Leland Chee

When you were a student, did you do anything outside of school to build skills or get knowledge that has helped your career?

As a huge fan of Star Wars growing up, I knew I wanted to work for Lucasfilm more than anything else. Well, except for maybe becoming a tiger trainer - boy, did I dodge a bullet with that one. I remember seeing a scene in the Making of Empire Strikes Back documentary that showed kids the same age as I was making their own student films. So in junior high, I took my dad's Super 8 mm film camera and dabbled in stop motion animation, and through high school I was very much into video production with friends and for school projects. My junior year in high school, I volunteered for a theater internship at Stanford where I learned about sets, lighting, and sound. In college, I interned for the California State Senate TV channel and was an intern and volunteer producer at the public access television station in Davis. While attending UC Davis, we started our own video production club, since Davis lacked any film production program at the time. Sometimes, if you are not finding ready-made opportunities suited to your career interests, you might have to make your own.

When did you get your first Big Break? How did you get it? How did it go?

After graduating from college, I worked in television for three years, knowing I wanted to someday work for Lucasfilm. During that time, I'd sent multiple resumes for various jobs throughout the company and the farthest I'd gotten was a phone interview for a production assistant position at ILM. Then one day a good friend of mine told me of a mutual friend of ours from college who was working as a game tester at LucasArts. Being a fan of Star Wars and all things Lucas, I was quite familiar with their games even though I did not myself a hardcore gamer. In the LucasArts "Test Pit," I gained a reputation for being a Star Wars experts amongst an entire department filled with Star Wars experts. I also gained database skills which I had no idea would lead me to building the Holocron database three years later.

In layperson terms, what do you actually do at work?

Star Wars expert.

Did anyone ever oppose your career plans when you were young or push you in a direction you did not want to go?

Everything and everyone (including myself) opposed my career plans because I had a job which, at the time, didn't really exist. In the 90s, NO ONE outside Lucasfilm really saw that there would be a future need for Star Wars experts. My roommates in college would constantly be asking me "what are you going to DO with all that Star Wars knowledge?" There's no way I could have known back that one day, I would make that dream come true.

What is the most useful piece of career advice you got as a student, and who gave it to you?

I talked to a random stranger while riding on a chair lift one day and he told me he was voice actor for television commercials. I had no idea such a job even existed but it opened up my mind to a world of career opportunities that before that conversation, I couldn't have even conceived of.

What is the one piece of career advice you wish someone gave you when you were younger?

If you are interested in a career in the entertainment field, read the credits. Know that for every writer, director, or producer on a major film, television show, or video game, there are hundreds of other people with a huge variety roles that go into making that body of work. Even on a book or a comic, there are dozens of people involved in both creative and non-creative support roles that contributed to it that aren't writers and illustrators. Learn about what these people do and which of these, often very specific, roles may be of interest to you.

How did you pick your career? Did you know all along?

I wanted to be a tiger trainer. Then Marine World Africa USA moved to Vallejo shattering those dreams. After that, my ambition was to work on Star Wars, and only Star Wars. It didn't feel realistic at the time because I'd never knew anyone who worked in film or television growing up. But that was always the end goal no matter how unrealistic that goal seemed.

How did you start building your network?

I would tell everyone I knew about my hopes and dreams. Classmates. Family members. Coworkers. I volunteered and interned in theater and television. Straight out of college, I joined organizations that put me in touch with local productions.

What is the biggest challenge you had to overcome to get to where you are now professionally? How did you overcome it?

Graduating college in 1993 when the future of Star Wars was uncertain. No one had any idea when or even if there would be new films having not had a new film in a decade. And even with the potential for new films, there was the question of whether the audience would have the appetite for it - we'd already lived through Star Wars fading into obscurity once. So I bided my time eventually working in television and never gave up hope that Star Wars would return and there would be an opportunity for me to somehow contribute to it.

What is it like when your job gets tough?

Tough with my job usually entails dealing with a deluge of content coming from all sides and on occasion dealing with creatives who might not always see eye-to-eye. Sometimes these things happen at the same time. The solution is being organized, setting priorities, and understanding that we're striving towards common goals. One of my colleagues phrases the situation to the team with the question "is the juice worth the squeeze?" To be able to answer that question, you need to have an honest evaluation of what is expected of you as a contributor and a clear understanding of your objectives and how your objectives align with those of everyone else.