{"id":20073,"date":"2013-03-22T03:03:54","date_gmt":"2013-03-22T03:03:54","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-10-15T11:01:46","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T11:01:46","slug":"learn-about-nice-girls-crew-with-tanuj-chopra-and-christine-kwon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/?p=20073","title":{"rendered":"Learn About \u2018Nice Girls Crew\u2019 with Tanuj Chopra and Christine Kwon"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Currently screening on the film festival circuit, all five episodes of its first season will be available on-demand this month, ahead of the series&#8217; online debut.<\/p>\n<p>Produced by the Center for Asian American Media, directed by award winning filmmaker Tanuj Chopra (\u201cPunching at the Sun\u201d), and written by Chopra and Christine Kwon, \u201cNice Girls Crew\u201d is an irreverent, raunchy \u201cBridesmaids\u201c-meets-\u201dArrested Development,\u201d no-holds-barred comedy series. Starring Sheetal Sheth (\u201cLooking for Comedy in the Muslim World,\u201d \u201cI Can&#8217;t Think Straight\u201d), Michelle Krusiec (\u201cSaving Face\u201d) and Lynn Chen (\u201cSurrogate Valentine,\u201d \u201cYes, We&#8217;re Open\u201d), \u201cNice Girls Crew\u201d crosses the line of traditional comedy \u2014 and then goes a little further.<\/p>\n<p>Sophie (Lynn Chen), Leena (Sheetal Sheth), and Geraldine (Michelle Krusiec) have been true \u201cfrenemies\u201d since elementary school. All grown up and finding themselves in the city of Los Angeles, the ladies seek refuge from their isolation in a book club where they never actually talk about the book. Their subjects of interest? Sex, cannibalism, drugs and just about everything else you&#8217;d expect in such good company.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tell me about the title of the series, \u201cNice Girls Crew.\u201d These ladies are sort of nice, but also kind of raunchy, catty, like to drink and talk about sex.<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>TC:<\/strong> I like it because it feels like the name of a freestyle dance crew from East San Jose.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CK:<\/strong> they&#8217;re pretty nice. i would describe them as magnanimous mammals.<\/p>\n<p><iframe width=\"500\" height=\"315\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZdFAqZtR-fo\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>The series was made for the web and stars three of the most recognizable Asian American actresses working today: Michelle Krusiec, Sheetel Sheth and Lynn Chen. The Asian American web content world is largely dominated by folks like KevJumba, Wong Fu, etc. What was the starting point for creating this series?<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>CK:<\/strong> The Center for Asian American Media was cool enough to recognize the importance of producing compelling media in the form of female-driven comedy. My boss Don Young encouraged me to create something like this, so we came up with a very simple concept about three friends, and then sourced material from our well of neuroticism. We need diversity in all media platforms, so the fact that NGC is about uncensored, unabashedly funny Asian American women \u2013 it can do a lot for the field and can be, I hope, very impactful for young women of color.<\/p>\n<p><strong>TC:<\/strong> I have issues with guys like Kev Jumba and Wong Fu dominating my Asian American webspace and the internet seemed like a private place to work it out. We found the three hottest, most talented women in Hollywood to end this era of domination.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tanuj, you are most well known for your film \u201cPunching at the Sun,\u201d which made its premiere at Sundance (and interestingly, most of your writing has been on the dramatic end of the spectrum) and Christine, you work as both the managing director of the San Francisco Int&#8217;l Asian American Film Festival and as a film producer; how did this collaboration come into being?<br \/>\nTC:<\/strong> I&#8217;m in a spiritual place where I just do whatever I want whenever I want.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CK:<\/strong> Tanuj does whatever he wants when he&#8217;s in a spiritual place.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Each episode is built around a meeting of the book club which the three women are part of. How are the book selections made?<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>TC:<\/strong> I don&#8217;t know actually.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CK:<\/strong> I do, obviously.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Viewers are able to watch the first five episodes of \u201cNice Girls\u201d Crew this month on Comcast Cinema Asian America \u2013 what are your plans for season 2?<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>TC:<\/strong> Bigger, better, faster badder. We want to crank up the one-liners and gags. You may also see some funny cameos from their relatives. If I say anymore the executive producer Don Young will put my head on a pike.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CK:<\/strong> \u201cNice Girls Crew: The Squeakquel.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>What other projects are you both working on next?<br \/>\nCK:<\/strong> Producing a documentary on Asian Americans in the prison \/ justice system. And I write a blog called poorboar.<\/p>\n<p><strong>TC:<\/strong> I&#8217;m working on more shorts, features and building out the at-risk youth filmmaking program: New Voices for Youth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Currently screening on the film festival circuit, all five episodes of its first season will be available on-demand this month,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":72448,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,1008],"tags":[2117],"class_list":["post-20073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-sex-in-the-city","tag-sex-in-the-city"],"magazineBlocksPostFeaturedMedia":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u-113x150.jpg","medium":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","medium_large":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","large":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","1536x1536":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","2048x2048":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","colormag-highlighted-post":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","colormag-featured-post-medium":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","colormag-featured-post-small":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u-113x90.jpg","colormag-featured-image":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","colormag-default-news":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u-113x150.jpg","colormag-featured-image-large":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","colormag-elementor-block-extra-large-thumbnail":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","colormag-elementor-grid-large-thumbnail":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","colormag-elementor-grid-small-thumbnail":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","colormag-elementor-grid-medium-large-thumbnail":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg"},"magazineBlocksPostAuthor":{"name":"Admin","avatar":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/53e6cdc30765aade0129f85e5aeb50124b1d3f5bb9a70373be31e4eb328371e0?s=96&d=mm&r=g"},"magazineBlocksPostCommentsNumber":"0","magazineBlocksPostExcerpt":"Currently screening on the film festival circuit, all five episodes of its first season will be available on-demand this month,","magazineBlocksPostCategories":["News","Sex In The City"],"magazineBlocksPostViewCount":111,"magazineBlocksPostReadTime":4,"magazine_blocks_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg",113,170,false],"medium":["https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg",113,170,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u-113x150.jpg",113,150,true]},"magazine_blocks_author":{"display_name":"Admin","author_link":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/?author=1"},"magazine_blocks_comment":0,"magazine_blocks_author_image":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/53e6cdc30765aade0129f85e5aeb50124b1d3f5bb9a70373be31e4eb328371e0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","magazine_blocks_category":"<a href=\"#\" class=\"category-link category-link-1\">News<\/a> <a href=\"#\" class=\"category-link category-link-1008\">Sex In The City<\/a>","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20073\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/72448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}