Phil Leirness has always been a storyteller. At the age of six, he was writing short stories. By the age of nine, he was acting in plays and musicals. By the time he graduated from high school, he was already a published film critic, a stand-up comic and a television host (in his native San Francisco Bay Area). After moving to Los Angeles, Leirness continued to perform stand-up comedy (at such venues as the Comedy Store on Hollywood's Sunset Strip). It was upon seeing the Wim Wenders masterpiece Wings of Desire (1987) in 1988 that he knew he had to become a filmmaker.