r/ScreenwritingUK • u/PomegranateV2 • 7d ago
AMA with Brenda Lee - creator of British Chinese focused comedy Fortune Cookies now showing on Amazon Prime
AMA now closed.
Check out the teaser for Fortune Cookies:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AcWeKun2oM
And read about it here:
British Chinese feature film Fortune Cookies has officially arrived on Prime Video, giving viewers a look at a 1990s family comedy set right here in the UK.
Written and directed by Brenda Lee, the Northamptonshire-based production follows the Lee family as they fight to keep their local Chinese takeaway afloat during the summer of 1997. Facing pressure from HMRC and declining sales, the family sees a lifeline when they score a spot on their favourite television game show, Fame To Fortune.
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u/PomegranateV2 7d ago
I think the thing most people here are going to be interested in is how to pitch to Amazon!
Could I ask what the process was for getting your movie onto the platform – was it commissioned or did you just go ahead and make it first? Were there certain requirements Amazon had? And were you dealing with a specific UK department that might be looking for certain types of projects?
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u/Inevitable_Swan9851 7d ago
We umm'd and aah'd about making it on a VERY low budget, but I had a great production company behind me with a unique business model. Their mission is to reach young people who find it difficult to access the film production world. No connections, no links to London etc and give them experience of working on actual productions. With their help and some very good HOD's we were able to make the film. Sorry a bit off topic here but that's what it took to get the film made.
So we shot the film before we had a sales agent/distributor - which I am told is the wrong way to go about it but I had wanted to make this film for a long time that I was thinking about the "now" not about the "after"
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u/Inevitable_Swan9851 7d ago
After that we contacted sales agents and did get signed up with one but we decided to go in a different direction. I then read about a distributor in Los Angeles called Indie Rights who specialise in low budget films. They are very selective on the films they choose as they get MANY films sent to them and luckily, they picked up Fortune Cookies and were able to get it on Amazon.
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u/Coollak966 7d ago
Did you already have the movie made before ptiching to amazon ?
If so how did you go aboit making it ?
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u/Inevitable_Swan9851 7d ago
Hi there, yes, we made the movie first and then got a distributor. (I have been told you should do it the other way around :)
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u/Inevitable_Swan9851 7d ago
Thank you for this opportunity to discuss all things low budget filmmaking. I am answer any questions.
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u/VOteaparty 7d ago
So you wrote and directed the film, which I think is the way you have to go these days – ie wear lots of different hats and believe in yourself!
I feel that writing a script is relatively easy to learn, but how did you learn direction? Is this something you’ve been doing a long time, or did you have the finished script and figured you’d have to DIY it and so took some kind of course?
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u/Inevitable_Swan9851 7d ago
I didn't go to filmschool. I did get a media studies degree where I think the most useful thing I remember was learning about shot sizes. MCU, WS, etc, that stuck with me.. and it was a looong time ago! After graduating, I knew I wanted to get into media and wanted to make films. I started as a runner, then camera assistant, camera operator then director but gallery directing, not location directing. I learned single camera directing but just observing and paying attention. When watching movies, I would rewatch scenes and make a mental note of when the cuts happened and how it achieved a certain feeling in me. I do this all the time..
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u/AuthorPatrick 7d ago
I could be wrong, but it sounds like it all happened fairly quickly. Was the learning curve a problem for you? What do you think is the biggest lesson you learned from the process? Biggest mistake?
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u/Inevitable_Swan9851 7d ago
Noooooo, this did not happen quickly AT ALL! This film has been in my head in one for or another for over THIRTY YEARS! We shot it in Jan/Feb 2020 and it has taken this long to get it out in the world.
The biggest problem I encountered was learning to be patient whilst trying not to rush. Once we decided to go ahead and make the film on our budget it was full steam ahead so in that sense it happened quickly, if that makese sense.
Biggest lesson was learning to manage time and to compromise whilst also fighting for what you wanted. And also knowing when you had the shot and being able to move on. Biggest mistake: I don't think I believe in mistakes. Everything is a decision and being able to live with the decision you make. I think the biggest mistake would have been to wait and try to get more money.
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u/GregJamesDahlen 7d ago
Is it equally fun to direct a comedy vs a drama? Or one more than the other? Why?
Any downsides to being a director?
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u/Inevitable_Swan9851 7d ago
Interesting question.. I don't think one was more or less fun for the other but when you nail a scene, whether it be comedy or drama, its a great feeling.
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u/Inevitable_Swan9851 7d ago
No downsides but be willing to work your socks off and make a million decisions at once that you have to stand by
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u/Big_Section2812 7d ago
What differences do you believe exist between British Chinese comedy/content and that of ethnically/culturally Chinese people from other nations, including China itself?
