‘Crazy Rich Asians’ Author to Develop Original Drama Series for Amazon
By Joe Otterson
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – “Crazy Rich Asians” author Kevin Kwan has a drama series in development at Amazon, Variety has learned.
The untitled series, which hails from STX Entertainment’s STXtv, is described as a globe-hopping drama set amongst Hong Kong’s most influential and powerful family and the business empire they control. The project has received a script-to-series order.
Kwan co-created the series with David Sangalli. Will Graham, who was previously an executive producer on ’s “Mozart in the Jungle,” will executive produce. Hailey Wierengo will co-executive produce via Graham’s Field Trip Productions banner, which is under a first-look deal at Amazon.
Kwan’s international best-selling debut novel “” was recently adapted into a feature film of the same name, which is set to debut on Aug. 15. With more than one million copies in print worldwide, the book has never left the best seller lists in Singapore, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia. His subsequent novels “China Rich Girlfriend,” published in 2015, and “Rich People Problems” are both national and international bestsellers. “Rich People Problems” debuted on the New York Times Bestseller List upon its release in 2017.
“STX is proving to be a new creative force in television, and their focus on diverse storytelling that bridges the East and West was extremely appealing to David and me as we embarked on writing this TV series,” said Kwan. “Amazon has been a wonderful partner over the last several years and continuing our relationship on this project felt like a natural next step. I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to work with someone of Will Graham’s caliber as we bring this story to life.”
Kwan and Sangalli are repped by ICM Partners and Lichter Grossman. Graham is repped by UTA, Kaplan Perrone, and Hansen Jacobson.
This marks the latest project from STXtv. The studio has lined up three scripted production commitments in the last five months for series including: “Valley of the Boom” at National Geographic; “The Edge of Seventeen” at YouTube Premium, which a spin-off of STXfilms’ film of the same name with the film’s original director Kelly Fremon Craig returning as executive producer; and “UglyDolls” at Hulu, an animated kids series based on STX’s upcoming animated film franchise.
“This series is precisely the type of East-meets-West material that STX is uniquely positioned to develop across all of our divisions. We are so pleased to be able to partner with Amazon, whose established relationship with Kevin and support of his literary career make them the perfect platform to launch his first TV project,” said Jada Miranda, EVP and head of scripted television at STXtv. “The ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ trilogy remains one of Amazon’s top fiction best-sellers because millions of passionate fans around the world can’t get enough of Kevin’s exuberant brand of storytelling. We can’t wait to bring the wildly entertaining world he and David created with this series to Prime audiences worldwide.”
