The most authentic relationships are those that offer a connection that feels real in its exchange of comfort, validation and the feeling of being seen. Overall, society is living in a time of increasingly profound disconnection, despite being more digitally linked than ever before. The new web series, ‘Henry by the Hour,’ explores how the quiet desire for intimacy and to have someone truly notice them has become the commodification of human connection.

Filmmaker Shaun Wu explored how the current emotional landscape leads humanity to try to overcome its feeling of isolation, loneliness and the desperation to be loved – or simply not be alone – in the comedy. Wu wrote the project, which he went on to direct with Henry Parker-Elder. Wu, who also plays Henry on the show, is joined on screen by Cullen Arbaugh, Xiomara Bernard, Jamal Douglas, Ethel Tan and Catherine Dao.

Set in modern-day Los Angeles, ‘Henry by the Hour’ follows the titular character, a quiet, empathetic man who rents himself out to be people’s friend for at least an hour at a time. The idea is a reimagining of the concept of

renting companionship. The phenomenon is growing in Japan, where people hire strangers to play roles in their lives.

The series captures how the arrangement might look like in the Californian city through Henry’s encounter with his clients and his attempt to fulfill their unique requests. There’s a recluse video gamer who wants someone to play video games with, a housewife who wants someone to appreciate her muffins, a cuddler, a Chinese foreign student looking for a fake boyfriend and a widower who wants someone to sit on a bench with him.

Interwoven throughout Henry’s meetings with his clients are documentary-style interviews with the eponymous character and a small group of fledgling filmmakers who are following his encounters. While quirky and comedic, these segments, which are shot in a handheld, observational style, serve as a reflective layer. The scenes allow him to unpack his thoughts about the experience, share fragments of his past and wrestle with his own emotions.

Each episode is self-contained and focuses on a single client. Each story reveals the clients’ loneliness, hopes and peculiarities through their time with Henry.

The show’s fifth episode will have its World Premiere in the Pilot section of this month’s Dances With Films: NYC 2026. In honor of the project’s premiere, Wu generously took the time recently to talk about making ‘Henry by the Hour’ during an interview over Zoom.

Film Factual (FF): You wrote the new web comedy series, ‘Henry by the Hour.’ What was your inspiration in creating and penning the show?

Shaun Wu (SW): The idea was sparked from this segment on ‘Conan’ a couple of years ago. He did a segment where he went to Japan and he rented a family. He literally rented a wife, a daughter and a father-in-law.

When I watched the segment at that time, I could not help but feel a little bit sad. I was also a little bit judgmental, to be honest, on the whole process of having to pay to basically have a relationship with someone.

But then after, I started to explore and question the motivations over why people would want to rent another person for companionship. As I dug deeper, I wanted to understand the different types of people who would want to rent other people. I also wanted to know what types of wants and needs they have specifically to them in a world where this service is available.

So I started writing and thinking of different characters. I focused on why each character might want to rent someone as a friend.

I lived in Japan for many years. So this idea of paying money for a particular experience is not new to me, or even in general; it’s been around for many, many years.

So I thought, rather than judging this whole process of paying money for a companionship, I wanted to focus on the basic human needs that we all have and share. That includes wanting connection and a relationship, especially in this world we’re in after the pandemic. We’re hyper-connected digitally, but yet we feel very isolated, compared to before the pandemic.

This isolation and loneliness is something that I’ve been hearing about from a lot of people, myself included. So I wanted to explore that. I also wanted to give a little peek into the inner world of different types of human beings in our society, who are craving connection, friendship and relationships.

FF: Besides co-scribing the scripts, you also served as the director on several episodes. Why did you decide to also helm the episodes?

SW: I think I was super lucky with this project because we had an amazing team of artists. While working on this, I reached out to another director. Since I was the actor as well, I needed a co-director (Parker-Elder) on set to kind of guide everything, and he was absolutely amazing.

Before I got the team together, I reached out to each individual who ended up working on the project. Everybody was super interested in the story and the narrative. So we all came together over the five days we shot the project.

The way we shot the episode was rooted in realism. We shot in one type of style. The reason we shot that way was because I wanted to create as much naturalism as possible when focusing on the rental friend and each client. I wanted their interaction to be as organic as possible, so we decided to shoot this in one go.

There was a lot of improvisation around the lines. So there was a lot of collaborative work on set. After we did a take, we would ask the actors their feedback and how they felt.

It was interesting because as we were shooting this, I felt like I was rinsing myself out to each one of these clients. Then at the end of the shoot, I felt like I had really connected with each person.

So through the script or the narrative, I was able to understand that actor and the person opposite to whom I was playing. So it was just an overall very collaborative environment. It was a very exciting process.

