College students can change their majors as frequently as they change the sheets. But imagine completely switching careers ““ especially after going through the rigors of postgraduate study at both Boston University and Harvard, with a near-guarantee of a lucrative job as an attorney.
Filmmaker Tim Chey did just that.
Chey, now coming out with his fourth and latest film, “The Genius Club,” a product of his return to school several years ago when he enrolled in film classes through UCLA Extension.
“The Genius Club,” which was released in theaters last week, explores the different aspects of what makes a genius, and how that genius could aid in the solving of world problems.
Each of the characters is a different type of genius ““ there’s a painter, a scientist, an economics professor, and even a pizza delivery guy (played by Stephen Baldwin).
“(That character) was patterned after somebody I met who was a projectionist at a movie theater,” Chey said. “He was probably the smartest guy I ever met in my entire life.”
While Chey received his undergraduate education at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, he was unable to find a job in film ““ like many young graduates who can’t seem to catch a break in such a competitive industry. So he headed to the East Coast with the intention of going a more stable route, only to discover that it wasn’t exactly the career for him.
“I practiced law for two years and hated every minute of it. It was the worst experience of my life,” Chey said. “I literally regretted getting up in the morning every day. I was a horrible law student, a horrible business school student, and a horrible lawyer.”
So Chey traveled to Hong Kong, where he tried to figure out his next step. His decision proved to be a risky one, especially considering the relative job stability he’d had as a lawyer. While Chey’s passion for film had never died off, it wasn’t until this trip that he realized he had more than just desire for filmmaking ““ it was a need.
“I decided I would just go back and it would be Hollywood or bust,” Chey said. “I would just be a filmmaker and that would be the thing I would do the rest of my life. It was so clear, that vision, so that’s what I did.”
Over the next few years, Chey’s time spent at the UCLA Extension was spent with classes in screenwriting, pre-production, post-production and directing from instructors he would characterize as geniuses themselves.
“What’s interesting is that (“West Side Story” star) Natalie Wood went to UCLA Extension and she said it was the best time of her entire life, even more than being a movie star,” Chey said. “(She said that) taking all these different courses was just phenomenal. And I felt the same way. It was just a breath of fresh air. I must have taken at least a dozen courses there.”
Chey said he believes that the extension school, which focused on a more practical approach to making it in an industry that is not very welcoming to newcomers, prepared him more thoroughly for life in the movies than an education at a four-year program would.
“I actually think it’s a whole lot better in many cases because you’re getting real-world instructors who’ve taught and who’ve actually written scripts,” Chey said. “I went to film school, but when I went to UCLA Extension, it blew everything else out of the way. It really taught you the nuts and bolts of filmmaking.”
Almost immediately upon his return to Los Angeles, Chey got straight to work on his first film, 1997’s “Fakin’ Da Funk” which starred Pam Grier and went on to become one of USA Network’s highest-rated movies.
Over the next 10 years, Chey wrote and directed two films and one documentary.
At UCLA Extension, Chey’s colleagues were of the same high caliber as his “Genius Club” characters, and perhaps influenced some aspects of his filmmaking.
“You can meet a lot of people who are up and coming who are going to be very powerful forces in the industry later on for sure,” Chey said.