Netflix is ramping up its outreach to audiences of Asian and Pacific Islander descent.
The streamer is teaming with nonprofit Gold House to form Netflix Gold, an ongoing partnership to promote all of its API content, including films, series, documentaries and stand-up specials.
Netflix Gold will kick off Tuesday evening with a party to celebrate season two of Mindy Kaling’s coming-of-age series Never Have I Ever, which will be released on the streamer on Thursday. The invite-only “Devi’s Summer Kickback” will be Gold House’s first in-person event since the advent of the pandemic and will feature South Asian food and small businesses. Upcoming series that will get the Netflix Gold treatment include the Sandra Oh-starrer The Chair and Sparking Joy with Marie Kondo, with more to be announced later this year.
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“Growing up, I didn’t see girls who looked like me in the TV shows I loved,” Netflix head of global TV Bela Bajaria said in a statement. “A show like Never Have I Ever — with API creators and artists onscreen and behind the scenes — is still too rare and something I’m proud to celebrate. I’m thankful to Gold House for their partnership to make sure that the API community has an opportunity to continue to see even more of ourselves, our families, our language and our stories on Netflix.”
Netflix Gold is unique in that it marks the first time that Gold House, best known for its continuing #GoldOpen box office strategy, has inked a long-term partnership with a producer or distributor. The collective of API leaders previously has thrown its cultural weight behind Netflix’s successful awards campaigns for The Half of It, The White Tiger and Over the Moon, including the three films on its inaugural Gold List.
“Gold House is committed to amplifying and unifying our multicultural communities — not just by righting systemic wrongs but by projecting new, affirming portrayals of the world we deserve,” Gold House president and co-founder Bing Chen said in a statement. “We are proud to partner with Netflix, a long-standing pioneer of inclusive, affirming storytellers and stories, to celebrate diverse API stories that have the power to inspire much-needed change.”
Other Asian American-centered projects in the works at the streamer include the docuseries Naomi Osaka; Steven Yeun and Ali Wong’s Beef; an untitled comedy starring Oh and Awkwafina as sisters; Lana Condor’s Boo, Bitch; adaptations of the novels Dial A for Aunties, Portrait of a Thief, Free Food for Millionaires and White Ivy; and animated works The Monkey King, Mech Cadets and Boons and Curses.
