Crafting Good Work and a Good Life: An Interview with Michael Yu

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“My passion for growing, for making work, and for understanding the business, can be consuming. So, balancing health, both physical and mental, with work and career feels crucial.”

Nearly a decade after writing and directing his first short film, Michael Yu has been reflecting a lot on his journey—as a filmmaker and as an individual.

A native of Hong Kong, Michael was born into a Chinese-Scottish household and spent time with family from across the globe. His interest in filmmaking began at a young age, and he’s since dipped his toes into many genres and forms.

Beyond the fiction world, he’s directed and produced a promo video for the MC of the Standard Chartered Marathon, along with numerous music videos.

Narrative film remains his top priority, however. His first short film was a Western flick, followed by a romance tale that scored his first film festival award. Then came a number of dramas that screened at the likes of the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, and a thriller, Rented Life (2022), which was selected for the Huntington Beach Cultural Film Festival.

Currently in post-production, his latest short film Taichi-ing (2025), is a tender drama examining the relationship between a traditional grandfather, a distant grandson, and a glowing taichi sword.

As he begins developing his new feature-length screenplay, Michael shared with us a bit about where he’s at: his journey, creative process, and unique background.

Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Hey, Michael. Thank you for being here. It’s really exciting to see that it’s been almost 10 years now since you began your filmmaking journey. What inspired you to start? Who were you then?

Thank you. I’m really excited to be able to do this.

Back then? Gosh. I played a ton of soccer—or football, I should say. I don’t love that I say soccer now, actually… been in the US too long.

Right before I started making films, I had just joined this wildlife photography group. Well, it was more like a go-hiking-and-bring-your-camera-along sort of situation. I did it with another friend who also really enjoyed photography, and we just had fun taking photos of things. That gave me the sensibility around, okay, there’s this thing called a camera, and you can capture things with it.

I don’t think I was thinking about telling a story; I was just capturing. Keeping track of what I was seeing… my perspective. That, I think, was interesting to me. I doubt I was conscious of it at the time, but it was cool.

Why was it important to show your own perspective? What were you hoping to gain? Or why do you think, in hindsight, it was something that felt “cool” to you?

I don’t want to be that guy who’s like, “Oh, I was never truly understood growing up”. None of us are fully understood. Still, being in the particular cultural situation I was in then, in between the local and international crowds of Hong Kong, shaped me.

As the child of a mixed family—part Scottish, part Chinese—it was complicated. And since I don’t really look that mixed either, I look pretty East Asian, I always felt like I didn’t fully belong either with the mixed kids or with the fully Chinese kids.

I think that’s part of why perspective mattered for me back then. Maybe I wanted people to see the world the way I did, since I didn’t feel entirely understood. Photography gave me that. And then filmmaking took it further, drawing from all these other art forms into this ultimate form of showing perspective.

So, your mixed background played a role. Where do you see yourself as a man now? What about you fits the Western definition of man? What about you fits the Eastern definition?

Oh, I’ve never really thought about it in quite that way. Sometimes I notice it when I go back home to Hong Kong, spend time with my Chinese family, and then come back to the U.S. with my American friends. I realize how much I’m drawing from both sides. I’m in a privileged position because I don’t have to be just one thing.

I’ve always been surrounded by multiple versions of masculinity. From my Western side, I enjoy communication. I enjoy being open, listening to my feelings, and sharing them where I feel comfortable. From my Eastern side, I deeply value family. Not just quality time but consistent time. That’s something I’ve been missing more since moving to the U.S..

With my Western side, there’s this sense of confidence that you can become whatever you believe yourself to be, a kind of individualism. Sometimes the Asian part of me wishes I had more of that: being “deserving” of good things, not just because you work hard. So, I grapple with that.

I’m making very broad generalizations. It’s much more nuanced than that. But these are the feelings that come up when I’m around different cultures. Ultimately, I, like most of us, want to be the best version of myself. So I try to draw what I see as “the best” from all these different cultures and make it my own.

It’s interesting that you mentioned the notion of being the best version of yourself. How do you tackle perfectionism? How does it affect your work? What role does your being a man play in your process with respect to perfectionism and achieving the best work you can?

