GS: Didn’t your wife voice any objections?
SC: My wife really just went along for the ride. She really didn’t say don’t do it or do it. There wasn’t a big discussion. It’s just the way my relationships are. It wasn’t the weirdest thing I had ever done.
GS: So what did you get out of working at McDonalds? Any new perspectives that proved useful?
SC: No, I just kind of wanted to clean my brain. After eight years of nonstop producing I just really did not want to think about TV and read trade journals. I just wanted to do a brain wipe.
GS: After McDonald’s you made independent films for Fox and programming for the Q2 spinoff of Barry Diller’s QVC. About what time frame was that?
SC: 93-96.
GS: Did any films or programs emerge from that period?
SC: I stunk at it, much as I wanted to produce. Not my skill set. I did secure the rights to Ironman in those days with Nick Cage attached, but I could not get a great script written. A film producer is a juggler. In television I was the buyer and the seller at the same time… which for me was more fun and I was better at it. As Clint says… a man has to know his limitations.
This photo was taken from a sliding door opening out of the second floor of the red barn at the back of the house which Stephen Chao converted from a 13-unit apartment building after purchasing it in January of 2000. Six units became his family home. Four were converted into a guest house for his mother. (Photo courtesy Stephen Chao)
GS: What did you do between 1996 and April 1998 when you went to work at the USA Network?
SC: 96-98 I had been putting up/creating/buying satellite channels in South America for the Cisnerors Group who were major owners of the Hughes satellite platform in South America.
GS: How did you enjoy working at the USA Network (from 1998 to 2001)?
SC: Fun. Different from Fox.
GS: Tell us about your involvement with the Monk series.
SC: I had hired an ex ABC executive, named Jackie Lyons. As a matter of testing new hires’ taste, I asked to read the best scripts she had read. She gave me Monk among others, which was a busted script at Disney (ABC’s parent company). I read it, and thought it perfect for USA. And that day put an offer to buy in turnaround. I think I spent a record amount at the time, 300k.
GS: Why did you quit your post as USA Network President in December of 2001?
SC: Enough television for me.
GS: What did you do between leaving USA Network and starting WonderHowTo?
SC: Surfed, private equity investments, helped a friend start up an organic kefir company that we subsequently sold, raised kids.
GS: Do you have any other projects in the works?
SC: I’m focused on WonderHowTo. I would love to get on NPR [National Public Radio] since I admire the medium so much. But that requires Jedi mind control. Not so simple.
GS: How has your Asian heritage impacted your life and career so far?
SC: I would not know how to answer that exactly. I think strangers take me seriously because I have an Asian and Harvard background. The starting point is that I am not a flake. That is a good starting point for anyone in life. In fact a privilege. Take away Asian, take away Harvard, and an individual would have to work double time.
GS: What do you do for fun these days?
SC: Surf in Namotu Fiji.
GS: Tell us a bit about your domestic situation — sons, wife/significant other, where you live.
SC: Divorced in ’98. One son is sophomore at Univ[ersity of] Mich[igan]. One is junior in [high school] at Crossroads. [I] have [a] girlfriend named Rachel. I like to discover simple field trips with her. Like going deep into the Valley to find a Gigantor electronics junkyard. I want to visit one very colorful African fishing festival in the Subsaharan Congo: the pictures are otherworldly. I live in Santa Monica in what used to be 13 [apartment] units. Now converted into a single family home. I live in 6. I tricked out 4 units for Mom to come visit me.
GS: What was the source of the money to take so much time off traveling to places like Namotu, buying an oceanside apartment complex in Santa Monica in January of 2000 and funding the startup of WonderHowTo?
SC: Work.
In response to our request for recent photos Chao sent two images of his Santa Monica home. He later promised to send additional images of himself. Several days later when we prodded him for the photos, he emailed the following all-lower-case response (in contrast to his earlier all-caps responses to questions):
“i dont mind pretty much any question. but you[sic] final question was, frankly, ignorant. i am done.”
