My Election Experience
Went from 0 to 100 real quick…
With Joe Biden’s grab at the magical number of 279 yesterday, I can’t help but reflect on how important this election was to me and how much effort I put into it despite being kind of distant from politics till recently.
It’s not a coincidence that when the primaries had started early last fall, so did my interest in journalism. I pivoted from the practice of creating fictional worlds at my film school and started to walk over to Annenberg’s journalism school nearby to learn about real stories. I figured that it was important for me to learn what to make movies about than just how to make movies themselves (think J.J. Abrams’ dad told him something like that). It was one of the best decisions I made last year, not only because it taught me a new form of storytelling or that it trained me to be a proven-under-fire TV producer or that I started to stay on top of current events like never before, but because it was my introduction to politics.
As a producer for both a mobile news show and live TV news across the year, I started to (almost obsessively) follow political news, for my jobs and me personally. The 2020 election was part of the reason to be in journalism because I thought it was so important, but I didn’t think I’d actually get involved in politics itself. Yet, as the race continued and I kept covering the primary races in some form pretty consistently, I grew a deep passion for politics that motivated me to go beyond just reporting it after three years of seeing endless, soul-sucking headlines. I wanted to take a stab at shaping the very political stories I was covering.
I never thought I would step away from being behind the camera in our studio to being in front of one for national TV. I started to represent USC a few times when presidential candidates in the primaries would take questions from students during special televised events. A nerve-racking jump into the political world for sure, but I figured I was asking the right questions young voters had in mind, especially on climate change, and felt like I was contributing to the election in a small way (all while wearing the same shirt).
At this point, I knew I wanted to be invested in it. Primary debates turned from mere highlights on YouTube to major events in my week as I joined watch parties. Political conversations with roommates became a nightly 2 a.m. routine. Donations to key Senate races were made and political books read. And rewatching episodes of New Girl evolved into educating myself on our political system, from the electoral college to gerrymandering to questions like, “Can a president pardon himself?” I even had the opportunity to meet Kamala Harris and miss a fist bump from Cory Booker.
When the pandemic hit, nothing stopped. Biden quickly became the nominee and I joined South Asians for Biden (SAB). Weekend phonebanking to Wisconsin was a necessity and creating graphics to market phonebanks was fun (Canva is great btw). But, as I continued down this political adrenaline path, I lost sight of my roots… after all, I have a degree in film.
So, unsurprisingly, I decided to make short films for SAB without them always knowing. It would often consist of making a video for a few weeks on my own and hoping the Rapid Response Team would like it (and they did!). One video is a 30ish-second “spot” to remind and hype people to vote (heavily inspired by Apple’s iPhone 12 film (because I love Apple)). The other is a 5ish-minute profile documentary on one of SAB’s directors who I worked with. SAB continues to be one of the most supportive environments I’ve been in and a great way to learn more about grassroots organizing.
Now, I couldn’t be happier to have worked on a winning campaign — one that is etched into history as one of the most important races of our lifetimes. One that proves we can change in a time of crisis and that the last four years could be seen as an aberration. I understand that presidents aren’t everything and a culture war still ravages our nation in a divisive era, but for the first time, especially in 2020, there’s something to look forward to. The last time I saw people publicly pop champagne bottles was on campus in March — when seniors knew they weren’t going to have an in-person graduation.
I’m hopeful that the country can begin a path of healing through the social, economic, and health issues that have inundated my push notifications basically every morning… and if anyone needs a political video, I’m here.
