Three years ago, Sujata Day decided to take the biggest leap of her career: she would direct and star in her own feature film, "Definition Please," about a 20-something former spelling bee champion still living at home in the Pittsburgh suburbs.

Unlike the characters in scripts she was getting sent, her own protagonist, a first-generation South Asian American slacker, found comfort, not conflict, in her culture — freeing her to explore other serio-comic ups and downs of her arrested development. Day had actor friends in mind to round out the cast, and her parents were not only willing to let her film in their house, they were elated she was betting on herself.

"They were like, 'Finally! You're making a feature film,'" said Day, beaming over Zoom ahead of the film's debut on Netflix, where it is now available after being acquired last fall by Ava DuVernay's Array Releasing.

Bit by bit over the years, Day remembers, inspiration from her creative community had nudged her forward in her own short projects while she acted steadily in TV and film. Co-starring in Issa Rae's 2011 "Awkward Black Girl" web series, she had a front-row seat as the future "Insecure" creator scrapped together a breakout show on credit cards and crowdfunding. (Day also joined the cast of "Insecure" in its first three seasons and returned for the finale.) In 2017, she saw friend and fellow actor Justin Chon take his own self-started indie directorial debut, "Gook," to Sundance.

"Watching my friends do it made me believe that I could do it," said Day, an L.A.-based UCB and Sundance Labs alum who wore multiple hats — writer, director, producer and lead — on "Definition Please." She financed the shoot with her own savings, recruited friends and family to help, and rolled with the pandemic's punches to take it to festivals and find a home. Later, she scored the added co-sign of Mindy Kaling, who came aboard as executive producer.

Filmed in 12 days in her hometown of Greensburg, Pennsylvania ("Low-budget indie, baby!" Day said with a smile), the dramedy stars Day as Monica Chowdry, an ex-"Scribbs" National Spelling Bee winner drifting through adulthood, tutoring young overachievers and caring for her ailing mother, Jaya (Anna Khaja). When her older brother Sonny (a charismatic Ritesh Rajan) comes home for the one-year memorial of their father's death, buried wounds resurface and force both siblings to reckon with the past.

The film's ensemble includes Jake Choi as former classmate and love interest Richie, Lalaine as Monica's ride-or-die best friend Krista, Sonal Shah and "Star Trek" icon LeVar Burton, playing himself.

Q: "Definition Please" centers around Monica Chowdry, a young woman from Greensburg, Pennsylvania. What brought you back creatively to your hometown?

A: I love Greensburg. My friends from back home are always shocked by how much I'm obsessed with our hometown. I love going to eat pizza at Panera Bread. I love going to Applebee's. I love going to the mall. I love shopping at Gabe's, which is a discount clothing store in Greensburg. I love the people. I had a really great childhood. Not only did I have my school friends, but there was a thriving Indian American community so I was going to the temple for Bharatanatyam dance classes on Sundays, I was going to Hindu temple summer camp at Lake Erie, I was going to graduations, birthdays, parties on the weekends. I'm very lucky in that I felt I never had to choose between two cultures. I never had that conflict inside of me.

Q: The film introduces a heroine who has failed to achieve the greatness once expected of her. How did you figure out where she goes from there?

A: I pulled from the Indian American community that I grew up with, and personality traits from my friends, and threw them into the movie with my characters. I wanted to examine the question of, why did she not fulfill her potential? Because if you Google the spelling bee champs of the past, they're all doing really incredible things.

Q: A 20-something stuck in life is such a classic American indie film setup, but most of those stories are about young white men. Here, you also write Monica's identity and culture into the fabric of the movie without making any of it the source of conflict.

A: I wanted to do the complete opposite and say, "Here is a young woman who is balancing both cultures really beautifully." I didn't want to explain any of the traditional Indian stuff; it's just there to be enjoyed, because when I watch shows about different worlds that I'm not necessarily familiar with, I love to just be washed in the story and not have things explained to me. If I have questions during a movie or show, I'll look it up later. No big deal. I wanted to treat the audience as intelligent individuals and allow them to be immersed in their emotions as opposed to being talked to like, "This is India."

Q: And how did you persuade your parents to let you film in their home?

A: Honestly, they were so excited to have everyone at the house, to have the yard being used when we would have our lunches and to have different parts of the house be the focus of different scenes. My dad would go around with his camera and shoot behind-the-scenes stuff. My mom actually plays a small cameo in the film, at the dinner party. She sits next to Jaya and she's telling Sonny that she has a (marriage) prospect.

Q: How did seeing the film through this journey affect you creatively?

A: I feel completely invigorated. I am in pre-production on my next feature film that I wrote during the pandemic. It's an ensemble Indian American comedy. And I'm also pitching a few different shows right now to studios and networks. It's really fun! I can't believe it's happening.