by Laura Frustaci

Eric I. Lu AB'09 MD'16 is a Taiwanese American writer, producer and director. Recently, he developed a TV show with CBS about EMS workers in New York City. Previously, he wrote five seasons on a hit Fox medical drama called THE RESIDENT. Eric concentrated in social anthropology at Harvard College and holds a medical degree from Harvard Medical School, which is where he decided to become a full-time filmmaker after helping to start a Youtube channel called Jubilee Project that has amassed over a billion views online. After moving to LA, Eric directed a documentary called LOOKING FOR LUKE about Harvard College student Luke Tang who had died by suicide, in order to raise awareness about mental health in the Asian American community. Today, Eric is passionate about collaborating and telling meaningful stories that make an impact.

“Growing up, I didn’t even know you could write for TV,” says Eric I. Lu, who was a writer/producer for five seasons on the hit Fox medical TV show The Resident. “There was no one around me who was a TV writer. It wasn’t fathomable or imaginable in my mind.”

Eric was born in Taiwan and raised by his grandparents. At age three, he moved to Dallas, Texas to find his parents. He went on to grow up in the South and then attend Harvard. “For most of my life growing up, I lived a sheltered life in a bubble,” recalls Eric. “At a very young age, I was thinking that I had to be a doctor, so I went into Harvard thinking that would be my path.” However, Eric found himself compelled to try something totally new once he arrived at college, where so many new doors were opened. 

“When I first started at Harvard, an upperclassman concentrating in Anthropology invited me to a class, and it seemed really cool, so I went,” Eric explains. He ended up as a Social Anthropology major. “From Anthro, I fell in love with storytelling.” Eric spent a lot of his time while at Harvard in Dorchester listening to drug addicts tell their stories. “I spent a summer in Taiwan with recovering addicts, and post-grad worked in a prison for addicts in Taiwan.” After that, Eric did in fact end up attending medical school. But somewhere along the way, he fell into creating what would become a multi-million subscriber YouTube channel. “I had fallen in love with filmmaking. It became a calling for me,” Eric reflects. The shorter version of Eric’s story? “I started making films, moved to LA, and one day out of the blue, got an opportunity to write for TV, and that changed the trajectory of my entire life.”

Here’s the longer version. “When I was going to medical school, I never would have said I could write for a medical TV show. I felt like I was living in one, so I avoided medical TV shows altogether,” Eric laughs. Right before entering med school, Eric and his friends started their YouTube channel, the Jubilee Project. “I had done short videos in college with my camcorder, and found it interesting and fun,” Eric says. “One of our short films got 2 million views in the first month, and that blew us away."

“At the beginning, it wasn’t something that crossed our minds, but we were three Asian American guys fresh out of college who had no business getting into filmmaking, but YouTube was a place where your voice could be heard. You could make your own content, and create stories that you resonate with, and reach millions of people,” Eric explains. “During the week I would be in class, and on the weekends I would make videos in LA, Boston, NY, DC, even Spain. We were partnering with different nonprofits and organizations and trying to tell entertaining stories that could also make a positive impact. Storytelling felt like it had this potential to make an impact because of the way it can generate empathy and inspire change. We were seeing people respond to our videos and seeing the tangible impact we could make on peoples’ lives.”

This is how storytelling, TV, media, and medicine intersect for Eric. “There are many ways that you could impact medicine, not just practicing, but through storytelling.” By his second year in medical school, the Jubilee Project had blown up so much that Eric actually ended up taking time off to focus fully on YouTube. Eric says he and his friends just knew it was the right thing to do. “Now is the moment. Now is the time when we go all in. Let’s take that leap of faith,” Eric recalls. “One friend was working at Bain in NYC and one at the White House. We packed our belongings into a car and drove cross country to move in with my parents and create content full time. I fell in love with storytelling and filmmaking and it became this calling for me where it was a bigger sense of purpose. Greater than myself.”

Eric and his friends were working out of his parents’ garage: “It almost felt like a startup,” Eric remembers. “Ultimately we moved out because my parents were very against it. They didn’t support my decision, but I felt like I gained a family through the Jubilee Project team. No matter the vessel for content, the platform or how you’re consuming stories, there’s always stories. People love storytelling and respond to stories that move them. Whether TikTok or a movie theater, all of it is viable as a vehicle to become a storyteller.” Eric and his team traveled around the world and even worked with professional basketball player Jeremy Lin.

“We wanted to change the world and we were foolish enough to try. Why not us? We were young and idealistic.” However, Eric did decide to go back and finish up med school in the end. “Because of my immigrant background as an only child, I respect, honor, and love my parents for the sacrifices they made. So I went back to them and told them I would go back and finish medical school and figure out my path. I will put my heart into the doctor thing.” Eric completed med school and did rotations at MGH, but he felt as though he’d been ripped away from his passion. “I remember sitting in conference rooms at MGH, looking out the window, wishing I was sitting at coffee shops writing.” That mentality is what pushed Eric away from applying for residency. “I told my dean I wasn’t applying for residency, and she looked me dead in the eye, and said, ‘Your films heal, and if we taught you how to heal during medical school, we did our job.’ I wasn’t practicing medicine, but that doesn’t mean medical school was a waste of time.” Medical school provided Eric with the framework he needed to jump into media as a means of healing. 

