Thuc Doan Nguyen
Nguyen in Downtown Los Angeles 2015
Born
Vietnam
CitizenshipDual EU and US
Alma materUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Occupation(s)Filmmaker, Screenwriter, Film Producer
Years active2003 – present
Known forEssay writing
Websiteconsideratecontent.com

Thuc Doan Nguyen (Thục Đoan Nguyễn) is a writer and producer. She founded "The Bitch Pack",[1] a group dedicated to promoting female-driven screenplays through Twitter and other social media sites. Nguyen is the winner of a 2020 Sundance Institute Inclusion Initiative Fellowship which enabled her to attend the Sundance Film Festival that year, the same year her screenplay "Scent of the Delta" was in Round 2 of the Development Labs (semi-finalist). She is also the founder of the original "#StartWith8Hollywood" which expands opportunities for women creators of color.[2] Nguyen is also the founder of the online portal Spooky Spaces.[3] Nguyen is also the founder and captain of the first ever Vietnamese American Mardi Gras Krewe since the carnival began. She is not associated with Krewe of Red Beans and dissolved "Krewe of Mung Beans".[4] Nguyen is a Keynote Speaker for Tulane University's First Year Experience Reading Program (for Fall 2023 and for Spring 2024) sponsored by Kylene and Brad Beers.[5] She appears on the original Ringer/Spotify 2023 series "The Big Picture" regarding "Vietnam Vogue" along with Oliver Stone and Brian De Palma.[6]

Early life

Nguyen was born in Vietnam. As a child, she was among the boat people who sought refuge after the Vietnam War.[7] She grew up in North Carolina and Southern Maryland. She is a double major from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Public Policy Analysis (Environmental Policy) and Communication Studies and also holds a master's degree (MPA) obtained in Southern California.

Career

For Nguyen's work in entertainment, she and her Bitch Pack have been featured in The Huffington Post,[8] Salon,[9] Forbes,[10] Indiewire,[11] The Hollywood Reporter[12] and other outlets, along with the Sundance Film Festival 2021.[13] Nguyen is in the book Rise: A Pop History of Asian America from the Nineties to Now, from Harper Collins, March 2022.[14] She is part of the team of the Rory Kennedy Academy Award-nominated documentary Last Days in Vietnam, being a translator for the film.[15]

The Chicago Tribune has famously said all of Nguyen's stories need to be on screens.[16]

Nguyen has written award winning screenplays. Her historical drama screenplay about Lucy Parsons and Albert Parsons & The Haymarket Affair is number one in IndieWire's "Not All Stories Are About Straight White Men".[17][18] Her feature about Vietnamese-American women in New Orleans has garnered attention, making it to the second round of Sundance Institute Labs.[19]

Nguyen helped launch the first "Cause Related Marketing Department" at Saatchi & Saatchi London for Marjorie Ellis Thompson and Hamish Pringle, aiding them with the book Brand Spirit.[20]

Nguyen has published academically. She presented at the University of London with her paper "Of Cougars and Kittens in Vampire Visual Rhetoric of the Last 30 Years: Ageism, Sexuality, Conformity and Ethics in Relation to Contemporary Fictional Female Vampires in Film & Television". Paper Proposal Accepted by The London Consortium, by Dr. Simon Bacon.[21] She wrote a piece for the book Race/Gender/Class/Media.

In New York City, Nguyen has worked with Kevin McLeod[22] on a series of interactive projects and online games for Atomic Pictures as an associate producer for the web game "The Beast". Nguyen is the voice of Cybertronics and Eliza in Eliza's Tea Room. They made web sites for groups such as the Service Employees International Union. She also worked for other integrated entertainment companies.

Nguyen produced the documentary Goth Parking Lot at The Cure's Jones Beach Dream Tour show, as encouraged by the makers of Heavy Metal Parking Lot, Jeff Krulik and John Heyn, fellow Marylanders.

