The Ink Factory, the Endeavor Content-backed production company best known for making The Night Manager, has optioned C Pam Zhang’s debut novel How Much Of These Hills Is Gold with a view to developing a TV series.
The Ink Factory has partnered on the project with Anita Gou (The Farewell), who will executive produce through her Kindred Spirit banner. The writer is Hansol Jung, whose credits include Netflix’s Tales Of The City and Apple TV+’s Pachinko.
How Much Of These Hills Is Gold was selected as a Barack Obama Book of the Year in 2020 and tells the story of Chinese-American immigrants arriving in the U.S. during the gold rush. It’s a novel about the conflict between two siblings, carrying the body of their newly deceased father across a harsh landscape.
Zhang said: “It feels quietly revolutionary to think that I might see two Chinese American kids swagger and stride across the screen, heroes of an American cinematic tradition I have always adored – it’s exactly where they belong, where Chinese Americans have always belonged. What a joy to have this team that already includes female and queer perspectives from the Asian diaspora, and that I hope will grow to include even more voices.”
Katherine Butler, creative director at The Ink Factory, said: “We fell in love at first read with Pam’s stunning novel which combines an epic revisionist sweep with moving and intimate portraits of its two young protagonists.”
Joseph Tsai and Arthur Wang of media investment firm 127 Wall Productions, which has a financing arrangement with The Ink Factory, will executive produce alongside Stephen Cornwell, Simon Cornwell, and Butler for The Ink Factory.