After graduating med school, Eric learned about and joined Harvardwood. He applied for the Harvardwood TV Writers Program (now the Jeff Sagansky TV Program). That’s how he wrote his first pilot, which landed him his first job as a writer on The Resident. A med school connection called Eric up and asked if he wanted to be involved with the show, and Eric sent over his fresh pilot. “It’s so hard to staff on a TV show. Having a medical background helped. They asked for more work, and that’s where YouTube came in. I know how to tell stories. I had been doing YouTube for ten years. So many components had to come together, and everything I had done leading up to that point did.” And that’s where he’s been writing for the past five years.

When asked what advice he had for creators, Eric responds, “You can do this. It is possible to dream bigger. The unfathomable. Even if it hasn’t even crossed your mind. You never know. Anything is possible... I’m telling you now. Your voice matters. Your stories matter.”

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Laura Frustaci ('21) is an NYC-based actor and writer. She recently completed a yearlong Harvard Postgraduate Traveling fellowship in Edinburgh, Scotland, where she wrote her first full-length play. While at Harvard, Laura studied English and performed with the Hasty Pudding Theatricals, the HRDC, On Thin Ice, and the American Repertory Theater.

Harvard, Hollywood, Hitmen, and Holy Men is the viscerally-immersive memoir from independent film trailblazer and American New Wave Cinema cornerstone, director-writer Paul W. Williams (AB’65) Paul is a key figure in the 1960s-1970s counterculture that birthed a fever-pitch era of originality and innovation in American Cinema. He co-founded Pressman-Williams along with Ed Pressman, shepherding careers of and bringing to the screens the likes of Brian De Palma and Terrence Malick (AB ’65). Paul directed three films before he turned 30: cult classics capturing the voice of a generation — Out of It (1969) starring Barry Gordon, Jon Voight, and Lada Edmund Jr.; The Revolutionary (1970) starring Robert Duvall, Jon Voight, Seymour Cassell, and Jennifer Salt for United Artists; and Dealing: or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues (1972) starring Barbara Hershey, John Lithgow (AB ’67) and Robert F. Lyons for Warner Bros. Pictures. Paul’s new memoir Harvard, Hollywood, Hitmen and Holy Men is an extraordinary odyssey, a fascinating tour-de-force traversing through the highest accolades of Hollywood against an international canvas, to ultimately Paul’s examination of understanding, and if not undoing, then avoiding destruction caused by ego.

Gatsby, a musical stage adaptation of the legendary F. Scott Fitzgerald novel, will make its world premiere at the American Repertory Theater under Terrie and Bradley Bloom Artistic Director Diane Paulus (AB ‘88) in 2024.

Jesse Garcia (Flamin’ Hot) will star opposite Eva Longoria, George Lopez, Paulina Chávez and Rose Portillo in the Disney+ film Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. The film is produced by Lisa Henson (AB ‘82).

Netflix has given a formal limited series order to Zero Day, a conspiracy thriller from Eric Newman, Noah Oppenheim (AB ‘00) and Michael S. Schmidt, with Robert De Niro attached to star and executive produce in his first series regular television role.

Bebe Neuwirth is set to guest star in the Cheers revival series Frasier! She won two Emmys for her work as Lilith in the former. One episode will focus on a reunion between Lilith and Frasier at the birthday party of their son Freddy, played by Jack Cutmore-Scott (AB ‘10).

San Jose Stage Company has announced the full cast and creative team for The Stage's upcoming Regional Premiere of the 2020 Tony Award-nominated comedy, Grand Horizons by Bess Wohl (AB ‘96).

The Mosquito Bowl by Buzz Bissinger (Nieman Class of ‘86) is top of the Washington Post’s list of best books from 2022 that they read in 2023.

Okwui Okpokwasili (Agatha: Coven of Chaos) is the newest addition to the cast of Blumhouse, Morgan Creek, Universal and Peacock‘s continuation of The Exorcist, which is executive produced by Couper Samuelson (AB ‘02).

Maestra Music will present Amplify 2023, its third annual concert and community event on Monday, March 27, 2023 at 8 pm, and will feature inaugural Harvardwood Artist Launch Fellow Julia Riew (AB ‘22) among others.

The eighth annual Icon Mann Honors dinner saluted The Woman King filmmaker Gina Prince-Bythewood, Sidney director Reginald Hudlin (AB ‘83) and Uzodinma Iweala, CEO of the Africa Center NYC and author of the NYT bestseller Beasts of No Nation.

