Crazy Rich Asians sequel loses Asian co-writer Adele Lim over pay disparity
- Chinese-Malaysian screenwriter Lim says she was offered much less than her white, male co-writer – around one-tenth of the amount, according to sources
- She believes women and people of colour tend to be brought onto projects as ‘soy sauce’ to add cultural texture but not to be involved in actual storytelling
A female screenwriter for the popular film Crazy Rich Asians has left the Warner Bros sequel over what she alleges was a pay disparity with a white male counterpart.
Adele Lim, a veteran television writer who helped to bring Singaporean author Kevin Kwan’s book to life last year, said in a Hollywood Reporter story on Tuesday that she was offered significantly less than co-screenwriter Peter Chiarelli to work on the sequel to Crazy Rich Asians. The blockbuster hit was lauded for bringing Asian-American narratives to a mainstream audience and boosting the profile of under-represented Asian-American actors in Hollywood.
Lim’s publicist confirmed that the pay disparity was why she left the project.
The screenwriter declined to provide exact numbers, but according to sources who spoke to The Hollywood Reporter, her starting offer was US$110,000 – nearly one-tenth of the US$800,000 to US$1 million offered to Chiarelli.
Lim said she believes women and people of colour tend to be brought onto projects as “soy sauce”, tasked and credited with adding cultural texture but not with the heavy work of storytelling.