In Los Angeles, Nguyen worked for Jerry Bruckheimer and Warner Brothers Television as a writers' and executive producers' assistant. Nguyen made up dialogue as Fredrik Bond's "Milkmaid": Creative Annual UK – Best Campaign – Bronze for MJZ.[23]

Nguyen continues her work in film. The Sundance Film Institute, along with The MacArthur Foundation and George Soros' Open Society Foundation, among others, sent Nguyen to The Sundance Film Festival in 2020 for their Inclusion Initiative.[24] She is nominated for the Lynn Shelton memorial grant.[25] She is also an "Emerging Filmmaker" for the Toronto International Film Festival 2020. Nguyen is a grantee of the Center for Cultural Innovation's California Fund for Artists and Cultural Practitioners Award, 2020, The Critical Minded Writers Grant and The Vancouver Asian Film Festival, 2019.[26]

Nguyen's work can be found in various publications. The Los Angeles Times published an essay by Nguyen about modern love.[27] Nguyen's magazine writing work has included: Sweet Action, Useless, Working Class (all New York City indie magazines), Urb and BPM (international music magazines) about popular culture, filmmakers, internet dating, Ima Robot, and Moving Units. Nguyen's also written for Nylon's Beauty Diary about Sting's yoga guru, Ganga White. Nguyen wrote about The Cartier Women's Initiative Awards to which she was invited and Lupita Nyong'o's stance on inclusion for The Hollywood Reporter.[28] Nguyen wrote a deep dive about the words "me love you long time" and racial issues that went viral for Esquire Magazine.[29] She also penned an essay about the history of #BlackPowerYellowPeril.[30] Nguyen is currently an essayist/contributor to The Daily Beast[31] and other major outlets like Vogue Magazine.[32]

Thanks to women such as Amanda de Cadenet and Sam Taylor-Johnson, Nguyen's photography work has been featured in their Girl Gaze Project. Multiple pieces of Nguyen's photography work were featured in Clawmarks Issue One which debuted at London Comic Con in 2016.[33]

Nguyen is active in political satire as an organizer for The Satanic Temple[34] and as part of the writing team for Tomi Lahren viral parody show Toni Lahren[35] produced in Los Angeles.[36] She continues to write about social justice in the form of screenplays.

Nguyen contributed additional literary material to the Paramount Pictures March 2022 feature film release The Lost City starring Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum and Brad Pitt.[37] She is a 2022 Academy Gold Fellowship Nominee.[38][39]

