In 2022, Hollywood doors creak open for Asian American content

The commercial and artistic success of 2018's 'Crazy Rich Asians' is credited with opening Hollywood's eyes and doors to the rich potential of Asian and Asian American talent and stories.

2022 could be a landmark year for AAPI representation in the history of filmmaking and TV production.

There are signs that Hollywood* is turning the corner in recognition of the changing demographics of the movie-going audience with a handful of Asian American theme movies in various stages of production.

The surprise hit of the winter season is Fox series The Cleaning Lady. The strong audience ratings and critical acclaim may be opening some eyes and minds of Hollywood's decision makers that the US audience may be more accepting of diverse fare and actors than previously assumed.

Whether this apparent willingness to tell AAPI stories and star AAPI characters is a permanent trend or just a merely a fad is something only time will tell.

The list might appear to be a lot of shows but when you consider Hollywood churns out hundreds of projects, many of them clunkers, the recommendations below represent just a small, small fraction of the productions. Reports about Hollywood diversity by USC and UCLA still say the vast majority of Hollywood's products are still directed at a  white audience starring white leads and AAPI representation is still lacking.

Still, what we have now is a vast improvement from just four years ago when Asian August, which premiered Crazy Rich Asians, the Every Boy I Ever Loved franchise and the John Cho starrer Searching, broke open the proverbial dam for AAPI talent in front and behind the camera. With over two dozen features and series, 2022 has the potential to be a historic year in terms of Asian representation in North American pop culture.

Have AANHPI arrived in Hollywood, the world's entertainment production capitol? Well, not quite, but the studio door is creaking open.

What's noteworthy is that many of the productions are driven by AAPI creators, from Dwayne Johnson, Daniel Dae Kim, Mindy Kaling, Miranda Kwok, Dean Devlin, Dan Lin to Awkwafina. Instead of waiting around for handouts from Hollywood studios, these writers, producers and directors are taking the bull by the horns and launching their own productions.

The problem is, despite the unprecedented output by AAPI artists, we're still at the stage where projects with AAPI themes and actors can't afford any clunkers. One bad showing and Hollywood could quickly back off on their tepid effort to diversify their output.

For those AAPI viewers looking for movies or TV series that you can identify with, here are some of the current and upcoming projects** (in no particular order) that might be of interest:

Pachinko: Based on the best-selling novel of the same name, Pachinko follows four generations of a Korean immigrant family through Korea, Japan, and the U.S. during the Japanese Occupation, World War II, and after. The saga presents a harrowing take on racism, imperialism, and immigration wrapped in a forbidden love story. Told in Korean, Japanese and English, the first three episodes will debut March 25, on Apple TV+ followed by weekly releases until April 29. Production company is Steven Spielberg's Amblin' Studios.

Kung Fu (Season 2): Kung Fu (not the David Carradine-led version) returns for another season. Set in present day San Francisco, it features an attractive cast, including Olivia Liang, Shannon Dang, Eddie Liu and the Tzi Ma as the father of the Shen family. As the title suggests: lots of martial arts featured and smart contemporary banter between the characters. The Shen's and allies continue to seek the magical artifacts that give great power to whoever possesses them. Season 2 premieres March 9, 9 p.m. on the CW network.

The Cleaning Lady: Fox got one of its highest-rated shows in this production with creator Miranda Kwok as executive producer along with Filipino Canadian Shay Mitchell (Pretty Little Liars). Launched in January, the series stars Cambodian French actress Elodie Yung as a doctor who leaves her medical practice in the Philippines to seek treatment for her son who suffers from an auto-immune disease. Along the way, she seeks employment as a cleaning lady but gets involved with the Las Vegas underworld. The Cleaning Lady is precedent-setting by telling stories from the POV of the undocumented immigrants and starring Southeast Asian actors. The series airs Mondays on Fox, 9 p.m., but past episodes can be streamed on Hulu. 

Tokyo Vice: HBO Max announced that the new crime drama miniseries will debut April 7 with 2 episodes on the network. The series, a co-production with Endeavor Content and Japanese broadcaster Wowow, is based on the 2009 memoir of the same name by Jake Adelstein, an American journalist who moved to Japan to cover the Tokyo police force. Ansel Elgort stars as Adelstein, with Ken Watanabe, Rinko Kikuchi, Rachel Keller, Ella Rumpf, Hideaki Ito, Show Kasamatsu and Tomohisa Yamashita rounding out the ensemble.

Turning Red: An animated feature from Pixar Studios directed by Domine Shi (Bao), tells the rare story of growing up from the viewpoint of 13-year old Asian Canadian, brash, self-confident, who dares to pursue her own ambition of establishing girl band but still retaining the love for her elders and heritage. Some of the voice actors include veteran actors Sandra Oh and James Hong and introduces Roslie Chiang as the central character.  Turning Red premieres March 11 after which it is can be streamed  on Disney+.

