Lin, who immigrated to Taiwan in the mid 90's from the United States, met Karalekas in 2001 after returning from studying filmmaking at the New York Film Academy in Manhattan, where he had made several short 16mm films. In 2002, Lin purchased a digital video camera, since film processing costs were prohibitively expensive. Also that year, both men participated in a stage production of "A Man for All Seasons" in Taipei. It was here that they met actor/director Norman Szabo, and through him, Darrell Gallant, who specializes in music and sound production, as well as making short films of his own. Also involved in the play were actors Maurice Harrington, Dolly Deng, and director William Meldrum.

In 2003, after working on a couple of other short films, Lin came across the international online film competition called Lady X, and the group decided to produce two entries despite a late starting date. Lin produced, shot, directed and edited the episodes, the scripts for which were written by fantasy author Chris Jones, along with Karalekas, Szabo and Gallant, who did the music and sound. The episodes, which Lin edited together into the 17-minute Clay Soldiers, premiered in July, and after the series concluded in 2004 they won three awards: best writing, best location depiction, and best overall episode. The prize? In addition to any recognition, praise from their peers, and the satisfaction of a job well done: To make the very last episode and wrap the series up in a satisfying fashion. Not an easy task, but certainly enough of a challenge.