Stop Asian Hate — Writers Panel

#StopAsianHate is more than a hashtag: it’s an urgent call to action to save lives.

Please join Writers Guild members Lisa Takeuchi Cullen, Albert Kim, Derek Nguyen, Cecilia Wong, and Marina Fang for a livestreamed panel on the pivotal role Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) writers play in changing misperceptions about Asian Americans, especially in the wake of a wave of tragic hate crimes against Asians across the country.

The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) and Writers Guild of America West (WGAW) both issued statements expressing solidarity with the AAPI community that you can read here and here. The WGAE statement read, “As writers of television, film, broadcast news and digital news, we pledge to do better by A) uplifting our Asian American writer members and their voices; B) giving careful consideration to our portrayal of fictional characters of Asian descent; C) covering their communities fairly, accurately and prominently.”

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About the Panelists

Marina Fang (she/her) is a national reporter at HuffPost and proud WGAE member, active on HuffPost’s union committee and the WGAE’s digital media industry-wide committee. She covers the intersection of culture and politics, including diversity and representation in race and gender, issues surrounding Asian American identity, as well as general movies and television. She previously covered breaking news and national politics, including overseeing much of HuffPost’s evening and weekend coverage of the 2016 election. In 2020, she was a fellow at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Critics Institute. Raised in Pittsburgh and a graduate of the University of Chicago, she lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Albert Kim is a television writer and producer who has worked on several shows including the hit Fox drama SLEEPY HOLLOW, for which he was the Executive Producer and Showrunner. Previously he was a writer and producer on the CW drama NIKITA, and he has also written for AMC’s PANTHEON, TNT’s LEVERAGE, and FX’s DIRT. Kim has created and written several pilots, working with Apple, Paramount, Warner Bros., Twentieth Century Fox, and many others. Currently, he is creating and running a yet-to-be-announced project for Netflix. Prior to his TV writing career, Kim was an award-winning journalist. He has written for numerous national magazines, including SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY, PEOPLE, and ESQUIRE, and he also cocreated and executive produced the entertainment news program, ESPN HOLLYWOOD.

A refugee of the Vietnam war, Derek Nguyen is a screenwriter, director, producer, and cofounder of The Population, a filmmaker-driven company focused on producing work featuring underrepresented voices. His directorial feature debut THE HOUSEMAID was released by IFC Films in 2018 and sold to 22 different territories around the world. An American adaption called GRAVE HILL is heading to production in 2021, written by Oscar-winner Geoffrey Fletcher (PRECIOUS), directed by Deon Taylor (BLACK & BLUE, TRAFFIK) and produced by CJ Entertainment (PARASITE). In 2021, Derek will be directing THE HARVEST, written by Doua Moua. He was a 2004 fellow at the Sundance Screenwriters Lab for his screenplay, MONSTER based on his award-winning play. His producing credits include Jennifer Fox’s THE TALE, So Yong Kim’s LOVESONG, Sarah Adina Smith’s BUSTER’S MAL HEART, Jamie Babbit’s ADDICTED TO FRESNO, Hannah Fidell’s LONG DUMB ROAD, and upcoming Josef Kubota Wladyka’s CATCH THE FAIR ONE.

Cecilia Wong is a News Producer at WCBS-TV in New York. She has previously worked at stations in Santa Barbara, Sacramento and the Bay Area. Cecilia started in print journalism before getting her first taste in broadcast while interning at Dateline NBC. She grew up in Atlanta, went to high school in LA, and attended UC Berkeley for undergrad.

Moderator Lisa Takeuchi Cullen is a TV writer, author and journalist. She is currently in an overall deal with Universal Studios, under which she is creating and co-showrunning a drama series for Netflix. Lisa was a consulting producer on “Law & Order: SVU” and has developed drama pilots for ABC, NBC, CBS, A&E and Warner Bros.; her pilot “The Ordained” was produced by CBS. She is a graduate of the WGA Showrunner Training Program. Lisa is an elected Council member of the Writers Guild of America East, where she works to represent marginalized writers as co-chair of the Committee for Inclusion and Equity; for her service to the Guild, she was awarded the 2020 Richard B. Jablow Award. Previously she worked as a staff writer and foreign correspondent for TIME magazine and published two books.