Easter Sunday: Stand-up comedian Jo Koy plays a man returning home for an Easter celebration with his riotous, bickering, eating, drinking, laughing, loving family in this love letter to his Filipino American community. Starring in Easter Sunday are Jimmy O. Yang, Tia Carrere, Brandon Wardell, Tony nominee Eva Noblezada, Lydia Gaston, Asif Ali, Rodney To, Eugene Cordero, Jay Chandrasekhar, Tiffany Haddish and Lou Diamond Phillips. The release date was originally going to be around the Easter holiday but has been moved to August 5.

The Fabulous Filipino Brothers: This film starring the four Basco brothers and their sister has been kicking around the film festivals for over a year. The comedy gives a rare peek at the sometimes complicated and not-so-subtle (but always loving) relationships in a Filipino American family as they prepare for an upcoming wedding. The Basco siblings, Dante, Derek, Dion, Darion and Arianna, star in the fictional movie about a rollicking, raucous and loving family. It also features Liza Lapira (The Equalizer) and introduces Philippine star Solenn Hausaff to Western audiences. The feature just started streaming on Amazon Prime, Vudu, Youtube, and Apple+.

Ms. Marvel: Ms. Marvel is an upcoming American web television series, based on the Marvel Comics superheroine of the same name, not to be confused with Captain Marvel, a different superheroine altogether. It is the 20th television series in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It stars newcomer, Indian American actress Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan and Ms. Marvel. With a strong Indian American influene, it also stars Aramis Knight, Saagar Shaikh, Rish Shah, Zenobia Shroff, Mohan Kapur, Matt Lintz, Yasmeen Fletcher, Laith Naki, Azher Usman, Travina Springer and Nimra Bucha. The series is produced by Marvel Studios and will be released on Disney+ this summer.

Josep: A half-hour sitcom starring the busiest Asian American comedian in Hollywood, Jo Koy (See "Easter Sunday" above.) Koy will play a divorced single-father nurse navigating the dating the world with the assistance of his wacky Filipino American family and friends. The series has deep AAPI roots: The sitcom will be penned by Steve Joe (Doogie Kamealoha M.D.,Young Sheldon), while Kourtney Kang (Fresh Off The Boat), Jake Kasdan and Melvin Mar (Jumanji: The Next Level), and actor Randall Park (WandaVision) will executive produce alongside Koy. Set to premiere on ABC sometimes later this year.

Concepción: FilAm actor Reggie Lee (Grimm) is one of the first "name" actors signed onto this underworld crime series that takes place in Los Angeles' Historic Filipinotown over a 28-year span, 1992-2020. It seeks to examine the world of an Asian American "godfather"-like figure, a world of drugs and money, but also heritage and pride, viewed through origins, history, choices and consequences. Filipino American fingerprints all over this series, still in pre-production, with Yellow Rose and Lingua Franca co-producer Jeremiah Abraham and ABS-CBN and from creator Craig Obligación Wilson. No debut date announced yet.

Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens (Season 2): Starring the now acclaimed actress Awkwafina, aka Nora Lum, the sitcom is loosely based on the actress' real live in Queens, NYC before she became famous and an in-demand. Besides Awkwafina (Crazy Rich Asians, The Farewell), the series cast includes the rest of her TV family, SNL's Bowen Yang, Broadway's BD Wong and Lori Tan Chinn, who as the grandmother, is a scene stealer. The series has also been an opportunity for AAPI guest stars including Margaret Cho, Simu Liu, Harry Shum, Jr., and Ross Butler. A third season has not. been announced but, in the meantime, the first two seasons of the highly rated series is available on Comedy Central.

Everything, Everywhere All At Once: Directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, the feature film is a hilarious and big-hearted sci-fi action adventure about an exhausted Chinese American woman played by Michelle Yeoh, who can't seem to finish her taxes while being hurtled through multiple dimensions, some dominated by Asians. Cast includes Harry Shum Jr. (“Shadowhunters”), Stephanie Hsu (“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”), Ke Huy Quan (“The Goonies”) and James Hong (“Blade Runner” and a host of other films). The film is set to debut on March 25.

Almost Paradise (Season 2): FilAm producer Dean Devlin announced that his fledgling crime series has been picked up for a second season. Shot entirely in Cebu, Philippines, Almost Paradise follows Alex Walker (Christian Kane), a former U.S. DEA agent who, after his partner’s betrayal and a life-threatening battle with hypertension, is forced into early retirement and relocates to a Cebu, Philippines. Besides its exotic locale, the series also stars Filipino talent Samantha Richelle and Arthur Acuña, as his partners in crime0fighting. After production halts because of COVID-19, the series' return to Amazon (Prime) has not been announced.

