Terry Tang
Associated Press
From left: Jessica Gao, Jimmy O. Yang and Ken Cheng (picture from CrabClubInc.com)
One of the most popular “clubs” in Hollywood is run by “Crazy Rich Asian” actor Jimmy Young and his production partners. There is no DJ or bottle service. If you are eligible for admission, you better know how to eat Dungeness crab.
On November 5th, Yang, who made his debut in the Netflix holiday romantic comedy “Love Hard”, has been turning the production company Crab Club he runs with Gao Jiexi and Zheng Ken into a true Hollywood power.
Why is the Crab Club? This nickname comes from their regular crab dinners with other Asian American friends who work in the entertainment industry. The purpose is not only to eat, but also to support each other. Meals take turns at their home in the Los Angeles area. For Yang, this is a “cool dinner club”.
“I just think it’s normal, it’s a bit like when I was filming’Crazy Asian Rich’, we didn’t need to explain ourselves,” Yang told the Associated Press.
In Hollywood, these gatherings eventually surpassed a support group and are now an incubator for TV and film projects that are told on their terms. In 2019, Yang, Gao and Cheng established Crab Club, Inc., and it didn’t take long for the company to prove its strength.
Comedian Jo Koy appeared at one of the dinner parties and created a “synergistic effect,” Yang said. Talking about their work together led to the Crab Club’s first project: “Easter Sunday,” a comedy about a Filipino-American family starring Coy. The film will premiere in April and found a partner at Steven Spielberg’s Amble Entertainment.
“We broke the story together. But Ken is the main writer,” Yang said. “He wrote such an amazing script that Steven Spielberg received the legendary green light in his first draft.”
They are now co-writing “The Great Chinese Art Robbery” with Yang’s former “Crazy Rich Asian” director Jon M. Zhu, attached. The Crab Club is also working on an Amazon Studios comedy series, co-written and executed by Cheng, about the Los Angeles Wanderers.
“If someone sends us an item, we have two rules,” Cheng said. “First, the project must highlight marginalized voices or marginalized communities. We are three Chinese Americans. Obviously, we will prefer the Asian American project or the Asian diaspora project… The second The mission is that all three of us must like it and want to do it.”
The Crab Club Dinner (temporarily suspended during the pandemic) is not intended to be some exclusive Asian Algonquin roundtable. It really started out about eating crabs. Gao, the host of the highly anticipated Marvel/Disney+ “Female Hulk” series, said that they and two other friends created a text thread in 2017 if they saw Dungeness Crab at a bargain price , Will remind each other.
“When the price drops to the single digits per pound, we will all gather together for a crab dinner like the Avengers,” Gao said. “We will all take turns to visit each other’s house. And we are all very good cooks.”
Since it is difficult to accommodate more than 10-15 people, and the owner must purchase crabs, only invitations are accepted. Their little dinner club started to cause a sensation, and producers and actors were asking them how to join.
Zheng said that the people in the group have been “isolated” for so many years, and they have always been the only Asians on the set. Here, they can come up with ideas or complain that people in the industry have closed their doors because of race or ethnicity.
They also support each other in addition to the works of the Crab Club. When the plot of “Deadly Love” and Yang’s cast were exposed, there was immediate criticism that the story would depend on this nerd Asian being not a credible metaphor for romantic choices.
In this sweet but not sweet Christmas movie, a New York man (Yang) uses a photo of his strong childhood friend as an online dating profile photo. He established contact with a Los Angeles writer (played by Nina Dobrev) through text messages and phone calls. When her catfish was broken after she gave him a surprise at his house, Cyrano-style pranks followed.
“I know there will be tweets like this when watching the trailer, because of course you will attribute the story to…like,’Oh, what do you want to say? Oh, this kind of Asian with glasses doesn’t Hot, and the other person is hot?” Yang said.
He promised that the film is more nuanced. Initially, his role was not written as Asian American. Yang took the role after asking the producer to agree to a “handsome guy” played by someone of Asian descent (Darren Barnet of “I never” played this role). Yang also knows that playing this role means that the audience will see an Asian family on the screen.
This consideration is one of the reasons why Cheng Hegao protects Yang from critics.
“I think this situation does show that actors of color are placed in an unfair position,” Gao said. “Jimmy actually cares about his community and wants to protect his community.”
Like Yang, Gao and Cheng are very busy with projects outside the Crab Club. Experts are busy writing “Female Hulk,” and people of color account for more than half of the writers. Zheng has many promises, including a pilot HBO comedy about brothers and sisters operating a Chinese restaurant.
In such a cruel industry, it is easy for the three to focus on their careers. However, they also hope to help emerging writers and actors contribute to the “golden age of Asian American art,” Zheng said.
The golden age seems to have come long ago. In May, the University of Southern California Annenberg Inclusion Initiative report found that of the 1,300 highest-grossing films between 2007 and 2019, only 5.9% of 51,159 speaking roles were played by Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Of these movies, only 3.4% (ie 44) are starring or co-starring with Asians or Pacific Islanders.
The continued lack of representation is why the trio will send projects to other writers when they are inappropriate. Gao said they need to overcome Hollywood’s history of allowing people of color to compete for opportunities.
“The circle has grown bigger,” Gao said. “The high tide will set off all boats. This is the philosophy we believe in.”
