{"id":51749,"date":"2015-03-24T06:31:47","date_gmt":"2015-03-24T13:31:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cookiesandclogs.com\/?p=51749"},"modified":"2015-03-24T08:26:09","modified_gmt":"2015-03-24T15:26:09","slug":"fresh-off-the-boat-kourtney-kang-nahnatchka-khan-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cookiesandclogs.com\/fresh-off-the-boat-kourtney-kang-nahnatchka-khan-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"Fresh Off the Boat Kourtney Kang, Nahnatchka Khan Interview"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week I joined ABC Studios in Burbank<\/a>, CA to learn more about the tv series, Fresh Off the Boat<\/em>. We first headed into one of the screening rooms to view upcoming episode (which actually air tonight on ABC at 8:00pm) called \u201cLicense to Sell.\u201d It is HILARIOUS! I love how we see another side of both Louis and Jessica in this episode. Since I don\u2019t want to spoil the fun for you, here\u2019s the official summary of tonight\u2019s show.<\/p>\n

\u201cLicense to Sell\u201d \u2013 Jessica puts off taking the exam for her real estate license because she fears she isn\u2019t good enough to compete with Orlando\u2019s top realtor. Eddie looks to Louis for advice on how to win over older girl Nicole (guest star Luna Blaise), but puts his own spin on his dad\u2019s suggestions, on \u201cFresh Off the Boat,\u201d WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24 (8:00-8:30 p.m. ET)on the ABC Television Network.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Then it was time to interview the talent. Our group first sat down with Writer\/Executive Producer Nahnatchka \u201cNatch\u201d Khan and Co-Executive Producer Kourtney Kang.<\/p>\n

\"Fresh<\/p>\n

Fresh Off the Boat: Kourtney Kang, Nahnatchka Khan Inteview<\/h3>\n

Nahnatchka Khan shares why she wanted to bring this story to life.<\/p>\n

NK: To me it was finally a way to sort of express that first generation feeling, of you and your siblings being born here and your parents not. It\u2019s like being a scout being out in the world and coming back and reporting back to your parents and family. There are so many stories that haven\u2019t been told yet and this was a chance to tell so many stories we haven\u2019t seen. Network television has been around for 50-60 years and the family sitcom has been around for about that long. So to find a new access point, a new way to tell familiar stories, doesn\u2019t come around very often.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Of course, the book has a MUCH heavier and sobering tone than the series. How did they deal with adapting the story for mainstream family television?<\/p>\n

NK: The most important thing was keeping the inspiration intact. Like Eddie has come to appreciate, it\u2019s not a documentary or a bio-pic of his life but it\u2019s inspired by his story. Once you take these characters and cast them, then the actors bring their voices and their stories to it. Television is such a collaborative medium that it becomes everyone\u2019s story. You start with the source material, which inspires the show, then you build it up and you make it something everyone is proud of. These are fictionalized characters that do and say things that Eddie\u2019s family never said or did.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If the show gets picked up for additional seasons, viewers might wonder in which direction the stories will go.<\/p>\n

KK: What\u2019s so great about the 90\u2019s is that it\u2019s before the internet, before cell phones. Back in the day, if you wanted to call a boy it was such a big deal because a parent could answer and the stakes were so much higher. They\u2019re on this precipice \u2013 they\u2019re little boys now but they\u2019re slowly marching toward growing up a little bit. That\u2019s going to be a totally different experience than what Louis and Jessica had. It\u2019s just right for comedy and drama. It\u2019s exciting to think about them in seven years.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Fresh<\/p>\n

In the pilot episode, many were shocked to that one boy called Eddie a \u201cchink\u201d and later those two reconcile. That was not necessarily the original plan.<\/p>\n

NK: That was something that happened to Eddie in his memoir. When you do a tv show, you never know how many chances you\u2019re going to get. So when we got to shoot a pilot, that was all we had at the time. We didn\u2019t know we were going to be able to make 13 episodes. So, I knew I wanted that to be part of the pilot. If we\u2019re going to have one chance, let\u2019s come out swinging. Let\u2019s not water it down. That was pretty far in pushing the boundaries.<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re a person of color that\u2019s always going to be part of your life, said or if it\u2019s not said. Some days it\u2019s not spoken but it\u2019s still part of you and people still react in a certain way. If we had one chance to tell one story in the pilot then let\u2019s just come out and say it. These people are moving to the south, nobody looks like them, it\u2019s on people\u2019s minds. Let\u2019s just go for it and have him be called for what it is and let\u2019s see how they respond to it.<\/p>\n

It gave Jessica and Louis a chance to react in a way you don\u2019t think is typical, that you don\u2019t expect. They don\u2019t side with the school, they don\u2019t apologize for their son. Which is what really happened. To me that\u2019s really powerful. We didn\u2019t know if we\u2019d be able to tell any more stories so let\u2019s just tell a story that we can all be proud of. The fact that we got more episodes let us take another look at that arc.<\/p>\n

KK: That\u2019s the thing about school. You still have to go to school with these kids, it doesn\u2019t just end with that day.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Fresh<\/p>\n

Next up were Executive Producer Melvin Mar and Actor Randall Park (\u201cLouis Huang\u201d). This is when things got really juicy. But, you’ll have to read part two<\/a> since the interview was way too long and needed its own post \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

FRESH OFF THE BOAT OFFICIAL SOCIAL INFO:<\/strong><\/p>\n