Vincent Engo, the top screenwriter and Hollywood script doctor, has set up the comedy series “Early Risers” in his native Vietnam. Talent Behemoth represents Early Risers Media Group, a production company of the Creative Artists Agency (CAA), and manages the licensing rights to the distribution of the series.
A show about the lives of American and European expatriates living and working in Saigon, directed by Jack Mark, is set to begin filming later this month.
After a long period of coveted restrictions, “Early Riser” is considered to be Vietnam’s first international television production in more than two years. S One Pictures is managing the local production.
“Vincent has created a series that is incredibly smart, funny and bold,” says executive producer Peter Toumasis. “It’s a contemporary comedy set against Saigon’s rarely seen expatriate community, full of loving first-world rejecters who somehow fell out of grace and trying to recover it in a country far from home.”
The “Early Risers” team is a diverse team of Eastern and Western talent, and includes CS Lee (“Dexter”), Christian Brun (“Orfan Black”); Omar Elba (“A Hologram for a King”), Phi Vu (“Happy Death Day”), Amara Miller (“The Descendants”); Dot Fun (“Last Comic Standing” and Paul Yen (winner of “Little Fires Everywhere”).
Early Riser Media partner Russell Williams called the series “a love letter to modern Vietnam, often seen through the lens of history and seldom with humor and beauty.”
Engo (best known for writing “Tonight, He Comes” which became the screenplay for Will Smith-starrer “Hancock”), Tumasis (“Zero Contact,” “Man on Fire”) and Mark (“Renewations,” “TwentySomething” “) Everyone is a disciple of the late Tony Scott.
“Working with Vince, Pete, and my Tony has a connection through our shared history. We have known each other for twenty years and are thrilled that we have finally been able to create something together,” said Mark.
Ngo, aka Vy Vincent Ngo, moved to the United States from Vietnam when he was 4 years old. He has been state-based ever since and studied at UC Irvine and UCLA, but has kept in touch with his family roots. Other achievements of the NGO include the 2011 film “Big Boss”, a crime comedy film featuring two big names in contemporary Vietnamese cinema, with Charlie Nguyen as director and Dustin Nguyen as producer.
