Wharton Undergraduate Media and Entertainment hosted 2003 College graduate Lee Sung Jin for an April 17 discussion about “Beef” — his award-winning Netflix series.
The three-time Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning director shared filmmaking advice during the event and discussed the creation of “Beef” following the debut of its second season on April 16. The discussion included a screening of four excerpts from the show and concluded with a question and answer session.
“This show is about the perspective of love changing over time,” Lee said. “I love for people to feel something true and honest in the show, and hopefully it’s also been entertaining.”
Lee discussed the personal experiences that motivated both seasons. The first season’s opening scene was informed by a road rage accident he was involved in, and season two took inspiration from an argument he overheard in his neighborhood.
He explained that younger “Gen Z” listeners are often “aghast” at the scene from the second season while his “Millenials and Gen X peers” treat it as a common occurrence. “That dichotomy of perspective when it comes to love and marriage I thought was fascinating,” Lee added.
He also emphasized the importance of cultural representation, noting that “there’s so much progress that’s been made” in the film industry.
“When I was coming up … I was usually the only person of color on staff,” Lee said. “Anytime you would see an Asian face on screen, it was very stereotypical.”
Lee discussed the story structure a show should follow, using analogies from music theory to explain how narrative arcs can rise and fall.
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“I played a lot of music growing up, and music theory is very similar,” he added. “There’s only six to seven chord progressions that are very pleasing to the modern ear,” following the same rise-fall structure.
College of Liberal and Professional Studies junior Arica Himmel described Lee’s talk, specifically his comparison between music theory and writing, as “incredibly unique” in an interview with The Daily Pennsylvanian.
“I’ve never heard that perspective before, and so I enjoyed it a lot,” she said.
Lee reflected on his undergraduate years at Penn, describing a campus culture heavily oriented toward “the investment banking track.” He said he initially followed that path by majoring in economics but was always drawn to more “creative things.”
“I wish I would have listened to that inner voice,” he said, referring to his interest in comedy and performance during college.
College junior Bea Hammam, who is “looking to get into the industry,” expressed appreciation for hearing from a Penn alumni who decided to take on a “creative path.”
“It was nice to hear him talk about story structure and the inspirations he takes from both music and his everyday life,” she told the DP.
College senior Miraya Gesheva, whose “dream is specifically to be a showrunner,” explained that she was “excited” to hear from “somebody who is doing exactly what I want to be doing one day.”
After graduation, Lee “moved to New York with literally nothing.” He recounted how “someone had broken in and stolen quite literally everything I own, including my Penn diploma” soon after that move.
College junior and Co-President of UME Élan Martin-Prashad— a DP staffer — moderated the event. Martin-Prashad, Co-President of UME and Wharton sophomoreMichelle Lee, and Cinema and Media Studies professor Meta Mazaj concluded the event by surprising Lee with a new Penn diploma — which was met with applause from the audience.
