In the movie comedy Brian, the titular character is dealing with stress, anxiety, and a huge crush on his high school teacher. When he decided to put himself out there and to get closer to his teacher by running for class president, he learns what it means to be a good friend and practice what he learns in therapy. Brian had its world premiere at SXSW.

Brian stars Ben Wang, William H. Macy, Edi Patterson, Randall Park, Natalie Morales, Joshua Colley, Sophia Macy, Peyton Elizabeth Lee, Thomas Barbusca, and Jacob Moskovitz.

I talked to the movie’s writer, Mike Scollins, about why he decided to not give a diagnosis to Brian, why Justin embraces Brian, if Brian would be having these difficulties if he didn’t have Kyle as a brother, why Brian isn’t bullied at school, and what Brian’s adult life will be like.