Mindy Kaling is making a major mark at Sundance 2019. The screenwriter, producer, and star of “Late Night” just landed a record deal for the comedy. Amazon Studios came out of an all-night bidding war victorious, claiming the Nisha Ganatra-directed pic’s U.S. rights for $13 million. Deadline broke the news. “Late Night” marks the biggest sale of a woman-helmed title in Sundance history, a record previously held by Dee Rees’ “Mudbound,” which Amazon snagged for $12.5 million at the 2017 edition of the fest.
Inspired by Kaling’s own experiences as the only female staff writer on “The Office,” “Late Night” sees Emma Thompson playing a late-night host who hires her first female writer (Kaling) under pressure to make her writers’ room more diverse.
“Mindy Kaling has crafted the rare film that is both entertaining and powerful,” commented Jennifer Salke, Head of Amazon Studios. “The moment the lights came up after the premiere, we knew ‘Late Night’ is a film our viewers will love and talk about. It’s an incisive workplace comedy that reinvents all the tropes about women. We too rarely get to see female characters like this — complex, flawed, and unapologetically ambitious. And that’s a credit to Kaling’s writing, Nisha Ganatra’s directing, and Emma Thompson, who delivers a brilliant performance alongside the always incredible Kaling. We can’t wait to share this wonderful movie with our customers, first in theaters and then on Amazon Prime Video.”
When we asked Ganatra what she’d like audiences to think about after seeing the film, she said, “I want them to be thinking about what the world would be like if women supported each other and helped each other when they are in a position of power. I want women to think about how to hold the door open behind you rather than slam it shut with some false sense of ‘making it’ being a zero-sum game,” she explained. “I want people to think about how easy it is to actually make your work environment inclusive — to not have endless meetings and committees on diversity but to just hire women and people of color. It’s that simple. Just do it quickly instead of talking about doing it forever and a day.”
Another woman-directed film scored a lucrative deal out of Park City: Lulu Wang’s Awkwafina-starrer “The Farewell.” Penned by Wang and based on real events, the film tells the story of a Chinese family who discover their grandmother has a terminal illness and decide not to tell her. A24 acquired worldwide rights to the comedy — excluding China — in a deal reportedly worth up to $7 million, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed.
“The sublime is a short distance from the ridiculous, and this film allowed me to explore that distance,” Wang told us. “It’s also a very personal story that depicts the proximity of grief and joy, pathos and humor.”