Our very own Uzma Hasan (GSAS '03), one of our NY Chapter heads, has successfully released the feature-length dance film Creature directed by Asif Kapadia, which is being heralded as “revolutionary,” with ferocious performances and broad appeal.

Benjamin Millepied’s new film Carmen, with a score by Nicholas Britell (AB ‘03) stars Paul Mescal and Melissa Barrera as an undocumented immigrant and a border patrol guard who fall in love and go on the run together.

After its premiere at SXSW, The Hollywood Reporter said that Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves from writer-directors Francis Daley & Jonathan Goldstein (JD ‘95) “will appeal to the nostalgic side of existing fans” and entertain those who aren’t already Dungeons and Dragons enthusiasts.

NPR's Michel Martin (AB ‘80), the long-time weekend host of All Things Considered and co-host of the Consider This podcast, is moving to weekday mornings to become a host of Morning Edition.

David E. Tabert is coming to town with Twas’ the Night, a musical anthology series in the works at Disney+ with Becky Hartman Edwards (AB ‘85) (Firefly Lane) executive producing.

Mike Schur (AB ‘97) is reuniting with star Ted Danson for a scripted comedy series based on the 2021 Oscar-nominated best documentary feature The Mole Agent which has landed at Netflix with an eight-episode straight-to-series order.

Despite competing with the Oscars, the viewership of  the Season 1 finale of The Last of Us, executive produced by Carolyn Strauss (AB ‘85), reached a series high of 8.2 million views, which also marks a 74% increase from the series premiere in January.

Broadway Women’s Fund, Broadway’s first impact investment fund, has announced its fourth annual Women to Watch on Broadway list, spotlighting women in leadership roles in the New York theatre industry, which includes inaugural Harvardwood Artist Launch Fellow Julia Riew (AB ‘22).

Sony announced that they will release the starry Craig Gillespie film Dumb Money on the GameStop short squeeze of 2021 on October 20. The buzzy feature is based on the Ben Mezrich (AB ‘91) book ‘The Antisocial Network’.

Hotel Cocaine, a new show that is executive produced by Alfredo Barrios Jr. (AB ‘91, JD ‘94), has been ordered straight to series! It follows Roman Compte, a Cuban expatriate who fought against Fidel Castro in the Bay of Pigs invasion and re-made his life in Miami.

Barry Keoghan and Denzel Washington are both in talks to join the sequel to Ridley Scott’s Gladiator, produced by Lucy Fisher (AB ‘71) and starring Paul Mescal with a script from David Scarpa.

Georgia Flood, Conor Merrigan Turner and Essie Randles have joined the cast of Peacock’s upcoming limited series Apples Never Fall, based on author Liane Moriarty’s bestselling novel and executive produced by David Heyman (AB ‘83).

BroadwayWorld calls Theatre Royal Brighton’s production of Heathers, with lyrics and book by Laurence O’Keefe (AB ‘91) “a deeply disturbing and beautifully accomplished production.”

The Hollywood Reporter calls the new series American Born Chinese, with writing by Vali Chandrasekaran (AB ‘03), “wildly entertaining” with “occasionally touching results” and “a delightfully zippy update to the source material.”

Rashida Jones (AB ‘97) has joined Kate McKinnon to star in In the Blink of An Eye, a sci-fi drama that Andrew Stanton is directing for Searchlight Pictures.

IndieWire states that the new film Air, directed by Ben Affleck and starring Matt Damon (AB ‘92), “shoots and scores” with a phenomenal cast and impactful story.

Theatre B presents Small Mouth Sounds by Bess Wohl (AB ‘96) from April 28-May 20! Six runaways from city life embark on a silent retreat. As these strangers confront internal demons, their vows of silence collide with the achingly human need to connect.

Former Senator Al Franken (AB ‘73) returned to his roots of late-night comedy, sitting in the host's chair for this week headlining The Daily Show as a guest host following Trevor Noah’s departure.

Night Shyamalan’s newest feature, Knock at the Cabin, executive produced by Steven Schneider (GSA ‘06, AM ‘06), has begun streaming on Peacock.

“This will be a pop art Dracula.” So says Nicolas Cage about his Andy Warhol-inspired portrayal of Dracula in the upcoming film Renfield, which also stars Nicholas Hoult and Awkwafina and is produced by David Alpert (AB ‘97)! The film releases on April 14, 2023.

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In these unprecedented times, we are doubling down on providing impactful programming that not only helps our membership build and further entertainment careers, but create socially active habits and spheres of influence and knowledge. The entertainment industry is changing before our eyes, and our recent programming is just the tip of the iceberg. We'd love your help in furthering this mission. In various capacities, we work hard to create programming that you, the membership, would like to be engaged with. Please consider joining Harvardwood and becoming an active member of our arts, media, and entertainment community! 

 

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