Sour. Olivia Rodrigo: driving home 2 u: Can we get enough of Olivia Rodrigo? The Filipino American singer, songwriter is featured in a documentary about the making of her debut album "Sour." Olivia takes audiences on a familiar road trip from Salt Lake City, where she began writing her triple-platinum Geffen Records debut album “SOUR,” to Los Angeles. Along the way, Rodrigo recounts the memories of writing and creating her record-breaking debut album and shares her feelings as a young woman navigating a specific time in her life. Through new live arrangements of her songs, intimate interviews and never-before-seen footage, audiences will follow her along on a cinematic journey exploring the story of “SOUR.” The doc debuts March 25 on Disney+.

Fistful of Vengeance: The movie released this month is the followup to the 2020 TV series Wu Assassins. Iko Uwais returns as Kai Jin, the last Wu Assassin. He is joined by Lewis Tan and Jason Tobin. The locale moves from San Francisco to Bangkok as the trio of crime fighters battle the Chinese Triad for the pursuit of ancient powers. Lots of martial arts, spectacular fight choreography. The movie is currently available on Netflix.

Umma: If you're a Sandra Oh (Killing Eve, The Chair) fan (OK, I confess.) or into the horror genre, this is one film you can't miss. "Umma" is Korean for mother. Amanda (Sandra Oh) and her daughter are living a quiet life on an American farm, but when the remains of her estranged mother arrive from Korea, Amanda becomes haunted by the fear of turning into her own mother. Written and directed by Iris Shim. The movie is distributed by Sony and release is slated for March 18.

Nope: A horror/science fiction flick starring Steven Yuen (Minari, The Walking Dead), along with Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer. Caretakers at a California horse ranch encounter a mysterious force that affects human and animal behaviour. Written and directed by Jordan Peele (Get Out). Nope is set to be released in theaters July 22 from Universal Pictures.

Moonshot: Lana Condor (To All The Boys I Ever Loved) leads the cast of this romantic comedy with a sci-fi twist, is set in a future where Mars is terraformed and colonized by the best humanity has to offer two very different college students wind up joining forces and sneak onboard a space shuttle to the red planet in order to be united with their significant others. Condor's co-star is Riverdale's Cole Sprouse. Release date is March 31 on HBO Max.

Bridgerton will be more colorful in Season 2.

Bridgerton (Season 2): The surprise hit of 2020, Bridgerton is a romantic period piece with a change of focus. Jonathan Bailey, who plays Anthony Bridgerton will take the lead alongside potential love interest Kate Sharma, played by Simone Ashley. The Sharma's is an Indian Brit family that shakes up London high society, thus fulfilling Shonda Rhimes' vow to diversify casting. Bridgerton returns March 25 on Netflix.

Mythic Quest (Season 2): I include this Apple+ series in its second season solely on the sterling performance of lead actress Charlotte Nicdao, a Filipino Austrialian who steals every scene she's in. She's proving to be an outstanding comedic actress in a well-written series that doesn't get enough attention and credit from the AAPI entertainment establishment because the series is not on a broadcast network. Her racial heritage is not a central focus of the series but when she sings a Tagalog lullaby in Episode 8, well I almost fell out of my seat. Seasons 1 & 2 are available for binging on Apple+.

Killing Eve (Season 4): This will be the final season for  the critically acclaimed Killing Eve, which has garnered Emmy nominations for its stars, Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer. Comer won the Best Actress Emmy in 2020. Oh was nominated (and should have won) in 2019. The cat-and-mouse game and complicated relationship between the driven British Inspector Eve Polastri (Oh) and the mentally unbalanced Russian assassin Villanelle  (Comer) has captivated audiences for four years. The series premieres Feb. 27 on BBC America and available for streaming on AMC+.

PEN15: The coming-of-age storyline is about two friends played by Anna Konkle and Emma Erskine, who also the serie's creators and writers. The actresses play two middle-school students who maneuver their way through the pitfalls that befall students at that awkward age. Even though they are much older than the characters they play, they are able to pull it off. A lot of Asian Americans will recognize the touchy issues faced by the lead teen characters. Some of the episodes confront the racism directed at Erskine's Japanese American character. Unfortunately, this is the last season for the series. It is bingeable on Hulu.

Young Rock (Season 2). The NBC sitcom follows the adventures of a young Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, a Samoan Black American and one of the most popular stars in the world. It follows the young Rock as a pre-teen, a teenager and a young adult during his time as a professional football player. One of the most fun aspects of the show is bringing in stories about some of WWF's old guard including Andre the Giant, The Iron Sheik and Randy Savage. As of Feb. 22, NBC announced the third season will premiere in January, 2023. The first two seasons can be streamed on Amazon Prime.

