Filipino American novelist and screenwriter team up for Netflix project

INSTAGRAM / MICHAEL GOLAMCO

Michael Golamco, second from right, with 'Always Be My Maybe' stars from left, Randall Park, Vivian Bang and
Ali Wong. Golamco wrote the movie's screenplay with Park and Wong.

Netflix, the streaming network, is producing a movie, Hello Universe, based on a novel by Filipina American author Erin Entrada Kelly.

Her novel, Hello Universe, is being turned into a screenplay by another Filipino American, Michael Golamco, who with Randall Park and Ali Wong, cowrote the screenplay for the acclaimed Netflix romantic comedy  Always Be My Maybe, in which Park and Wong played the lead roles.

"The optimism of the book drew me in. The characters Erin created are incredibly well drawn and fun, and it’s going to be really fun to see them come to life on the screen," Golamco tells SPOT.ph.

Both Entrada and Golamco put their experiences of growing up as Filipino Americans into their writing. 

Having come to the United States as a child, Golamco learned to use his being an "outsider" to aid his storytelling. "It taught me to be empathetic towards other people, [to] try to understand their perspectives," he says. 

Entrada was the only Filipino in her childhood neighborhood in Louisiana, so she also turned to writing stories to get away from the same feeling.

"My mom’s from Cebu and my dad is American. And when I was growing up in Louisiana, I was the only Filipino in my neighborhood." Entrada told SPOT.ph 

"When I was young, the kids would ask me, 'What are you?' and 'Where are you from?' I’d get teased a lot, and bullied. I was very self-conscious," she continued. "And I grew up feeling very lonely and a little bit sad."

It is this isolation that features prominently in Hello, Universe, with Virgil—a character from a Filipino American family—in a situation that cuts him off from the rest of the world. 

Author Erin Entrada Kelly holds a copy of her Newberry Award-winning novel 'Hello Universe.'

The movie’s plot: When a bully’s antics land a timid boy in the bottom of a well, his self-proclaimed psychic friend and unknowing crush team up to find him. The novel is a funny, poignant neighborhood story about unexpected friendships. Told from four intertwining points of view — two boys and two girls — the novel celebrates bravery, being different, and finding your inner bayani (hero). 

"I also feel for the kids’ anxieties and isolation; I remember feeling the same way when I was a kid, and I think it helps when you see someone else going through the exact same thing," adds Golamco. He said it is his task It to bring this element of the novel to the big screen because, "It helps to know that you aren’t alone."

Golamco also sees this adaptation as proof that Asian American stories are gaining more space in today's industry. "Stories about Asian people, Filipino people, reveal similarities and connections with other people. By understanding our friends and neighbors better, we understand ourselves better," he says.

Actor and producer Forest Whitaker, and Nina Yang Bongiovi of Significant Productions are set to produce this movie. Hello Universe would be the third Netflix project -- after last August's To All the Boys I Ever Loved and this year's Always Be My Maybe -- that would feature Asian American protagonists.

Netflix announced the project last month so no target date for the release of the movie adaptation has been set for the Newberry Award-winning novel Hello Universe.

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