One Writer Leaves The Set of 'Crazy Rich Asians'

Last year, the film ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ reached number one at the box office. Additionally, it nearly $285.5 million in gross. The need and desire seemed to be the best option business wise! Not only did the film succeed in sales but added diversity to Asian representation in the industry.

The sequel is now underway. However, co-writer Adele Lim has left the creative team due to a pay issue. Reportedly, her co-writer, Peter Chiarelli, received a starting offer of $800,000 while Lim was to start at $110,000. The exact pay details haven’t been confirmed.

The Hollywood Report shared Lim “believes that women and people of color are regarded as ‘soy sauce’ – hired to sprinkle culturally specific details on a screenplay.”

Back in February, Color Force offered Lim a counter-offer closer to the pay of Chiarelli. Furthermore, Chiarelli volunteered to split his pay as well. Lim made the decision to deny both offers for the fight of equal pay for all women in production.

“Pete has been nothing but incredibly gracious, but what I make shouldn’t be dependent on the generosity of the white-guy writer,” Lim began. “I can’t imagine what it would be like for anyone else, given that the standard for how you’re worth is having established quotes from previous movies, which women of color would never have been. There’s no realistic way to achieve true equity that way.”

So far, there hasn’t been a set release date for the sequel, but that seems to be the least of the team’s concern. Director Jon M. Chu says to be focused on getting the story correct first.