There are definitely things I’m working on. I have some habits that I associate with being “a man” in the more traditional sense, whether Eastern or Western, that can actually hinder my creative process.

One example is pitching ideas that I feel passionate about. I can get fearful that if people don’t like it, it means the idea itself isn’t good. Sometimes that’s true. Other times, they’re just not the right audience for it.

Generalisation here, again, but there’s something about being part Asian that makes me feel that if an idea’s not good enough, it’s on me, that I must keep improving. That drive for being “good enough” sometimes stops me from pitching openly. But the irony is, the more you share your ideas, the better they get. And the better you get at sharing them. In this world, you need to share to make it all work. That’s something I’m learning.

How are you working now on sharing more?

I’m starting small. I’ve been showing work to close friends and family. I really like showing friends who I understand the movie tastes of well. There’s a shared language, and I can interpret their feedback more precisely.

Family, meanwhile, has always been a good support system. Since I live away from most of my core, I’ll send them links when I finish something. It’s not the same as being in a cinema, experiencing it together. That’s why I love film festivals so much. There’s dialogue before and after.

I’m also sharing more with mentors because it’s functionally beneficial to hear their advice. In some ways, I’m almost logic-ing myself out of my reluctance—reasoning through why it makes sense to share, even if it’s uncomfortable.

We’ve talked about family a little bit, but we haven’t mentioned any of the female figures in your life. Speaking about masculinity can sometimes focus on male role models alone. Actually, women play a key role in shaping your sense of masculinity, too. Who are some women in your life, now or in the past, who have really shaped you into the man you are today?

My mother, for sure. She has this unrelenting care for me, my brother, and many others in our family. She’s always willing to go to great lengths to support us in the things that we do. That showed me that family—and the care you give your loved ones—is not only possible but genuinely worth striving for. I aspire to be like that with my own children and loved ones.

My grandmother, on my dad’s side, as well. I spent a lot of time with her and my granddad when I was younger, since my parents had busy jobs. I’d often go to their house after school. My grandma, like my mom, has this constant compassion and understanding. She always gave people the benefit of the doubt, always sought to understand why someone made a mistake—she’s very emotionally intuitive. That willingness to understand others is something I’d like to carry with me in my own journey.

That’s beautiful. I’m also aware that you’re quite committed to taking care of yourself. Tell us about your journey with wellness—mental or physical—where you’re at now, and how it’s influencing your work.

Oh my gosh. I love wellness, but it’s also a double-edged sword. You can get stuck in it.

Last year, I got obsessed with running. It became such a big chunk of every day that I ended up with no energy or time left for anything else. That was a bit unhealthy.

But overall, I’ve been fortunate on my wellness journey. I had my crazy party years and my intense sports years. Now I’m at a point where I’m taking care of my sleep, diet, and trying to keep regular physical activity. All while balancing that with the demands of film and television, which is a weird industry, especially right now.

My passion for growing, for making work, and for understanding the business, can be consuming. So, balancing health, both physical and mental, with work and career feels crucial. I’m beginning to find my footing in that. It’s not perfect, but I’m getting there.

Any advice, then, on that note?

Yeah. Rest. For those of you working constantly, who throw yourselves into the thing you care most about, rest is so important, mentally and physically. I’ve burnt out too many times.

It feels counterintuitive because resting doesn’t feel productive. But it actually propels your work further. Rest allows your body and mind to recharge, so you can go full force when you return. That’s been very helpful for me, so I hope it helps others, too.

More broadly speaking, any advice you’d give about your life, your work, or where you’d like to go, in terms of being the best version of yourself?

Always rest. Health is number one. For artists, always be creating. For non-artists with nine to fives, your priorities might look different, but I’d encourage you to use your time outside of work with the people you love.

You might like some of your colleagues, sure, but it’s not the same as being with family, close friends, or your partner. And there’s not much time. It’s crazy that it’s been almost 10 years since my first film. Time just goes by like that. So make the most of it. The people around you—the ones you truly love and care about—play a huge part in that. That’s something I’ve been thinking about more and more.

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