NCIS: Hawaii: The TV series stars a host of AAPI actors including lead, Filipino American Vanessa Manillo Lachkey, Yasmine al-bustami, Alex Tarrant, Jason Antoon and Noah Mills. As the title suggests, the setting is Hawaii with strong references to the local culture and the racial origins of each of the characters. Lachkey plays team leader Jane Tennant, who is also a single mom of two hapa children, who she helps navigate through the current era of anti-Asianism. The first season airs on Mondays, 9 p.m. on CBS; also available on Paramount for you bingers. Although it has performed strongly in its time slot, a second season has not been announced. Binge on Paramount.

Never Have I Ever (Season 3), Netflix renewed the sitcom  created by Mindy Kaling and Lang Fisher and why not? It is one of Netflix's most successful series around the world. The series is loosely based on the experiences that Kaling had in her own youth. Will Devi pick hapa jock Paxton Hall-Yoshida played. by Darren Barnet or brainy white guy Ben Gross played by Jaren Lewison? Oh, the tribulations of high school from an AAPI POV. Filming Season 3 just wrapped this month. Netflix hopes to launch the hit show's third season in late Spring or early Fall of 2022.

Doogie Kamealoha, MD: A fresh take on the old Doogie Howser, MD series. Lahela "Doogie" Kamealoha is a teenaged wunderkind juggling her high school life with an early medical career. There are strong bones to this series.The sit-com was created by Kourtney Kang, who executive produced Fresh Off the Boat. It stars Disney veteran Peyton Elizabeth Lee (Andi Mack), who plays the title character, who struggles being a normal teenager and a super-smart physician. Some of the AAPI supporting cast include Comedy Central's Ronnie Chieng, Randall Park, and Jason Scott Lee and a host of cameo appearances of veteran actors, including Amy Hill and Margaret Cho. Doogie is available on Disney+.

Squid Games (Season 2): The second season of Netflix's most watched series, the science fiction/horror story about the deadly game of paying off huge debts hasn't even begun taping yet and was originally scheduled for a 2023 release. However, with its recently won three SAG acting awards, pressure may be on to hurry up production for a late 2022 release.

* I use "Hollywood" as a generic term for entertainment production, which could originate in London, Toronto, Vancouver, New York or Atlanta)

**In compiling this list, I stuck to those projects premiering or underway in 2022, staying away from productions set in 2023 or finished in 2021. I also stayed away from products where AAPI actors are secondary characters. I tried to stay away fro foreign productions, but Bridgerton and Squid Games are just too big to ignore. It is not meant to be a complete list. 

EDITOR'S NOTE: On Feb. 25, added 'Killing Eve,' and "Umma" to the list. On March 7, added "Kung Fu" and "Turning Red." On March 22, "Moonshot" waa added. For additional commentary, news and views from an AAPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd. on Twitter 

TGIF Feature: 'Hollywood' with Darren Criss available for streaming on Netflix

Darren Criss will play a Filipino American in Netflix's 'Hollywood.'

Finally, it's May 1 and AAPIs will get a chance to view the much anticipated Hollywood, starring Darren Criss, who plays an aspiring Filipino American director during Tinseltown's so-called Golden Age, right after WWII.

The sprawling 7-part drama is an alternate history of that era, mixing fictional characters with real-life figures of that period. Certainly, the depiction of the movie industry fully accepting People of Color and LGBTQ in this day and age would be labeled a fantasy, much less, in 1940s Hollywood.

"It is sort of a Hollywood-ization of Hollywood itself, or the Ryan Murphy version of that fantasy," Criss, who also served as an executive producer, told Deadline. "I hope people watching it go in taking it with a grain of salt that this isn't sort of a grand expose of the time, or some sort of factual recounting.

"I think that it will become very clear from the tone that things happen [in the show] that, clearly, didn't happen, otherwise you would've heard about it. It becomes pretty clear that this is, again, Hollywood getting the Hollywood treatment."

For AAPI fans, the depiction of Raymond Ainsley (Criss) as a half-Filipino, as the lead character is historic in itself. But the series also serves as an introduction of the real-life travails of the legendary Anna May Wong, played by Michelle Krusiec, to today's audience are major reasons to watch to watch the mini-series.

Criss, who is of mixed Filipino and white heritage, describes his characer "as an outsider, which is usually ground zero for anybody feeling isolated but in Raymond's case, he has a bit of a chip on his shoulder for being of half-Asian descent, which I think is just something that Ryan has always been interested in, especially being white passing."

