THANK YOU FOR BREAKING MY HEART

THANK YOU FOR BREAKING MY HEART
An AAPI Filmmaker’s Journey Through Love, Loss, and Resilienc
Exclusive Interview with Rachel Leyco
Featured in 'Innerviews'
Hosted by Allié McGuire

​Rachel Leyco is an award-winning filmmaker, actress, and activist whose stories unapologetically merge vulnerability with empowerment. Her latest project, Thank You for Breaking My Heart, recently premiered at the LA Shorts International Film Festival, exploring love, loss, and the will to keep going in the face of heartbreak. Through her production company, Empowerhouse, Rachel continues to push boundaries as a queer AAPI storyteller determined to create space for voices too often left unheard.

ALLIÉ: Rachel, before we get into the layers of your work, let’s start with your latest project, Thank You for Breaking My Heart. For those who haven’t yet seen it, can you share what the story is about?

RACHEL: So, Thank You for Breaking My Heart is a fantasy dramedy queer short film that I wrote, directed, and star in. It really came from this question of what if we couldn’t die by suicide and we had to apply to some kind of magical administration, similar to the DMV. It follows this heartbroken documentary filmmaker and artist who wants to apply to die by suicide. In that process, she has to create either a visual or written essay, and she opts for making a visual essay, kind of documentary-style. Upon reflecting on her life, her past, and her most recent heartbreak, she finds new light and new hope for her life through that process.
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​ALLIÉ: It sounds fascinating. It’s super powerful. I mean, even just the title, Thank You for Breaking My Heart, feels so intimate yet vulnerable.

When you step into the role of both writer and actress in a story that explores heartbreak and even brushes against mortality, how much of yourself did you bring to the screen, and how much did you leave behind the curtain?

RACHEL: I definitely brought a lot of myself into it, especially when I was writing and creating the concept for the film. A lot of it is inspired by my own experiences with heartbreak, not just in romantic relationships, even though the film is largely centered on that, but also heartbreak in relationships with my family or friends.

I also interweave my experiences with mental health and mental illness, because I’m really interested in psychology and mental health, and especially the intersectionality of it all. My queer identity, my Asian identity, and exploring all of that through this lens of relationships.

ALLIÉ: So many layers to uncover and explore. Your work often weaves together identity, queerness, and mental health with both courage and humor. How has your own journey with Bipolar II shaped the way you tell stories, not just on the page, but also in the spaces between takes?

RACHEL: That’s such a great question. In a lot of my work, whether it’s bipolar, depression, anxiety, or mental health more broadly, I try to explore the nuance. It’s not black and white, and that’s where I like to live and tell stories, in that messiness of our lives.

I really bring in my own lived experiences, but I try to look at them through a lens of compassion and grace, while also honoring reality. These are heavy, difficult topics to talk about, let alone portray on film in a way that audiences can truly grasp. ​So I balance that with humor, which is why there’s a lot of humor in the beginning of this film. Comedy is medicine. It’s a way to connect with the audience, to break them open a little, and then go deeper. That’s very intentional in how I structure my work.

ALLIÉ: Let’s talk about your production house. Empowerhouse isn’t just a name. It feels like a manifesto. What does empowerment through storytelling mean to you right now as an AAPI woman filmmaker navigating both the industry and the responsibility of representation?

RACHEL: I started Empowerhouse a while ago, and at first it was honestly just me. Every film project I did was under this banner of Empowerhouse. But last year, I really wanted to expand it and turn it into a true community and team effort, so I brought on a couple of incredibly talented filmmaker friends.

We’re still a very small, tight-knit team, but I’m so proud of what we’ve been able to do in just this past year. It’s definitely more than a production company or a brand. Through storytelling, we want to empower our communities, our queer communities, our AAPI communities, and BIPOC communities.

Hollywood has been really tough through my own experiences. There aren’t many opportunities afforded to us, so a lot of times we have to create them ourselves. That’s why I started this. It isn’t just for me. It’s bigger than me.

Our tagline is that we tell underrepresented stories by underrepresented artists, because we need to be the ones telling our stories through our own perspectives and lenses. I got into filmmaking because I wanted to create those opportunities for my people, opportunities that weren’t given to me. In empowering my community, I also empower myself.

ALLIÉ: I love that. Of the people, by the people, for the people. Nothing for us or about us without us. You’ve partnered with incredible creatives, from Rain Valdez to Rosario Dawson. When you collaborate with other visionaries, what do you look for in that creative chemistry, and how do you know when it’s a story worth telling together?

RACHEL: That’s a beautiful question. Collaboration and community are my favorite parts of filmmaking. It’s truly a team sport.

When I look for collaborators, it really comes down to alignment. I want to know who they are, what they’re passionate about, and what their values are. If those align, you can feel it. I’m very intuitive, so when I sit down with someone and talk about who they are and the art they want to make, the chemistry either flows or it doesn’t. ​When it flows, it’s magical. That’s what I look for, and that’s very much how it was with Rain, Rosario, and my Empowerhouse team.
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ALLIÉ: Alignment is everything, especially when artistry is involved. One last question for you today. At the heart of all your projects, there’s a thread of resilience, identity, and love. If you could whisper one line to your younger self, the girl just stepping into theater and commercials, what would you say about who you’ve become?

RACHEL: Oh wow. One line… I think I would say, “You’ve got this.”

Younger Rachel was probably anxious and trying to figure out how any of this was even possible. But looking back, everything really does happen for a reason, on its own time. I truly believe that when something is meant to happen, it finds a way. So yeah, “You’ve got this.”

ALLIÉ: That’s a beautiful whisper.

RACHEL: I think so too. ∎
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Find & follow Rachel on Instagram:
​@rachel.leyco