Ad Age is marking Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Heritage Month 2023 with our Honoring Creative Excellence package. (Read the introduction here.) Today, our guest editor Bing Chen turns the spotlight to Janet Yang, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, whose credits as a producer include “The Joy Luck Club,” “The People vs. Larry Flynt” and “Over the Moon.” Here, Yang writes about the challenges of bringing “The Joy Luck Club” to the big screen.
I was first introduced to “The Joy Luck Club” in manuscript form.
I had just returned from China, where I had what I thought was the pinnacle experience of my life: working with Steven Spielberg as his eyes and ears in China for the making of his historic film “Empire of the Sun.” Shanghai really delivered, Steven was happy, and for me, I had a close-up view of production from the best in the business, which forever changed the course of my life.