Third annual event assembles writers, actors, comedians and artists to discuss international storytelling.
SHANGHAI -- Oriental DreamWorks holds its third annual Brain Trust Summit from Dec. 4- 6 in Shanghai, including an open-house forum on the theme “Stories Without Borders”.
Each year since 2015, as part of the company’s mission to nurture talent and encourage cross-cultural creativity, ODW has brought acclaimed international storytellers, including writers, actors, comedians and visual artists to China for a vibrant week of exchange and inspiration.
This year’s guests are:
- Adele Lim, a TV writer & producer with extensive experience in series dramas including Las Vegas, One Tree Hill, Private Practice and Lethal Weapon. Lim was showrunner and executive producer on The CW’s Starcrossed and recently wrote the screenplay adaptation of Crazy Rich Asians for Warner Bros.
- Grace Lin, a New York Times bestselling author and illustrator who has won the Newbery Honor for Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, the Theodor Geisel Honor for Ling and Ting and a National Book Award Finalist for When the Sea Turned to Silver. In 2016, Lin was recognized by President Obama's office as a Champion of Change for Asian American and Pacific Islander Art and Storytelling.
- Sheng Wang, a writer and standup comedian whose TV appearances include Comedy Central Presents, Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. A Top Ten Finalist on Last Comic Standing, Wang also has a live comedy album, Cornucopias Are Actually Horrible Containers, and currently writes for the ABC sitcom Fresh Off the Boat.
- Jade Chang, author of The Wangs vs. the World, named a New York Times Editors Choice as well as a Best Book of the Year by Amazon, Buzzfeed, Elle, and NPR, and awarded the VCU/Cabell First Novelist prize.
- Andrew Law, a writer for NBC's The Good Place and HBO's Silicon Valley and previously for Late Night with Seth Meyers. As an actor, he has appeared on 30 Rock, recurred as Owen on HBO's Looking and currently appears on HBO's Divorce.
Joan Chen, Marjorie Liu, Junto Diaz, David Henry Hwang, Alan Yang and Peilin Chou at the 2016 edition of the Oriental DreamWorks Brain Trust Summit.
The Brain Trust Summit week also comprises in-house story brainstorming, a private pitch session, movie screenings and experience to local activities.
Oriental DreamWorks recently announced its new development slate consisting of five projects, three of which involve previous Brain Trust Summit guests:
- Rita Hsiao, writer of Mulan and Toy Story 2, is writing Lucky, a buddy comedy about Chinese superstition and the battle between good luck and bad luck.
- Janet Yang, whose credits include Joy Luck Club and The People Vs. Larry Flynt, is executive producing Over the Moon, a modern-day retelling of the classic Chinese myth about mysterious moon goddess Chang’e.
- Alan Yang, the Master of None co-creator is executive producing an Untitled Chinatown Project, an action comedy with supernatural elements.
Source: Oriental DreamWorks
Tom McLean has been writing for years about animation from a secret base in Los Angeles.
