Actor and writer Arnold Setiadi is no stranger to personal storytelling and his latest project, Something Good Going On, hits especially close to home. A semi-autobiographical short film, the story follows Christian, a working-class Indonesian-Chinese American teen on the verge of an Ivy League future, and the complicated love he shares with his immigrant father.
“After getting into Yale, I didn’t see many stories like mine,” Setiadi says. “There wasn’t any Indonesian representation… or kids like me who came from first-generation low-income backgrounds. Using Crazy Rich Asians as an example, the title is literally crazy rich Asians, and I was like, ‘I’m an Asian American kid from Bridgeport, Connecticut, which is a lower socioeconomic, multiculturally diverse area’”.
You can view Arnold Setiadi’s pitch video below and support his crowdfunding efforts for Something Good Going On by visiting: https://seedandspark.com/fund/something-good-going-on#story
From Yale Thesis to Short Film
The seeds of Something Good Going On were first planted at Yale, where Setiadi wrote and performed in a full-length play titled Pancasila. “It was very much about placing a lot of my experiences and identity into a comedy-drama play,” he recalls. “But what really stood out… was that nuanced relationship between an immigrant Asian father and the Asian American son”.
After graduating and moving to Los Angeles, Arnold Setiadi knew he wanted to revisit that story. “In an industry that’s so volatile right now, it’s important to make your own work,” he says. “I grabbed that element from the play and made it into a short film. It’s very much based on my own relationship with my dad”.
His father, he shares, originally moved from Indonesia to the U.S. in the 1990s to escape religious and ethnic persecution. “He moved here to become a pilot but ended up taking jobs like being a mailman, and eventually became a waiter at a restaurant in Connecticut,” Setiadi explains. “It forced me to examine different ways of expressing love. Even though he wasn’t able to provide love in a more traditional American way, he worked endlessly to support his family”.
A Tender Reclamation of Narrative
At the heart of Something Good Going On is the bond between Christian and his father Halim, full of unspoken affection, generational tensions, and quiet acts of sacrifice. “It’s about love through leftover sushi, late-night karaoke in the kitchen, and jokes told in three different languages,” he says.
The title, which came late in the creative process, emerged during a free-write scene between the two characters. “Christian is all worried, ‘do I deserve it? Am I going to be fine?’” Setiadi recalls. “And the dad, in the most simple way, is able to reassure him… and just says, ‘You’ve got something good going on for you.’”
“There’s a hesitant optimism to that phrase,” he adds. “It’s not rainbows and sunshine, but there’s always something, whether you’re getting into an Ivy League school or just goofing off with coworkers at the restaurant. Even in betrayal or hardship, you can assume the best in someone. There’s still something good going on”.
Community-Powered Crowdfunding
Now in the midst of crowdfunding, Arnold Setiadi is amazed by the support the project has already received. “We’re well over 55%, past $8,000 in less than two weeks, which is crazy,” he shares. Since our conversation with Arnold, the campaign has raised an additional $1,200, bringing its total to just over $9,200 and reaching 61% of its goal. “This is my first time crowdfunding ever. I’m usually someone who likes to prepare, so I watched all the Seed & Spark videos, talked to filmmaker friends, even took a class at NFFTY”.
Still, no amount of research could fully prepare him for the leap of faith the campaign required. “You can have all the guidelines, but there’s no formula to guarantee you’ll raise $15,000,” he says. “It really did take a village”.
From his cousin handling graphic design to his executive producers fine-tuning the pitch, everyone contributed their expertise to bring the campaign to life. “I was honestly surprised by how much love and support there was — from strangers, friends of friends, mentors, Yale professors, classmates… and how they were eager to share it,” he says.
For Setiadi, sharing this story isn’t just about his own background. It’s about broadening the representation of immigrant families on screen. “Right now, so many immigrant communities are being dehumanized or reduced to headlines,” he says. “I wanted to portray us with joy, with nuance. This film is a small tribute to that spirit”.
You can support Arnold Setiadi’s crowdfunding efforts for Something Good Going On by visiting: https://seedandspark.com/fund/something-good-going-on#story
