Runtime 90 minutes, Rated PG13.
Starring: Jimmy Dinh, Shelley Dennis, Dominique Swain, Richard Riehle, Keesha Sharp and Amiée Conn.
Directed by Jimmy Dinh

Genesis of You Have A Nice Flight 

For 5 years Jimmy went to acting classes, workshops and auditions in Los Angeles. He discovered that Hollywood writers didn't create many leading roles for authentic Asian characters. He had only 1-3 auditions a year for stereotyped roles as Asian men who were mean, bossy, or flamboyant. So Jimmy decided to take control of his own destiny; he wrote a script for a feature film about a good-hearted, loveable Vietnamese-American guy like himself named Duong Hung who embraces both Vietnamese and American cultures. Some of the characters and scenes in the movie reflect real people and events at airports associated with cultural and language misunderstandings that Jimmy experienced. People often say “Have A Nice Flight” but passengers rarely have that. In Vietnamese culture, we wish to others “You Have A Nice Flight” not “Have A Nice Flight.” 

Movie Financials  

Jimmy and his twin brother, Daniel Phu Dinh, have a very successful eyelash business, Longmi Lashes, in Beverly Hills and Orange County. Many celebrity eyelash clients told Jimmy “Never use your own money to make a movie.”  “Use other people’s money” (UOPM). But who will give money to a first-time filmmaker? How can a first-time filmmaker make a return on the investment since even the big experienced movie production companies produce losers? After for few months of fund raising, Jimmy had 15% of the budget. Jimmy said, “It may take me 50 years to get the full budget! Then I will have to change my character to be over 90 years old.”  So he decided use his own saved money. His family told him, “Use your money to buy a house instead to making a ridiculous movie.” His friend Carole told him, “You’ll lose all your money that you have been working hard and saved for your whole life.”  Jimmy still wanted to make a movie and friends supported him to accomplish his dream. During post-production, a client told Jimmy, “I have a party every year at my house for the Oscar producers to come and tell us about how they made their movies. Your story is very interesting and I would like for you to come and tell them about how you feel and how you made your movie. Like you just said, “I don’t need a house and won’t get married. The money I use to make the movie is like money for my wedding party. People come to the party and have a good time, and I have my wonderful wedding video.”  

Making a movie is not as easy as eating a cookie

Since I had to learn the hard way myself from making this movie, I don’t negatively critic other movies anymore. Instead l ask myself why and what caused it trouble? It’s not easy to make a movie and not all filmmakers are able to finish their movies. 

Good people around you can lift you up during the tough times that filmmakers often go through.  Jimmy was often frustrated and complained about how hard it was to make a movie.  He had to deal with many surprising obstacles and problems from pre-production to post-production. But his friends always had words of encouragement.  His friend Julie said, “Jimmy, it’s a hard job. If you walk around town, you don’t hear about many people making movies.”  When Jimmy was upset at dishonest people who stole money from him during production, his friend and casting agent, Sherrie Henderson said, “You are a survivor. Many times people don’t make it through production, but you did!”  Jimmy explained, “If I get a $58 parking ticket, it makes me unhappy for a day since I don’t want to lose my money that way. “We postponed filming the movie in 2014. We lost $40K. Normally that would make me crazy thinking of if forever.”  But Jimmy’s friend, Bob Daly, consoled him “It’s a blessing.” Jimmy understood completely.  He got healed and let it go without losing one night’s sleep. There are many other stories behind the making of this movie. So much drama. It cost us time, sleep, sweat, tears, blood, stress. There were ridiculous mistakes that could shorten your life.  How did Jimmy make it happen? He got many filmmaker credits and played 5 roles while directing it. Is he a Superman? Is he a workaholic or control freak?  Sorry, we won’t tell you here yet.