The line uttered by Ainsley, "I am half-Filipino" will probably bring an audible cheer and high-fives from Filipino Americans because it is so rare that a Filipino American character have such a prominent role in a US-produced project.

The only other time a Filipino American played a lead role in a Hollywood production is 2018's The Assassination of Gianni Versace in which Criss portrayed Filipno American serial killer Andrew Cunanan. Criss won a Golden Globe and an Emmy for his work in that dramatic series.

Michelle Krusiec will help tell Anna May Wong's story in Netflix's 'Hollywood.'

In the little-known story of Wong, Krusiec was able to find common ground. In an interview with Deadline, Krusiec identified with Wong's plight.

“I’m constantly being underestimated and being reduced or relegated to side parts, supporting parts or parts where the characters are in service of someone else’s narrative,” said Krusiec. “I felt during [Wong’s] entire career, she was constantly cast in these kinds of roles because it brings so much to the table in terms of what she was actually doing with those parts. She was really hard to ignore and it was really hard to dismiss her. She became brokenhearted by her career, but she still persisted.”

“As an Asian American actor, I’ve been treading that road for a long time and trying to understand my own wrestling with identity and how do I persist and how do I have resilience,” she told Deadline.

EDITOR'S NOTE: As Hollywood unfolds on Netflix, check back on Views From the Edge for more articles about the series.

TGIF Feature: This weekend, go see 'Go Back to China'

Veteran actor Richard Ng, lft, and Anna Akana, right, star in 'Go Back To China.'

Like the story in last year's critically acclalimed The Farewell, Emily Ting's Go Back To China feature is loosely based on a real-life experience.

After a year playing in a limited release for a year, the comedy feature had its general release Thursday. 

The movie which takes place mostly in China, Ting’s second effort as writer-director is a semi-autobiographical comedy focused on the “Westernized” Chinese diaspora in the post-Crazy Rich Asians era. 

Sasha Li, played perfectly by Anna Akana, is a spoiled LA fashionista who has just discovered that her trust fund has been cut off by her dad—oh no! To see another penny out of the trust, her father insists she goes back to her roots and learn about the family business in Shenzhen, China. 

Akana has long been a star on YouTube with 2 million subscribers to her channel. Her father was born in Japan, is a Marine Corps officer and her mother is from Olongapo, in the Philippines. On her Twitter account, she has stated on Twitter that she is of mainly Japanese Hawaiian, and Filipino descent, along with Irish, German, French, Spanish, and Chinese ancestry.

Shot in Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Shenzhen, the film is loosely based on the Taiwanese-born Ting’s 12 years working at her family’s toy factory in China in-between filmmaking efforts. Her family's toy factory was used as a setting in the film.

Although the  fish-out-of-water film theme is common enough, in Go Back To China with its Asian American perspective, it seems fresh. Plus, it doubles as familiarizing non-Assian audiences with a growing segment of the America.

In Hollywood, the box office success encourages inclusion & diversityi

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A new report tying movie-going audiences with film content concludes: Representation matters.

Hollywood decision-makers are finally coming around to the idea that America is a lot more complex, interesting and colorful than the white world it has been depicting. And surprise, surprise, making movies with diverse ideas and actors can make money.

The box office success of movies like Black Panther and Crazy Rich Asians forces the entertainment industry's studio heads and producers to rethink their old biases and acknowledge that people of color make up a substantial part of their audience.

"Today’s consumer has countless entertainment options, making it easier than ever for diverse audiences to find content that speaks to their tastes and experiences," said Chief Commercial Officer and President of Movio Media Craig Jones. "If cinema is to remain relevant and continue having a cultural impact, it must attract these audiences by delivering more representative content.

Movio, a film industry marketing and data firm, on Thursday (Oct. 24) recently released a white paper, "The Diversity Demand: Securing the Future of Moviegoing," examines how theatrical audience composition correlates to increased representation on screen, and if this suggests an opportunity to drive box office by producing content representative of audiences that have historically been underrepresented in film.

The analysis confirms a correlation between a minority group’s representation on screen and that group’s audience turnout, with some groups attending in numbers at more than twice the usual rate. The research also shows that increased representation of minority groups on screen can influence less engaged moviegoers within that demographic cohort to attend the theater.

TWITTER / JON CHU

The casts of 'Black kPanther' and 'Crazy Rich Asians' got together at the 2018 Academy Awards.