FF: You also star on ‘Henry by the Hour,’ alongside Cullen Arbaugh, Xiomara Bernard, Jamal Douglas, Ethel Tan, Catherine Dao and James Taku Leung. What was the casting process like for the series?

SW: With some of the actors, I knew that I wanted them to be in the project before I cast them, because I had worked with them in the past. They all represent a unique character in our society, with unique wants and needs.

So for three of the actors, I basically reached out to them saying, “Hey, do you want to do this with me?” They were all very much on board.

Then for two of the other actors, I had to go through the traditional casting route and the breakdown services. So I basically had them read the script and do their audition.

A big part of the audition process was their ability to improvise. There was a script between the rental friend and this person who wants that companionship.

So as we were auditioning, the two actors who ended up being in the film were very good at improvising and also giving feedback. They really cared about the characters and the audition process.

They also really cared about the rehearsal process we had with the co-director. That took about a week to do. All that preparation leading up to the days of the shoot just made it all that much more fun, exciting and organic.

FF: Like you mentioned, you encouraged the cast to improvise on set. How did you work together to build the characters and overall story, particularly through the improvisation?

SW: Since everybody was so excited about the project and so collaborative on set, they were open to having a discussion after we did a take. Then sometimes we would deviate from the script a little bit. Sometimes that would actually end up being the take that we chose to put in the film, because it added another dimension to the story.

Not only were we improvising with the actors for about 20 percent of the script, we also improvised with the cameraman. This whole series is actually a mockumentary. The idea of the project is to have these student filmmakers or amateur filmmakers coming together to document this rental friend experience of renting himself out to different people.

We also incorporated a sound guy on the project. So the whole collective creative team was essentially part of the final project. So we wanted everybody just to play around.

In the beginning episodes, especially episodes 1 through 3, you feel things are a little bit messy. Then by episode 4 and 5, you start to see the filmmakers maturing. The shots are more stable, and there’s a bigger variety of different shots. So it was very much a collective effort from both the actors and the filmmakers.

FF: You also served as an editor on ‘Henry By the Hour.’ Why did you approach putting the final version of the episodes together?

SW: Editing the project was interesting because you have an idea of how to put an episode together when you’re writing. But when you get the footage, new inspiration comes up. So you then think about music, special effects and different footages that you want to incorporate here and there.

New things come up all the time. So the final result that I have right now is somewhat in line with my initial ideas.

So the essence is still there, but a lot of the footage was definitely edited. I got back together with my co-director (Parker-Elder) and re-edited things. We put new things in, including music, that would inspire other ways of putting things together.

There’s also animation in episode 2, which I never imagined I would put in. But I worked with an animator, and there are these beautiful footages that I found that also worked with one segment in episode 4. So at the end, I feel like it was a huge collage of everything.

So this one year of working on the show was definitely a very special moment. It was kind of work in progress up until the final product came out.

FF: You also served as an executive producer on the series. How did you balance producing and directing the show?

SW: It was definitely hard to juggle being the producer who’s thinking about budget, location and the logistics of everything, with being the creative as the actor and co-director.

But I planned this well in advance. I would say we shot back in December of 2024. But I started planning for this way before that, since February of 2024.

It took me several months just to write everything down, and decide how we were going to shoot this. We also pondered, how can we shoot this in a budget-friendly way? How can I realize this, while keeping the essence of the original narrative? Planning well in advance, and the re-planning, helped me juggle between the two different roles.

As I mentioned before, I was so lucky to have such amazing people on the team. I was grateful that we all just worked with each other since, as the producer, I couldn’t get anything done. If I couldn’t get something done on my own on set, someone else would just chip in and help out. So I do definitely have to thank everybody on set and on the crew and creative team for making this possible.

FF: ‘Henry By the Hour’ is having its World Premiere on Saturday, January 17th during Dances With Films: NYC. What does it mean to you that the series is screening at the festival?

SW: So far, it’s been such a unique experience as a film festivals. I’ve never attended a festival where we had mixers, meetings and meet and greets beforehand. I feel like I’m part of a family of creative filmmakers.

I’m so excited about the event because I’m looking forward to seeing all the other amazing projects. I’m also looking forward to connecting with the other filmmakers at the event. Hopefully, in the future, we will be able to collaborate and work on interesting things together.

Premiering the project in New York City at the Regal Cinemas Union Square is definitely a dream come true. It’s going to be a wonderful few days of sharing stories with, and enjoying the amazing projects of, other filmmakers.

‘Henry By the Hour’ will screen during Pilots Blk 5 on Saturday, January 17 at 12:45pm EST at the Regal Union Square during Dances With Films: NYC. For more information on the screening, including how to purchase tickets, visit the show’s and Pilots Blk 5’s pages on the festival’s official website.