Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/760821
DGA QUARTERLY 79 S THE FIRST SITCOM in more than 20 years to star an Asian American cast, Fresh Off the Boat endured intense scrutiny from the moment it was an- nounced. "It's impossible to be all things to all people, so we took that out of the equation right away," says Nahnatchka Khan, who created the show and worked behind the camera on a couple of episodes. The ABC series centers on the Huangs, a Taiwanese American family that relocates from D.C.'s Chinatown to the Orlando suburbs in the 1990s. "We're trying to tell universal stories of growing up when your parents are not from here, and you're that bridge generation. That's what drove our storytelling, and ultimately the directing." I N T E R C H A N G E A B L E : Lynn Shelton, with actor Randall Park, hails from a micro-budget indie background, but sees little difference between directing features and television. "I'm utilizing the same skills," she says. ABOVE: ERIC MCCANDLESS/ABC