As a cursory analysis, Movio selected several pairs of theatrically released films which would generally be considered “similar” in terms of both genre and budget. For each pair, one film featured an underrepresented lead or co-lead and the other film did not. The audience composition of each film was then analyzed by Movio’s data science team. Some highlights include:

• The audience for Pixar’s Coco was nearly 75% more Latinx than the audience for another Pixar hit, Incredibles 2.
• Horror hit Us brought out an audience that was nearly 100% more African American or Black than the audience that attended similar title, A Quiet Place.
• Analyzing a trio of similar Romantic Comedy titles, the research found Crazy Rich Asians attracted an audience that was 186% more Asian and What Men Want attracted an audience that was 296% more African American or Black than the audience that attended Isn’t It Romantic.
• Crazy Rich Asians also brought in a significantly higher share of First Time, Infrequent, and Occasional Asian moviegoers than any other ethnic cohort.
• Comparing DC superhero hits Wonder Woman and Aquaman, the analysis shows the female led superhero title did not significantly alter the demographic profile of the audience in attendance, as both titles attracted an audience that was 40-41% female. Considering Hollywood’s longstanding hesitation to release a female-led superhero movie, the “absence of underperformance” within a certain audience group (male moviegoers, in this case) may be as meaningful as a title’s overperformance with another.
• Mega Blockbuster hit Black Panther attracted an audience that was 38% more African American or Black than Avengers: Infinity War. This is huge in absolute terms, with 40.7% of all Black U.S. moviegoers attending Black Panther.

“Movio’s ability to tie ticket purchases to individual moviegoers enables us to decipher the drivers of collective moviegoing behavior and to analyze attendance trends within demographic groups,” says Jones, who will discuss the White Paper findings during his appearance at the upcoming New York Film Conference this Tuesday, (Oct. 29).

Download the full white paper here.

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TGIF Feature: Sony acquires Filipino American movie 'Yellow Rose'

Eva Noblezada stars in 'Yellow Rose.'

The Filipino American film Yellow Rose will be distributed by Sony Pictures.

Since its debut at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival last Spring, the movie of a young undocumented Filipina American's quest to become a country singner, Yellow Rose has been gathering plaudits at film festivals from coast-to-coast.

With Sony's acquisition, the feature movie directed by Diane Paragas and starring Broadway star Eva Noblezada, will be able to have a wider theatrical release.

Yellow Rose, which also features Lea Salonga, is Paragas' feature debut and the first film role for Noblezada, who was recently nominated for an Tony for her role in Hadestown. 

“Yellow Rose has been a labor of passion for over 15 years and I’m thrilled that we can now share this very relevant story with the world,” says Paragas. “We have the added honor of representing the real experiences of Filipino Americans, Asian Americans, and all immigrants seeking a better life in America.”

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Weekend Reading: Women producers in Hollywood, 10 essential Filipino dishes

Fall is arriving. I can feel it in the cooler air. With a hot cup of coffee, I watch the squirrels blue jays burying birdseeds and the squirrels digging them up to hide them elsewhere. 

This weekend, three articles not about politics caught my attention. Well -- maybe "politics"  is involved, but in a different context than what's happening in Washington DC.

In my last year in college, I decided I wanted to write screenplays and produce movies. For the next few years, I failed miserably. Without the training, mentors nor the essential contacts I couldn't make despite being kicked out of all the major studios. Battering my head against a locked door was a lost cause.

So I turned to my first love, writing -- and became a journalist. But I still have a great interest in films and television as a secondary hobby of sorts. I'm thrilled that other AAPI were not so easily dissuaded from pursuing their own Hollywood dreams. There are now dozens of showrunners on TV, scores of actors and a handful of writers and directors who are keeping the door wedged open for more people to barge their way in. 

Two of those people like Mindy Kaling and Nina Yang Bongiovi were featured in magazine articles last week.

My other hobby is cooking. I love t cook, so I really loved the article by Angela Dimayuga in the New York Times. 10 Essential Filipino Dishes is a must read.

Mindy Kaling didn't intend to become a role model. But her career path is a prime example of a woman of color succeeding in a field dominated by white men. She tells her story in Elle Magazine as part of its feature "Women in Hollywood."

As the one woman on the writing staff of The Office her experience was not as blatant as depicted in her movie Late Night, but there were still instances of bias. Of all the writers, she alone was asked to document her contributions to the show in order to qualify her for an Emmy nomination.

She is now taking on the role of producing more shows starring POC actors with a contract with Warner Bros. Her newest project is a coming of age story featuring an Indian American teenage girl . You can be sure her story will be far different young boy central to the Wonder Years.

READ THE ARTICLE

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It's not an easy road being a Hollywood producer.  (Read Mindy Kaling's story, above.) Just Ask Nina Yang Bongiovi. In an article from Deadline, she is ready to move into the Asian American genre.

