A crazy and wealthy writer in Asia says she quits following because of the pay gap

A screenwriter for the popular film Crazy Rich Asians left the Warner Bros suite after what she alleges to be a pay gap with a white counterpart.

Adele Lim, a former TV journalist who helped bring to life the book of Singaporean author Kevin Kwan last year, said in a statement. Hollywood Reporter He was offered much less than co-writer Peter Chiarelli for the success of this blockbuster film, which was hailed for airing American-Asian stories to a mainstream audience and reinforcing the profile of the film. American actors of Asian descent and under-represented in Hollywood.

The publicist of Lim has confirmed The Washington Post Tuesday, the pay gap was the reason she had left the project.

The scriptwriter refused to provide exact figures, but according to sources who spoke with the Hollywood Reporter, its starting bid was $ 110,000, or nearly one-tenth of the $ 800,000 to $ 1 million offered to Chiarelli.

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She added that Ms. Lim thought that women and people of color tended to be involved in projects as "soy sauce", with the mission of adding texture to the crop, but not with the heavy work of narration.

"Being evaluated this way can only help you make yourself feel that it is so that they see my contributions," Lim said. The Hollywood Reporter.

Lim, who worked on shows such as A hill of tree and Private practice, Said in a 2018 interview with the Los Angeles Times Director Jon M Chu invited her to join Chiarelli in adapting Kwan's books to the screen because the film had a female protagonist – played by Constance Wu – and he wanted a female perspective in the audience. of the writer.

Lim's departure puts a damper on Chu's plans to keep actors and the production team intact for future sequels based on Kwan's other books, China rich girlfriend and Problems of rich people.

In recent years, actresses and actors of color have made similar deviations from projects to fill the well-documented wage gap.

In 2017, Asian-American actors Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park left the TV show Hawaii five to 0 because of alleged salary disparities with their white colleagues.

Later this year, old E! New Anchor Catt Sadler told the public of a goodbye in tears, later writing, "How can I work with integrity and stay at E's? They are not willing to pay me the same thing as [co-host Jason Kennedy]? "

according to The Hollywood Reporter, Chiarelli, whose other writing credits include Now you see me 2 and Proposal, Proposed to share her fees with Lim, but she refused the gesture.

"Pete has been incredibly courteous, but what I do should not depend on the generosity of the writer," she says. "If I could not get pay equity after ARCI can not imagine what it would be for anyone else. "

Lim, a Chinese from Malaysia, was celebrated for bringing authenticity to Crazy Rich Asians as one of the few writers in Southeast Asia, where Kwan's books are established.

"When I first arrived, we basically explained how much I grew up in this culture," she said. "Important does not begin to describe that when you talk about describing a culture and a family that the world – this America – has never seen.You want this to come from a genuine perspective."

In an interview with Daily prices, she said that she and Chu had done their best to get "little cultural details" as appropriate.

"Even if it exceeds the expectations of the general public, the Southeast Asians of the world can see that this has already been done for them," she said. "It's really a love letter to all those people."

Chiarelli and Chu did not respond immediately to requests for comment.

Warner Bros. refused to comment.