Little video lands film student a big role on Academy Awards’ Team Oscar

Nathan Flanagan-Frankl ’14 does a lot with his one minute video
For Your Consideration
. He introduces himself, gets a laugh, describes how he hopes to change the film industry, gets another laugh, and makes an insightful commentary about something that’s been bugging him for a while – that there just aren’t enough Asians in front of Hollywood’s cameras.

And he does it all so well that the zippy pitch video filmed on the Chapman University campus won him a spot on this year’s
Team Oscar
, a group of six college filmmakers who will hand those coveted golden statuettes to celebrity presenters at the Academy Awards on March 2. Beginning next week the film production major with a minor in leadership studies will join his fellow student filmmakers for a whirlwind week of studio tours, meet-and-greets at pre-Oscar events and show rehearsals.

Flanagan-Frankl, who also volunteers as a Chapman Ambassador, sings in the competitive a capella club Sound Check and works as an intern at
Scooter Braun Projects
, still marvels at his good fortune. To be at the Oscars in any capacity was something he imagined would take years to achieve.

“I’m skipping the line,” he jokes.

But he’s deserving of the honor, says his faculty mentor
Sally Rubin
, assistant professor.

“He’s the kind of guy you’d think would be a producer. He has people skills but he also has a highly creative and technical side of his personality that’s helped him in his documentary films,” Rubin says. “He has the drive and he can back it up with solid talent.”

He and the other students were chosen for the select team from a nation-wide video contest that challenged them to explain how they planned to “contribute to the future of film.” Flanagan-Frankl didn’t have to think twice about his message.
For Your Consideration
draws from the same topics he is addressing in his senior thesis documentary, tentatively titled
The Bamboo Ceiling
. In it he examines the stereotypical roles of Asians in film history and argues that it’s time to branch out.

“When you see Asians in film they’re in roles that are either Kung Fu, or just the nerdy student or they’re representative of Gangnam style or they’re foreign and they can’t assimilate,” he says. “You can take it really offensively.”

But for the contest video he chose a humorous touch, even briefly portraying himself as a clumsy martial arts fighter. “My heroes will represent all different stories on this planet and allow kids like me to go to the movies and see someone they can relate to,” he says in the video narration.

Flanagan-Frankl was born in South Korea and adopted by an American couple at six months of age. That he is not the child of Asian immigrants further underscores his point that there is no singular Asian-American experience or identity.

“There are so many stories,” he says.

Next week he’ll begin telling his Oscar story as part of the swirl of social media that precedes and follows the big event. He’s already been fitted for his tux, and watched taped Oscar programs to see just how the student wranglers do their stuff.

“You walk with the presenter and show them where to stand, so you’re leading these people who are such power players in the industry,” he says.

And what’s his job entail if one of the honorees trips on the steps, as sometimes famously happens?

“I don’t think I’ve been given that protocol yet,” he says. “Hopefully, help them up.”

Of course, Flanagan-Frankl knew about his win before it was announced on the The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Read how he kept the big secret in his essay posted on the Dodge College blog.