It took 10 years learning the business and making mistakes including a stint in the Asian movie industry. a chance meeting with actor Forrest Whitaker and faith in a young, untested but talented filmmaker Ryan Coogler for Bongiovi to break through to do her first film, Fruitvale Station. That led to a series of movies with black themes and casts.

She has fended off criticism from Asian American craetives for not doing films about their communities. But she had been biding her time, waiting for the right moment. Crazy Rich Asians' critical success and box office appeal opened the door for the Bongiovi and Whitaker producing team. 

The producer and actor recently signed a first-look deal with Amazon and isn’t wasting any time in developing Asian American as well as other multicultural narratives that are often erased from history. She is keeping many of the projects under wraps but she guarantees that she has a slate of projects that will have Asian Americans in front of and behind the camera.

READ THE ARTICLE

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And lastly, I'm an amateur cook (not a "chef") who likes to putter around the kitchen and once in a while write about news of the day from an Asian American perspective I loved this article from the New York Times written by Angela Dimayuga. 

Her article on 10 essential Filipino dishes in the NYTimes was a big shot in the arm, not only for her recipies but also for giving exposure for an often overlooked cuisine.

Dimayuga, "the creative director for food and culture at the Standard hotels and a former chef at Mission Chinese Food in New York, grew up in Northern California, a daughter of Filipino immigrants, her grandmother a scratch cook. When (the NYTimes) asked her recently for 10 recipes that speak to the heart of Filipino cuisine, she didn’t just cook from her own memory. She went through her mother’s collection of her family’s recipes and combed through cookbooks drawing on cooking from across the archipelago. She studied. And then she cooked and cooked."

The recipes she presents are a great launching point for us to add our own touches to make it our own.

READ THE ARTICLE

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Mindy Kaling reveals racial slight on the way to

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Mindy Kaling has become a role model and a Hollywood powerhouse.

With two successful TV series under her belt, numerous movies and with her own production company that had just signed a contract with Warner Bros. for future projects, one could say that Mindy Kaling has had a successful Hollywood career.

Because of her status as a  Hollywood mover-and-shaker, she can safely tell the story in which she accuses the Television Academy of institutional bias.

A recent  series of tweets from Mindy Kaling rand an in an interview with Elle Magazine, the Indian American actress reveals the Hollywood institutional bias allmost erased her contributions to one of television's most beloved sitcoms.

Kaling says that in the early days of The Office, she was subjected to discrimination from the Television Academy when the show was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series.

In a recent interview with Elle, Kaling said that Television Academy officials told her they were going to leave her name off of the show’s list of eligible contenders because there were too many producers listed.

“They made me, not any of the other producers, fill out a whole form and write an essay about all my contributions as a writer and a producer. I had to get letters from all the other male, white producers saying that I had contributed, when my actual record stood for itself,” she told Elle.

The Television Academy on Wednesay (Oct. 9) issued a statement to Variety:

No one person was singled out. There was an increasing concern years ago regarding the number of performers and writers seeking producer credits. At the time the Producers Guild worked with the Television Academy to correctly vet producer eligibility. Every performer/producer and writer/producer was asked to justify their producer credits. We no longer require this justification from performer/producers and writer/producers, but we do continue to vet consulting producer credits with the PGA to ensure those credited are actually functioning in the role as a producer.

Later Wednesday, Kaling addressed the Academy’s response in a tweet.

“Respectfully, the Academy’s statement doesn’t make any sense. I *was* singled out. There were other Office writer-performer-producers who were NOT cut from the list. Just me. The most junior person, and woman of color. Easiest to dismiss. Just sayin'” Kaling said.

“I’ve never wanted to bring up that incident because The Office was one of the greatest creative experiences of my life, and who would want to have an adversarial relationship with the Academy, who has the ongoing power to enhance our careers with awards?” she continued in another tweet.

UCLA report: Hollywood needs to change its world view to reflect today's multi-ethnic audiences

The bottom line of a new UCLA report for Hollywood's corporate leaders is: Diversity is good for business.

For Hollywood to be a more inclusive and diverse industry, companies need to implement a five-point strategy for hiring, sponsoring and promoting minorities and women — especially women of color — the new UCLA study suggests. 

The study, published Wednesday (Sept. 18), was drafted by the authors of UCLA’s Hollywood Diversity Report. It is based on an analysis of current diversity programs at Hollywood studios, agencies and other companies and interviews of 21 entertainment industry leaders with experience in diversity and inclusion efforts.

“There are many diversity hiring programs in place, but they are not always systematic or fully integrated into how companies actually do business,” said Darnell Hunt, dean of the division of social sciences at UCLA, and co-author of the report. “While these programs have served as a sort of lottery benefiting a few exceptional individuals, they are not contributing to overall, sustained progress on the equitable representation of women and minorities.

