company DenimStitch Creatives. These days I’m a Commercial Director and business owner. I would say my directing is strongly influenced by lighting, and my love for wild stories. Till this day I’m either a cinematographers best friend or worse nightmare because I can be a lot more technically particular about lighting on set. I also love employing a darker humor in my stories, as my professor Brian Cross used to say “everything is comedy with you.” I’ve also embedded my creative approach into my company and we create a very specific type of narrative brand story that’s not for everyone, but then again we don’t want to be for everyone.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Definitely taking them to eat. Because that’s all I do in my free time. Bistro Na, CHICHA San Chen, etc. Basically it would be a huge food trip with me. Also I might take them to some vintage malls, that’s another thing that me and my friends love to do. If it was during snowboard season I’d definitely take them to snowboard at Big Bear or maybe we can go up to Mammoth if they are down for the trip.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
There’s a lot of people that have given me encouragement and support throughout my career.

I want to give a shout out to my girl friend and my mom for always being there through the tough times and the good. They are always there to help me out, provide emotional support, and push me to further my goals in life.

I want to thank my mentors at WBC Films: Jeff and Wingel for always supporting me and taking me along their ventures and helping me gain the confidence to run my own company.

Big thank you to my roommates and friends who put up with my crazy ideas, and fight the battles with me.

Website: https://denimstitchcreative.com

Instagram: @David.y.sheep

Image Credits
Jia Xu, Angus Cheung, Carrie Liu, Lydia Lee