Behind-the-Cameras of Wash House Weekly

By: Thao Le

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. - While watchers know the popular Wash House Weekly videos shown every Wednesday at George Washington High School, few know the chaos that drives the staff behind-the-cameras.  At George Washington High School, we care, especially when it comes to forging a strong community amongst students and staff. Wash House Weekly is the hub for student outreach. Every week, they find ways to promote student involvement and unity amongst Washington High. 

What is Wash House Weekly

When asked what the core of Wash House Weekly is, senior sports reporter, Serena Xie describes it as purely “community active.” Xie states that the goal of Wash House Weekly is to promote school events by reporting upcoming festivities as well as shining the spotlight on small-time clubs and sports. A single video takes an entire week of preparation as well as up to 40 staff members. 

In order to see each of the gears in this well-oiled machine, a sit-in at their weekly Monday meetings was crucial. Room 213 was packed with at least thirty five students, including producer Jirachanon Anurakdaenthai. Anurakdaenthai is producer alongside Bethany Park and Jerry Jiang. The producers are essentially the equivalent of a club president. They make sure everything runs smoothly, do all of the planning for upcoming videos, and make sure everyone has a role that they align with. 

The Monday meetings could only be summed down to chaotic. Producer Bethany Park was yelling out roles from the front of the chattering room. It was, however, a friendly chaos. As Anurakdaenthai put it when inquired how he would define the eventful team meetings, “There’s joy and there’s chaos.” It had almost a familial sense which only furthers the community Washington is all about. 

The Other Side of the Camera

Broadcasting day was a completely different story. Unlike the high volume Mondays that go head-to-toe with Screaming Eagle Rallies, Wednesday after-school in Shop 7 was dead-silent. During which, Director Jayden Liu and his assistant, Alex Lam, prepared next week’s Wash House Weekly episode. 

It was surprising to see how small of a group it was. Other than Liu and Lam, the broadcasting group consisted of seasoned anchor, Jirachanon Anurakdaenthai and first-day-on-the-job, Wenna Zhen. There were a ton of blooper moments which according to Liu is the funniest part of being in Wash House Weekly. 

Liu is an amazing director. He was calm, patient, and lightened the mood to assure that both anchors expressed as much on-screen chemistry as they could muster. At the question of whether or not he would be pursuing journalism and media in the future, Liu said it’s a definite possibility. “Seems fun, you know? To be part of a team, manage a team. You know, help them achieve success.” He aims to apply the leadership skills he has gained from his roles in Wash House Weekly to future opportunities. 

He added, “It’s always a good skill to have leadership of course. But it's also a good skill to have humility and being able to just ‘whatcha-ma-call it’ not like be overbearing. Be humble and state your opinion and then talk to others, you know, and work it out, and maybe you can produce a cool little video.” 

With a hope to leave behind Wash House Weekly to the hands of the motivated freshmen, Liu advised, “Most things can be boiled down to a skill. And usually skills take time, practice, patience, and if you dedicate enough time then you could get really good at something. And once you’re really good at something, you can start to teach it and then spread it. And I think that’s the beauty of skills, you know, being able to be… The lights went off,” he laughed,  “but, being able to teach and share these interests you have.” 

It’s an aspirational mindset to have in mind, painting Liu as the enthusiastic and wise leader Wash House Weekly watchers don’t often get to see. 

The Hardships of Managing the Camera

There were many other fun moments that don’t usually make it beyond the camera, making it extremely fun to get a behind-the-scenes look at everything that goes into a Wash House Weekly episode. It’s so much more work and effort than it appears on screen. Hailey Cheung, senior editor, shares that deadlines are always extremely tight. “We don’t have a whole week to edit. So they submit clips on Friday night, and we have to get our editing done by Monday.” With misunderstanding and lack of organization between different departments, Cheung receives clips on Saturday nights most weekends, leaving the editors only one day to wrap everything up. 

Eagles Exposed

Although some weekends may be a little disorganized, the Wash House Weekly staff still make time for fun! As fun as the videos come out to be, it’s truly the individuals that make Wash House Weekly what it is. Through a single week tagging alongside their meetings, a lot of eagle secrets spilled! 

In Liu’s words, the person he’d have to pass the phone to for being the funniest on set has to be his partner. “I do have to probably pass it on to Calder, one of my anchor buddies.” Cheung, on the other hand, would pass the phone to her co-editor, Yvonne. “Her editing is like so good. Sound effects. And then like every week, we talk about it and like her editing is the best… It’s just goofy.” Hailey laughed. 

It also turns out, the Wash House Weekly staff love their music. If it weren't for the interview, Liu said he would be listening to anything J-POP by Yoasobi. Cheung highly recommends Modern Love by All Time Love, and Anurakdaenthai decidedon his holiday playlist after pulling up his entire Spotify playlist. 

Liu also opened up about something not many people know about. While he is the outspoken director and anchor watchers now know, he was once afraid of public speaking. “I originally wasn’t good at public speaking. I was like kinda scared as most people are but I found that if you’re with a bunch of people that you know and you just say ‘let’s just try something new’ and just go with it then… you know? Usually it works out. There’s mistakes here and there, but with a group of friends you can just laugh it off.”

Go Eagles

Wash House Weekly may be just the place to make those mistakes and laugh with friends. Despite a little yelling and disorganization, there’s a lot of depth and friendship that Wash House Weekly thrives on. So for those hoping to hop in front of the cameras, Cheung recommends talking to Producer Bethany Park or reporters going around the school. For those that love the camera-work, there’s always room in Wash House Weekly. “Find out what role you want to be first, and then come in and ask. We’re always looking for more editors, Cheung said. Just come by to Room 213 next Monday at lunch! 

The videos may be short and sweet, but their impact is not only limited to promoting clubs, sports, and events at school. Julia Wong, an enthusiastic Wash House Weekly watcher said, “I could know some announcements I never knew about.” The staff make it their goal to assure Washington High School students have a community that they can rely on as well as an efficient way to gain information. This also keeps the teachers and staff in the loop regarding upcoming events. 

Then to end it off as Liu would put it, “Well, there’s really only one closing statement for Wash House Weekly, and that’s *deep breath* We’ll see you next time on Wash House Weekly! Go eagles!”