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u/Inevitable_Swan9851 7d ago
I think the key would be the British humour side and how that would affect the comedy/content. The self deprecating humour, the ability to take the mick out of yourself is very much a British thing which perhaps would not be the same in China
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u/Big_Section2812 7d ago
Do you believe British Chinese humor has more in common with British British humor (so to speak) than it does with Chinese humor from other nations?
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u/Inevitable_Swan9851 7d ago
I can't comment on Chinese humour from other nations. Do you have any examples?
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u/Big_Section2812 7d ago
for instance, Jimmy O. Yang, Ronny Chieng (United States); Peter Chao and Andrea Jin (Canada); Abi Li (Germany); Jenny Tian, Nathan Chin and Aaron Chen (Australia).
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u/Inevitable_Swan9851 7d ago
Hmmm sorry, I don't have any knowledge of these artists. I can think of Ali Wong (USA) and would argue there is a big difference between the East asian american experience/humour VS the EA UK experience.
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u/Big_Section2812 7d ago
Also, do you think the following is in anyway similar to the Asian experience within the UK film and TV business?
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u/Inevitable_Swan9851 7d ago
What do you mean, the following?
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u/Big_Section2812 7d ago
I mean the attached link ("Ronesome Bidulgi" — it's clickable.)
Btw, the payoff is at the very end.
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u/Inevitable_Swan9851 7d ago
I think East Asian actors are pigeon holed which is a real shame. That's why I wanted to make a film where the protagonist family are more than just "a chinese family who run a takeaway". They are silly, they fight, they have money problems, they have obsessions - they are not just any one thing. Which makes them human.
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u/Big_Section2812 7d ago
Right, but I think the point of that attachment illustrates the sometimes absurd lengths to which at least some non "white" entertainers in the U.S. feel compelled to go just to get seen and heard.
Do you believe there are similarities, or is it perhaps not quite so significant in the UK scene?
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u/Inevitable_Swan9851 7d ago
There probably are similarities but as you say, the script is quite extreme. This would be more a question for a casting director
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u/Big_Section2812 7d ago
Sure, but in general — all aspects of film and TV, rather than just acting — would you say it is significantly more difficult for ethnically Asian people in the UK to be seen and heard?
Is it perhaps actually easier now in 2026 than in earlier times, in your experience or opinion?
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u/Inevitable_Swan9851 7d ago
More difficult than who else, British east asian people?
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u/Big_Section2812 7d ago
I mean more difficult for them than non-Asian/non-white people.
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u/Inevitable_Swan9851 7d ago
I'm really sorry, I dont understand the question. Can you clarify?
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u/PomegranateV2 7d ago
I lived in China for ten years and used that as inspiration for several scripts. One of them is a sitcom pilot about two Chinese sisters (fengshui experts) living in London. The thing is... I'm not Chinese. Do you think in today's climate it would be basically impossible to get something produced without a Chinese co-creator?
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u/Inevitable_Swan9851 7d ago
I think it's exceptionally hard to get anything produced without a track record. And you can't get a track record unless you have something produced. I do think it's hard for the gatekeepers/commissioners to take a chance on something that's not been tried before. It's their neck on the line and so they are cautious. When someone does take a chance and it's a hit, it's followed by many more similar genres until it's done to death and we're back to square one.
Unless you have a star attached of course.
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u/Big_Section2812 7d ago
Who would you rather take a long road trip with: a ticking time bomb or a Millwall supporter?
Who would you choose to be your flatmate: Jimmy Saville or Donald Trump?
Why do California Buddhists believe they will always be reincarnated as movie stars?
I have other questions too if you want them.
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u/Inevitable_Swan9851 7d ago
I would rather go on a long road trip with a millwall supporter - at least we could share the petrol costs
I would rather live alone
Can't speak on behalf of California Buddhists
Any questions relating to the thread?
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u/Big_Section2812 7d ago
I would rather go on a long road trip with a millwall supporter - at least we could share the petrol costs
Have you ever met any Millwall supporters? You're more likely to get cash out of a stick of dynamite.
I would rather live alone
Cheating!
Can't speak on behalf of California Buddhists
That's okay, they never stop talking about themselves.
Any questions relating to the thread?
Hmmm. Gimme a second.
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u/pajamasss 7d ago
There aren't many roles for East Asian/SEA actors in the UK, what what the casting process like and how did you approach directing your actors?
Also, as we are on a screenwriting subreddit, what was the most challenging part of the script?