According to a USC Annenberg study of the top 100 films of 2017, only 4.8% featured a character of Asian descent with a speaking role. But the "Crazy Rich Asians" effect is real, according to industry creators. At a post-screening Q&A last week hosted by the L.A. chapter of the Asian American Journalists Assn., co-screenwriter Adele Lim relayed a recent meeting she'd had in which an exec noted they were waiting to see how "Crazy Rich Asians" performed before greenlighting similarly diverse projects.
On Twitter, "Sleepy Hollow" executive producer Albert Kim revealed that the wheels of progress are already in motion: "In the last week, two network pilots were sold that feature all-Asian casts. I also know of three cable projects, all in active development, that mostly feature Asian and Asian American characters. It's going to happen, the momentum is there."
