Question: “What about a script with all ethnic cast?”
Another open forum question: From Deaf Indian Muslim Anarchist:
dumb question… am I wasting my time if I write a spec screenplay that has an all-South Asian cast? Seriously. I am really asking you this.
many L.A producers always turn their nose up at “ethnic” screenplays and let’s face it, many movies that are produced, usually are full of white characters.
Sadly, DIMA, I fear your perception of Hwood in this regard is accurate. There are exceptions. LionsGate, the most successful of the mini-major studios, has done very well with their ‘urban’ movies, most notably with Tyler Perry. And, of course, there is the phenomenon that is Slumdog Millionaire. But it is noteworthy that Warner Bros. was going to send that movie straight to DVD and it wasn’t until the producers wrangled Fox Searchlight’s interest that the movie even got a theatrical release. How could WB have so missed the boat on Slumdog, not seeing what a wonderful movie they had on their hands? I don’t think it’s hard to imagine the execs and their ‘conventional wisdom’ doubting there would be a significant audience to see a movie with (A) subtitles, (B) set in the slums, and © an all Indian cast.
That said, I don’t think that Hwood movie studios are so much inherently racist as they are institutionally capitalist. If they think they can make money doing it, they’ll do it. If they don’t, they won’t. In fact, there was a huge article in today’s NY Times business section about the Weinstein Company — “Weinsteins Struggle to Regain Their Touch” — and in it, there’s this:
Bob [Weinstein], meanwhile, has disavowed his goal of becoming the next king of African-American urban comedies, an unlikely ambition for a Jewish guy from Queens. But a few years ago, he took note of Tyler Perry’s success, and it looked like easy money. Bob produced “Long Shots,” with Ice Cube, and “Soul Men” with Bernie Mac and Samuel L. Jackson.
“Did like $15 million gross,” Bob says of “Soul Men,” “and it was a relatively expensive, $20 million movie. And for an African-American movie, there’s no foreign business. So those were two bad missteps, definitely.”
Thought they could make money doing urban movies. When it didn’t turn out, no more African-American movies for Weinstein Co.
Circling back to your specific situation: You have a spec script with an “all-South Asian cast.” Question: Is this a story that is intrinsically tied to local culture? If it’s, let’s say, a teenage comedy and can be extracted from South Asia, then transplanted to a setting in the U.S., then your chances of selling the script in Hwood rise appreciably. If, however, the story is dependent on local customs and color, your best bet is to seek out production companies who make those type of movies.
I know virtually nothing about the movie business in South Asia, but maybe someone who reads GITS knows some contacts. Because if it’s a great story, like Slumdog Millionaire, Whale Rider, Bend It Like Beckham, or Maria, Full of Grace, those were movies just crying out to be made — and somehow they got made.
Look around you. See what companies or filmmakers are producing movies similar to the one you’ve written. Then approach them. I suspect that’s your best bet.
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