Cindy Chu: Centering Queens and Asian-American Stories
Cindy Chu: Centering Queens and Asian-American Stories
By Sharon M. Chin
If you are over the age of 5, you grew up during the dearth of Asian-American representation on screen. There were 25 long years between The Joy Luck Club and Crazy Rich Asians and, in between, a mere handful of Asian-American sitcoms (e.g. All-American Girl, Fresh off the Boat). As an Asian-American girl growing up in Queens in the 80’s-00’s, I remember this absence disappointedly.
So last summer in August 2019, when I saw a fundraiser for Queens: The Series, with its comedic trailer focused on the trials of three Asian-American female friends from Queens, followed by its casting call for extras, I was immediately intrigued. I’m proud to say that I showed up as an extra, partaking in an especially participatory behind the scenes look of an award-winning brashly funny and relatable series centered on Asian-American women.
Queens: The Series is the brain-child of Cindy Chu, a second generation Taiwanese-Chinese American woman from Queens who experienced firsthand the difficulty of securing roles as an Asian-American actress. After taking up acting post-college, Chu describes constantly going on auditions “with few roles for Asian-Americans” combined with industry professionals who insensitively asked her to play caricatured stereotypical roles time and time again. “I was constantly asked to demonstrate a heavy accent or to pretend to not speak English” notes Chu. Chu “wrestled with getting ahead in her career by taking on these roles and perpetuating stereotypes,” or if she could “be brave enough to say no in order to help create change.” And Chu, rather than remaining dejected or giving up, realized early on, “I’d have to write the Asian American stories I wanted to see.”
In 2017, Chu began to write this script into being. Queens would eventually tell the story of the friendship of “three Asian American Queens best friends, Sarah (Cindy Chu), Kim (Spring Inés Peña) and Gia (Carolina Do), as they struggle to make ends meet and realize adulting isn’t what their immigrant parents taught them it’d be.” The women navigate familial expectations, career choices, and more while at the intersection of being first and second generation Asian Americans. The journey, from inception to 2019’s episode premiere was lengthy, with a year alone focused on “developing the pilot episode and the ‘series bible’- the biographies of all the main characters, and the episode themes, arcs, and storylines.”
Queens Episode 1 Scene
With three Asian-American female leads, Chu’s work fiercely centers contemporary Asian-American women. Chu’s series title, however, goes beyond focusing on three strong women and pays homage to a setting where diversity is embraced. Queens is the most ethnically diverse area on the planet, but media representation of New York City rarely centers this. Chu notes “As a native New Yorker, I noticed all the TV series that represent New York are majority White centric stories (i.e. Sex and the City, Girls, Broad City).” Chu had “never seen a show that featured Asian Americans like my homegirls growing up in Queens. This show represents my city while also creating more visibility for Asian Americans.”
Behind the scenes filming for Queens: the Series
Chu wears many hats in this series- including acting, writing, and producing. Chu was also intentional in casting, specifically seeking people of color as her creative collaborators. “Visibility occurs both on and off camera. People of color don’t have the same opportunities in Hollywood as our white peers.” For Chu, this became an imperative, “to have a majority people of color cast and crew.” Chu succeeded with over 40 primarily people of color cast and crew members to date. And from Director and co-executive producer Nicole Gomez Fisher to charismatic actors Daytona Jones and Zak Ma, “everyone played an important part in bringing this series to life.”
As an extra, I personally got to see Chu and Gomez Fisher in action as they produced the fashion show scene of Episode 2 with Gia (Carolina Do) and cast. While the scene focuses on the tensions between our free-spirited aspiring fashion designer and her rule-bound with secrets professor, Gomez Fisher also allows the background to warm the scene. Zak Ma, as Jesse, has incredibly expressive eyes and there are well-timed wide panned shots of a very diverse cast of young-ish diversely clothed extras, creating the feel of a true NYC Fashion Institute classroom setting. Queens is filled with numerous such shots in which we intimately see our character’s emotions against familiar Queens and NYC backdrops.
Queens makes you laugh and appreciate intimate female friendships. Emotive Gia and a more Type A Kim offer well-intentioned support to Sarah to often unexpectedly hilarious ends. And by Episode 2, we see how these three friends offer mutual support to one another- particularly over workplace struggles and career ambitions. At the recent June 2020 episode 2 virtual screening, audience members commented on the show’s fresh comedy and relatability. One watcher noted “I love the bonding! I love witnessing female friends uplifting each other from the lowest points in their lives.” Another viewer commented “That’s my borough!” as they excitedly recognized the hustle and bustle of Flushing, down to bright street signage or red plastic supermarket bags. Other viewers remarked that they related most to a specific character or a combination of the three.
Queens: The Series opens up with a monologue from Sarah about romantic love. And Queens does focus on love, but not the romantic sort. Rather Queens: The Series is a love letter to the incredibly diverse communities of Queens, with its beautiful b-roll of familiar Queens life-the colorful signs and delicious foods of Flushing, the symphonies of the 7 train passing through Woodside. It is a love letter to Asian-American female friends who are there for each other in hard and trying times. And it is a love letter to people of color believing in the power of creating and sharing their stories.
Queens Episode 2 Trailer
More From Cindy Chu
Where Can We Watch You Next: “QUEENS is now streaming on our site. We’ll also be making our international premiere at Seoul WebFest in August. Follow us on our site and social media for future Q&As.”
Who Are You Watching : “Ramy Youssef and Issae Rae both write, star, and produce their respective shows, RAMY and INSECURE. I see a lot of myself in them because I’m on a similar journey as a fellow creator and Woman of Color writing about my community and sharing my experiences as an Asian American. I also just finished GENTEFIED which is so heart-warming and honest about the Latinx community in Los Angeles. I love that all the shows were made by People of Color and rooted in their communities.”
How Has the Pandemic Impacted You: “For the series, we were nearing the end of post-production when the Pandemic hit, but luckily our team was able to continue working remotely. For me personally, it was difficult to adjust during the first few weeks. However, this gave me the opportunity to put less pressure on myself to be productive and rest more. This helped me stay focused and keep pushing along each post-production milestone until completion.”
What's One Message You Have for Other Artists: “Every “success” you see is built on hundreds of no’s before they finally got that one yes. The entertainment industry is made to keep everyone out with slim chances of getting into the top-tiered festivals and fellowships, but don’t let that stop you. Everything is possible, you just have to find the right story and collaborators. It’ll be a lot harder than you imagine, but if you have a burning desire to make that art, then nothing should stop you. Also you’re not alone, there’s many niche groups to reach out and ask for help i.e. NYC Women Filmmakers, Hue You Know, Ghetto Film School, and more. Also ALWAYS copyright your work, and make sure you have a legal representation and proper paperwork when you hire someone on. If you intend to do a collaboration, make sure the ownership and termination clause sections are clear. Protect your work.”
One Fun Fact: “My entire family made cameos in the series, my mom, dad, sister, and niece. See if you can find them!”
And a Few More Facts on Queens:
“QUEENS is my first time producing at this scale. In my first episode, I learned the rush of filming on schedule and finding out post-production that there were plot holes within the story. We quickly needed to write out the gap scenes and gather the cast and crew back.”
“Creating a ½ hour episode takes time. I spent about two months scripting and then two months on pre-production (includes hiring cast and crew, scheduling production, budgeting, finding locations, set design, and more). Filming wise, our pilot took five days, and episode two took seven days. Post production takes the longest. Editing, sound mixing, and color correcting the pilot took 4-5 months, episode two took 5 months. Because we’re a small team, it takes a lot longer to produce one ½ hour episode.”