“Thus, they also do not serve the larger issue of making the content that today’s increasingly diverse audiences demand.”

According to the report, companies can improve diversity and inclusion by following five essential practices:

• Modernize their worldviews of the evolving American audience, which is now 40 percent minority and 50 percent female. Businesses can do this by establishing a public statement about their diversity mission, setting specific goals with timelines that support the stated mission, and teaching employees that change is not only inevitable but beneficial.

• Expand hiring searches to include candidates of diverse racial, ethnic, gender, disability and LGBTQ backgrounds. In part, companies can do this by tapping into databases like Creative Artist Agency’s list of TV writers of color and Women in Hollywood’s female filmmakers roster, and by expanding outreach to colleges.

• Implement a robust strategy to amplify the roles of women, and women of color in particular, in leadership roles. Previous research has shown that when women occupy leadership roles, projects and work environments are considerably more inclusive.

• Normalize compensation packages, especially for entry-level jobs, because minority hires from non-affluent backgrounds often cannot afford to take low-paying jobs despite their high-value networking opportunities.

• Structure incentives for decision makers to prioritize diversity and inclusion at all levels.

Modernize their worldviews of the evolving American audience, which is now 40 percent minority and 50 percent female. Businesses can do this by establishing a public statement about their diversity mission, setting specific goals with timelines that support the stated mission, and teaching employees that change is not only inevitable but beneficial.

“Clearly there is no one-size-fits all approach to this issue, and making meaningful change is a deliberate process that requires sustained effort and a commitment to carry out the work at all levels from top to bottom,” said Ana-Christina Ramon, director of research and civic engagement for the social sciences division and the co-author of the new report. “We’re offering a list of sustainable actions that can be refined and adapted to fit any existing efforts. This problem won’t solve itself. The path ahead must be paved with intention.”

The box office success of 'Crazy Rich Asians' widened Hollywood's world view.

The researchers write that all five practices must be integrated to achieve the kind of meaningful change that would enable Hollywood to reflect America’s increasingly diverse mainstream. The Hollywood Diversity Report, which published the results of its sixth annual analysis in February, has repeatedly demonstrated that films and programs with diverse casts and creators are profitable.  

“Diversity must be seen as a business imperative, because it is,” Hunt said.

"In 2017, Latino market buying power was $1.5 trillion, followed by $1.3 trillion for African Americans, $986 billion for Asian Americans and $114 billion Native Americans, respectively. The result? Today’s “mainstream” market is defined by its remarkable and increasing diversity," cites the report.

"It follows that people of color are also avid moviegoers and have had a profound impact on the success of Hollywood’s top films. In 2017, for example, people of color accounted for the majority of domestic ticket buyers for five of the top ten films, ranked by global box office," continued the report. "Moreover, people of color bought half of the tickets for one of the remaining five top ten films that year. It is worth noting that seven of the top ten films had casts that were 21 percent or more diverse."

UCLA’s annual Hollywood Diversity Report series published in February has consistently found that despite the stark underrepresentation of women and people of color in the industry, diversity sells at the box office. The report cites the box office success of Crazy Rich Asians and Black Panther as examples.

After the so-called “Hollywood white out” TV season of 1999–2000 began without a single new show featuring a lead character of color, the NAACP and a coalition of media and social justice organizations demanded that the entertainment industry stop systematically excluding minorities.

“We are once again challenging studios, networks and production companies to take a hard look at their workforce, to see where and if they have improved, and to seek out ways to ensure that the entertainment industry is diverse and inclusive, and to continue their focus on the creative community’s acceptance of talent, regardless of age, race, religion or gender,” said Vicangelo Bulluck, who as executive director of the NAACP’s Hollywood bureau, led efforts against the “white out” and chaired the advisory board for the report.

Scarlett Johansson 'whitewashed' Ghose in A Shell.

In addition, today’s multi-ethnic audiences are also very savvy and sensitive to inauthentic casting or “whitewashing.” Ghost in the Shell, a film based on a Japanese comic and numerous anime adaptations, received negative attention once news circulated that the lead character — who is Japanese in the original story — would be portrayed by the white actress Scarlett Johansson. The movie grossed only $40.6 million in the United States, despite a budget of $110 million. 

The report concludes: "Current status quo approaches to addressing the entertainment industry’s diversity problem have failed to move the needle in any significant way. This fact is documented in numerous studies cited throughout this report. 

"We must get beyond thinking of diversity programs as lottery systems that reward just a few hardworking and highly talented individuals. If the goal is truly to establish an inclusive Hollywood, one in which the storytelling that defines us as a nation better reflects the new mainstream, then the means outlined in this report must replace industry default positions and simply engaging in business as usual."

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