George Wing is a success in the film industry, balancing a career working for the Hollywood studios with writing and producing independent films.

 

AMIGOS: How did your involvement in AMIGOS influence your career path?

George: I went to film school at NYU because I passionately wanted to make movies. But upon graduation, instead of pursuing film work, I supported myself as a temp in New York City and ran two AMIGOS programs as Project Director, back to back: Paraguay ‘89 and Oaxaca ‘90. I think I knew that I needed some more life experiences, not to mention leadership skills, before I could succeed in film. I had 85 Volunteers and staff depending on me in Paraguay, which interestingly is about the size of a film crew. There are other parallels to making a movie — the timeline of three months is about the same, crazy unexpected stuff is guaranteed to happen, and of course you run out of money before you're done!

 

AMIGOS: How does your new movie "Outsourced" relate to your experiences in Latin America?  

George: Well, "Outsourced" takes place in India but nonetheless it's basically the first-time AMIGOS Volunteer experience on film.  It's a story of sudden immersion in a new culture in a third-world setting, with all the classic stages of culture shock, adaptation, personal growth and coming home a different person.  It's about a guy from Seattle whose job gets outsourced to India. The twist is, his boss makes him go to India on short notice to train his replacement. It's a comedy. Of course, he meets a girl too and has to make a choice once his work is done.

 

AMIGOS: How did you get this movie made?  

George: John Jeffcoat, who directed and co-wrote the script with me, had his own AMIGOS-style experience through the School for International Training (he went to Nepal). So when we came up with the idea together, we both knew all the steps of the character's journey already. We wrote the script fast because we knew we had some topical subject matter on our hands. By the time we were done, a studio movie called "Outsourced" had been announced with Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn planning to star. But we beat them to it; we made a deal with some smart producers who went to work right away, and within a few months we were scouting locations in India.

 

AMIGOS: What was it like to film in India?  

George: I expected much more in the way of problems, sickness and delays than we actually encountered. We worked with a mostly Indian crew who thought the material was funny, and gently helped us correct our cultural mistakes in the script. We filmed mostly in Mumbai and we were met with great hospitality, lots of bizarre experiences and some great food. We had some animals on set — goats, water buffalos and a cow - and several of them gave birth during filming.  If you rent a goat, always ask first if it's pregnant!

 

And of course we had the inevitable cultural misunderstandings even though English was our primary language on set.  For instance, at one point John asked for a water cooler as a prop in an office scene.  Our Assistant Director, Kapil, looked very alarmed by the request and asked John if he was sure. John said he was. Then we waited what seemed like forever, and finally four men showed up with a half-ton industrial machine designed for cooling water. We should have said "water dispenser", which is what it's called in India!

 

AMIGOS: How is the movie doing?  

George: Very well for an independent film. We've had great reviews, plus a theatrical release in about 20 U.S. cities since September, we're in Germany, Australia and Israel right now, and soon we'll have our Indian premiere, which I'm very excited about! The DVD is available on www.outsourcedthemovie.com, and within a few months Amazon and Netflix will have it. There's also a soundtrack CD.

 

AMIGOS: What are you working on now?  

George: I'm writing a script with Steve Carrell attached to star, for Warner Brothers, which is called "High T."  It's about a guy whose testosterone levels go berserk. Plus I have a TV pilot deal with USA Network for a project called "Halo," and most recently we sold "Outsourced" to NBC as a TV show, so we're writing that pilot too. We're working with producers from the hit show "The Office," so it's turning into something like "the Office goes to India."  Hopefully we'll get it on the air.

 

AMIGOS: Anything else you'd like to say?  

George: Sure, I would love to know if other AMIGOS alumni have wound up working in entertainment, and to re-connect with them. I live in Seattle and my number is listed!