“Crazy Rich Asians” grossed over $238 million worldwide at the box office, but one of the women paramount to its success found herself undervalued at the negotiating table for the smash hit’s sequel. Adele Lim, co-writer on the first pic, has officially exited Warner Bros.’ follow-up to the Constance Wu-starrer due to a pay parity dispute. The Hollywood Reporter broke the news.
“Co-writer Peter Chiarelli, as an experienced feature scribe who broke out with 2009’s ‘The Proposal,’ was to be paid a significantly higher fee than Lim, a veteran TV writer who never had penned a feature until Chu hired her to work on the screenplay,” THR details. “(Before Chu boarded the project, producers Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson of Color Force already had enlisted Chiarelli to adapt Kevin Kwan’s 2013 best-selling novel.)”
“Being evaluated that way can’t help but make you feel that is how they view my contributions,” Lim observed. She suggested that “women and people of color often are regarded as ‘soy sauce’ — hired to sprinkle culturally specific details on a screenplay, rather than credited with the substantive work of crafting the story,” according to THR.
Lim didn’t reveal any numbers, but sources indicate that Warner Bros.’ starting offers were $800,000 to $1 million for Chiarelli and $110,000-plus for Lim. “Warners explained to Lim’s reps that the quotes are industry-standard established ranges based on experience and that making an exception would set a troubling precedent in the business. The talks escalated to studio chairman Toby Emmerich, who backed his business affairs department’s stance.”
Lim walked away in the fall. Color Force spent the next five months searching for other writers of Asian descent to replace her. They returned to Lim in February “with an offer closer to parity with Chiarelli, who had volunteered to split his fee with her, but Lim passed.”
“Pete has been nothing but incredibly gracious, but what I make shouldn’t be dependent on the generosity of the white-guy writer,” Lim emphasized, pointing to the systemic issues at play. “If I couldn’t get pay equity after ‘CRA,’ I can’t imagine what it would be like for anyone else, given that the standard for how much you’re worth is having established quotes from previous movies, which women of color would never have been [hired for]. There’s no realistic way to achieve true equity that way.”
Kudos to Lim for coming forward with her experience and addressing the wider systemic issues involved. The game is rigged — and she refused to play along.
Lim’s small-screen credits include “Lethal Weapon,” “Private Practice,” and “One Tree Hill.” She’s penning Disney’s “Raya and the Dragon,” an animated pic that sees “Crazy Rich Asians” breakout Awkwafina voicing a shape-shifting dragon.