References

  1. ^ "The Bitch Pack". The Bitch Pack. Archived from the original on 18 January 2015. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
  2. ^ "How new grass-roots networks are boosting diversity on Hollywood film and TV crews". Los Angeles Times. 24 March 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-03-27. Retrieved 2021-03-27.
  3. ^ "Spooky Spaces – Spooky is a lifestyle". Archived from the original on 2021-10-21. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  4. ^ "Diversity on Display as Mardi Gras Hits New Orleans". 20 February 2023.
  5. ^ https://events.tulane.edu/content/earth-were-all-some-sort-refugee-now-political-climate-cultural
  6. ^ https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/7-aint-war-hell-do-we-get-to-win-this-time/id1439252196
  7. ^ "BBC World Service - BBC OS, Asian Americans living in the US".
  8. ^ Brucculieri, Julia (14 January 2016). "10 Awesome Movie Ideas That Pass The Bechdel Test". Huffington Post. Archived from the original on 30 January 2018. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  9. ^ G'sell, Eileen (19 November 2016). "The pop-culture progress myth". Salon. Archived from the original on 6 April 2018. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  10. ^ "Final Draft Joins the Fight for Inclusion in Hollywood". Forbes. Archived from the original on 2021-01-16. Retrieved 2021-01-14.
  11. ^ "Heroines of Cinema: How Thuc Nguyen's 'Bitch Pack' is Fighting for More Female-Driven Stories". 15 May 2014. Archived from the original on 27 January 2021. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  12. ^ "#StartWith8Hollywood Program Offers New Hope for Women of Color in Hollywood". The Hollywood Reporter. 27 August 2020. Archived from the original on 30 August 2020. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
  13. ^ "2021 Sundance Film Festival". Archived from the original on 2021-01-14. Retrieved 2021-01-14.
  14. ^ "Rise: A Pop History of Asian America from the Nineties to Now | HMH Books". Archived from the original on 2020-12-05. Retrieved 2021-01-15.
  15. ^ "'Last Days in Vietnam': Cast & Crew". PBS. Archived from the original on 2 May 2015. Retrieved 7 May 2015.
  16. ^ "Column: Enough with the reboots and regurgitation of the same old, same old. Tell new stories". Chicago Tribune. 8 April 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-04-08. Retrieved 2021-04-08.
  17. ^ Knegt, Peter; Lee, Helen; Hammett Knott, Matthew; Lytton, Alice (17 July 2014). "Not All Stories Are About Straight White Men". IndieWire. Archived from the original on 30 January 2018. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  18. ^ "Thuc Nguyen". www.berlin-losangeles.com. Archived from the original on 22 April 2020. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  19. ^ "Success: Thuc Nguyen Makes Sundance Second Round | Writers' Program at UCLA Extension". Archived from the original on 2020-08-15. Retrieved 2020-01-06.
  20. ^ Pringle, Hamish; Thompson, Marjorie (2011). Brand Spirit: How Cause Related Marketing Builds Brands. John Wiley & Sons Ltd. pp. xi–xii. ISBN 978-0-471-98776-5.
  21. ^ "Announcements | H-Net". Archived from the original on 2016-08-15. Retrieved 2016-08-02.
  22. ^ "Portrait of a Transmedia Designer: Interview with Kevin McLeod (Part One)". Henry Jenkins. 15 October 2006. Archived from the original on 1 April 2018. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  23. ^ "Awards". Archived from the original on 2016-08-16. Retrieved 2016-07-26.
  24. ^ "2020 Inclusion Initiative: Update". Archived from the original on 2019-12-29. Retrieved 2020-01-06.
  25. ^ "Lynn Shelton's of a Certain Age Grant Nominees: 25 Women & Non-Binary Filmmakers over 39 to Watch". 4 September 2020. Archived from the original on 27 September 2020. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  26. ^ "Asians In Movies | Vancouver Asian Film Festival". VAFF. 2017-08-31. Archived from the original on 2021-03-03. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  27. ^ "I wonder who I'll be kissing when L.A.'s 6th Street Bridge reopens..." Los Angeles Times. 30 April 2016. Archived from the original on 2020-12-05. Retrieved 2020-04-16.
  28. ^ Thuc Nguyen (2019-05-03). "Lupita Nyong'o Talks Diversity in Hollywood at Cartier Women's Initiative Awards – The Hollywood Reporter". Hollywoodreporter.com. Archived from the original on 2021-03-06. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  29. ^ Nguyen, Thuc (2021-05-26). "Me Love You Long Time Meaning, History, Explained - Why It's Time to Stop Saying Me Love You Long Time". Esquire. Archived from the original on 2021-05-28. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  30. ^ "#BlackPowerYellowPeril". Archived from the original on 2019-09-05. Retrieved 2019-09-05.
  31. ^ "Daily Beast Contributor Thuc Nguyen". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on 2020-06-27. Retrieved 2020-08-13.
  32. ^ "Vogue Contributor Thuc Nguyen". Archived from the original on 2021-10-29. Retrieved 2021-10-15.
  33. ^ "CLAWMARKS Print Edition". November 2016. Archived from the original on 2017-01-04. Retrieved 2017-01-03.
  34. ^ "Satanic Temple Celebrates 6/6/16 in Los Angeles | L.A. Weekly". Archived from the original on 2016-07-25. Retrieved 2016-07-26.
  35. ^ "Meet Toni Lahren, the perfect Tomi Lahren parody for liberal snowflakes". Archived from the original on 2017-01-29. Retrieved 2017-01-29.
  36. ^ "Toni Lahren is Not a Victim". 25 January 2017. Archived from the original on 21 January 2021. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
  37. ^ "Considerate Content". 28 July 2020. Retrieved 2022-01-15.
  38. ^ "Gold Fellowship for Women". 4 January 2021.
  39. ^ "Sundance-winning Vietnamese-American writer will film immigrant story in New Orleans". 28 August 2022.

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