It’s been quite the big couple of months for Asians in Hollywood. First there was the release of Crazy Rich Asians (which scored critical acclaim and made enough money to immediately warrant a sequel), followed by Searching which stars the amazing John Cho, and of course, Netflix’s To All The Boys I’ve Loved which captured literally everyone’s attention.
With all that momentum brewing, it’s no surprise that Hollywood is keen to cash in as quick as possible and this has lead to the most fascinating news this week next to a literal boat of cocaine abandoned on the coast of Australia: Rick and Morty writer Jessica Gao is developing a new Chinese-American comedy TV project pitched as “Lazy Rich Asians”.
Can’t imagine where she got the inspiration for that working title.
Name similarities aside, the project sounds like oodles of fun. The currently-untitled single-camera series is about Janet Zhao, a first-gen Chinese-American woman who has a tough time dealing with her exhausting family. Things get flipped on its head though when Janet’s wealthy grandmother dies and she is named the sole inheritor of her fortune.
We don’t have much to go off of based on that short synopsis, but it’s hard to imagine the project being anything less than great based on the behind-the-scenes talent.
Gao will serve as writer and executive producer on the project, and she was most recently a writer on Rick and Morty. She is perhaps best known for penning that brilliant “Pickle Rick” episode, which recently won the Outstanding Animated Program Emmy, so there’s no doubt that she knows how to write a good script.
Executive producing alongside Gao are Brian Grazer, Francie Calfo, and Samie Kim Falvey, the latter of which is best known for working on other well-received sitcoms such as Fresh Off The Boat and Modern Family.
Now before we get too excited, know that this is just a script-plus-penalty deal, meaning it is not guaranteed that Gao’s script will be made into a show but she’ll be paid a big bag of money regardless of what happens.
But given how Gao was the one behind lines such as “I turned myself into a pickle, Morty” and “I don’t do magic, Morty, I do science. One takes brains, the other takes dark eye liner”, I think the odds of this project hitting the airwaves are pretty good.
But regardless of what happens, this is great news for the growing diversity movement that seems to be happening in Hollywood right now and giving someone as talented as Gao the opportunity to share her stories is a big step forward.
It’s been a while since this little call to action was used, but given Gao’s experience working with Dan Harmon, I can’t think of a better time to dust it off: Six seasons and a movie!
Baby’s first Emmy pic.twitter.com/0UWJFnzeIR
— Jessica Gao (@ChairmanGao) September 9, 2018