- George Chung
- May 1, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: May 10, 2024
With the success of the John Wick legacy, other creatives are starting to ask, “What is possible if action films were created, directed, and starring real-life martial artists and stunt performers?”
The Proposal is a short, brought from idea to execution by Neraida Bega (Mike Chat’s wife) and the 87 North Pro Stunt Class Team went to work on a "class assignment" from director David Leitch to create a gun fight.
Black Belt readers are probably already familiar with Mike Chat and his martial art skills. He serves as producer and stunt coordinator on this project. His wife, Bega trained in muay Thai for seven years. And the director, Dan Liu, is a longtime martial artist who mentioned that he was “always looking to incorporate my experiences to push the boundaries of my storytelling.”
What’s more, Black Belt spoke with Mike about the project as a potential launching pad, not just for a feature film based on the short as proof of concept, but as a series, and more evidence that audiences want to see convincing action stars.
John Wick is so good because both directors, David Leitch (John Wick: Chapter 1) and Chad Stahelski, is a bona fide martial artist (having trained under Dan Inosanto) and a legend in stunt performing/coordinating. Mix in a lead actor, Keanu Reeves, who has 20+ years of experience training in martial arts, and you are going to see some groundbreaking performances and scenes.
The Proposal is a proposal in and of itself, let’s elevate more stunt performers.
Artwork by GRAVILLIS
More about the Film
Through Neraida's vision, she developed this simple concept into a full blown, kick-ass, empowered, sharp shooting, romantic dark action comedy short! This explosive action piece signifies the debut production of her company, NEA Productions!
Logline - A special agent’s plans to propose takes an unexpected turn when his partner loses her temper over her newly scuffed shoes and all hope is lost for a “happy ever after” ending.
AWDPS - Asian Writer, Director, Producer, & Star
Director - Dan Liu (Star Trek Picard, For All Mankind, NCIS Los Angeles, Walking Dead)
Writer - Utter Singh
Producers - Neraida Bega & Mike Chat
Star - Neraida Bega
Director’s Statement: Dan Liu
After a few seasons directing on television shows such as “For All Mankind”, “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,” “Star Trek: Picard”, “NCIS: Los Angeles”, “Shadow and Bone,” and “The Walking Dead”, I was pleasantly surprised when I was approached by our lead actress and producer, the up-and-coming action star Neraida Bega, and producer Mike Chat of 87 North Productions. They had an action comedy concept that was dark with a lot of action potential, but also felt fun, light, and refreshing. As a longtime martial artist always looking to incorporate my experiences to push the boundaries of my storytelling, collaborating with this all-Asian creative team felt like an incredible opportunity to contribute to the continuing push for inclusion, diversity, and female empowerment in our film industry.
Fueled by our female star/producer and writer duo, “The Proposal” started as a simple “gun fight class assignment” from director David Leitch for his next generation stunt team in training. Just to create some choreography. From idea to execution, the 87 North Pro Stunt Class Team went to work. This was also a great opportunity for me to help educate and add value to their tool box as filmmakers. Neraida was part of this process from the very beginning. She brought in our writer Uttera Singh and developed it into a full blown kick ass, empowered, sharp shooting and funny female John Wick dark comedy action short!
What we thought would be a 3-day shoot ended up condensed to a single night due to the availability of the cast and crew, and without any script changes we were determined to get it done and show what we could do. Everyone donated their time, and in the last week of prep, our crew ballooned from 26 to 44 brilliant creatives who came together to make some movie magic! We started filming in the evening, and 16 hours later, we all left the location thanks to a third crew that came in to handle equipment rental and truck drop offs so the rest could get home safely. It was a tremendous effort that I’m extremely proud of and we are looking forward to sharing this short with everyone!
