Mindy Kaling and Amazon’s lovefest continues. Amazon Studios is dropping Kaling-starrer “Late Night” in theaters next week, and Kaling recently announced that she has a new essay collection in the works that will be released through Amazon.com’s Amazon Original Stories imprint. “The Mindy Project” alumna tweeted, “It’s so exciting for me to share the secrets of how I balance being a professional writer, actor, and single mom in a new collection of essays I’m writing through @AmazonPub!” She added, “I mean, it would be so exciting to share those secrets. I don’t have them. Like, not even close. This morning I bribed my baby with a remote control to get my car keys back. But I do have funny stories about my life and I can’t wait for you to read them.”
Currently untitled, the book is slated to hit shelves this summer, and marks Kaling’s third collection of essays. Her previous two, “Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?” and “Why Not Me,” were published by Penguin Random House. Both were bestsellers.
Earlier this year Netflix ordered a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age series from Kaling. The comedy centers on a first-generation Indian-American teenage girl.
Inspired by Kaling’s experiences as the only female staff writer on “The Office,” Nisha Ganatra’s “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. The well-reviewed pic, which scored one of the biggest deals out of Sundance this year, hits theaters June 7. Kaling penned the script. She recently spoke out about the stigma she felt being a diversity hire. “I thought I had the scarlet letter on me,” the “Ocean’s 8” actress explained. “‘Diversity hire’ inherently meant, ‘less talented but fulfilling that quota.’” Since then, she’s realized that the entertainment industry isn’t quite the meritocracy she believed it to be. “If you don’t know the right people to get into the rooms, you will just never be seen,” she learned. “I love talking about it in the movie because it’s really real, and the stigma’s really real, and it truly is a helpful thing. It helped me personally.”
Kaling’s packed slate also includes an anthology adaptation of rom-com “Four Weddings and a Funeral” at Hulu. The multi-hyphenate has an overall deal with Warner Bros. Television.
