Crazy Rich Asians co-writer Adele Lim has stepped away from the developing sequels over pay disparity issues. Adapted from the 2013 novel by Kevin Kwan, last year’s rom-com Crazy Rich Asians earned strong reviews, grossed $239 million worldwide on a $30 million budget, and helped to set a representation record for people of color leading Hollywood movies. The film similarly made a bigger name out of its lead, Fresh Off the Boat’s Constance Wu, and has catapulted Wu’s costars Henry Golding and Gemma Chan on to starring roles in upcoming tentpoles like Paramount’s G.I. Joe Snake Eyes spinoff and Marvel Studios’ Eternals.

Meanwhile, Lim and Crazy Rich Asians director Jon M. Chu have also been keeping busy this past year, with Chu directing the In the Heights musical movie and Lim setting to work writing Disney Animation’s next original feature, Raya and the Last Dragon (as part of a four-year deal she set with the studio). Considering how busy its cast and crew have been of late, it’s little wonder that filming on Crazy Rich Asians’ planned sequels (which will draw from Kwan’s books China Rich Girlfriend and Rich People Problems) isn’t expected to begin until 2020. Now, it appears production won’t start until late next year, even in the best case scenario.

As reported by THR, Lim has stepped away from the Crazy Rich Asians sequels over a payment disparity. The site’s sources say Warner Bros. initially offered Lim’s returning co-writer, Peter Chiarelli, $800K to $1 million to come back for the sequels while only offering her $110K to do the same. After Lim walked away from their deal last fall, WB offered her another one in February that was closer to Chiarelli’s, after the latter volunteered to split his fee. In a statement to THR, Lim explained why she decided to pass on the project all the same:

Although WB cited Lim’s lack of experience writing movies for the disparity between her and Chiarelli’s offers for the Crazy Rich Asians sequels, she has a long history of writing for television that spans upwards of twenty years and includes episodes of shows like Life on Mars, One Tree Hill, Private Practice, Reign, and Lethal Weapon, among many others. Moreover, as Lim pointed out in her statement, her lack of experience writing films before Crazy Rich Asians is the result of a lack of opportunities - something that highlights a major flaw in WB’s industry-standard approach. Lim also took Hollywood at large to task in her comments to THR, noting that women and especially people of color are often treated like “soy sauce”, i.e. hired to lend greater cultural authenticity to scripts, rather than being credited for crafting their stories in a substantial way.

“Pete has been nothing but incredibly gracious, but what I make shouldn’t be dependent on the generosity of the white-guy writer. If I couldn’t get pay equity after [Crazy Rich Asians], I can’t imagine what it would be like for anyone else, given that the standard for how much you’re worth is having established quotes from previous movies, which women of color would never have been [hired for]. There’s no realistic way to achieve true equity that way”

As such, Lim elected to pass on the Crazy Rich Asians sequels rather than continue to support this practice, leaving it to Chiarelli to write their scripts on his own (with Chu’s supervision), until further notice. The films have been all the slower to develop because of this and are now unlikely to begin shooting until the end of 2020 (assuming the main cast’s schedules all line up by then). In the meantime, Crazy Rich Asians fans will just have to sit tight and keep their eyes peeled for any fresh updates on the situation.

UPDATE: Chu has since posted a message of support for Lim to his Twitter account. You can read his tweet below.

Source: THR

Update Source: Jon M. Chu