{"id":5707,"date":"2025-06-22T16:57:25","date_gmt":"2025-06-22T16:57:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/5707\/"},"modified":"2025-06-22T16:57:25","modified_gmt":"2025-06-22T16:57:25","slug":"writer-houston-native-named-finalist-for-hopeful-pilot-series-on-sugar-land","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/5707\/","title":{"rendered":"Writer, Houston native named finalist for hopeful pilot series on Sugar Land"},"content":{"rendered":"

HOUSTON<\/strong> \u2013 It\u2019s becoming less and less of a secret about the homegrown talent we have in Houston. And one writer\/director from Sugar Land<\/a> has already started making a name for herself as a finalist for a pilot series she wrote that she still hopes can someday be picked up.<\/p>\n

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Li Lu\u2019s series, titled \u201cSugar Land,\u201d is a semi-autobiographical dramedy based on Lu\u2019s upbringing in Sugar Land\u2019s New Territory subdivision set in 2001.<\/p>\n

Houston-based writer named finalist for hopeful series “Sugar Land” (Photo provided by Li Lu) (Copyright 2025 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n

At its core, the story is about Wei Zhou, a young girl caught between cultural pride and social pressure, but she discovers a passion for dance after seeing a performance in Houston\u2019s Chinatown. Her self-expressive journey continues to unfold on the heels of her father\u2019s job at Enron and the seismic cultural shifts that defined 2001.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe show is firmly set in 2001 because it was such a different time; the world changed after 9\/11, and also that was the year when Enron collapsed,\u201d Lu explained. \u201dEnron\u2019s also giving the family a coveted visa for them to stay in the country. So when all of that falls apart, the family has to deal with the visa situation where they have 60 days to figure out whether or not they can stay in America.” <\/p>\n

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The \u201cSugar Land\u201d pilot was developed through the Houston Television Lab<\/a>, a new fellowship co-founded by filmmaker Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour Jr. to spotlight stories rooted in the city. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s such a lost and unrepresented era of Asian-American subculture from that time,\u201d Lu explained. \u201cWe haven\u2019t really seen it on screen \u2014 and I do feel like film and TV is our collective memory.\u201d<\/p>\n

“TV is a medium of building worlds, building communities, building authenticity within those worlds and those communities,” Osei-Kuffour Jr. added. \u201cWe like the people in those worlds, and we like the authenticity of those communities. The escapism is real, but it still touches your heart, in a way, where it\u2019s less about the plot and more about the people in the world that they\u2019re in, just interacting in every single episode.” <\/p>\n

As Houston Television Lab\u2019s first inaugural fellow, Lu recently presented her work at the ATX TV Festival\u2019s prestigious pitch competition<\/a> in Austin \u2014 a major milestone for a first-time creator representing Houston in a largely L.A.- and New York-centric industry. <\/p>\n

Houston-based writer named finalist Li Lu (M) with Houston Television Labs founders Galen Hines Pierce (L) and Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour, Jr. (R) (Photo provided by Li Lu) (Copyright 2025 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n

In fact, Osei-Kuffour noted that the distinct creative energy in Houston, coupled with its diversity, history, and cultural specificity, is ripe for stories yet to be told on national platforms.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no clear image of Houston the way there is for places like New York or Atlanta,\u201d he said. \u201cBut the talent is here. And the stories are here. We just need more infrastructure \u2014 more opportunities to tell them.\u201d<\/p>\n

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For Lu, storytelling is a way to archive the moments and memories that made Houston home. <\/p>\n

\u201cI look back on the things that I\u2019ve made myself, and everything has Texas in it. And I think it truly lies within the true desire to showcase the diversity of what our home state is. Especially as I get older, I feel so Texan, as much as I feel Chinese, American, all of these things.”<\/p>\n

The Sugar Land pilot isn\u2019t the end of her work, either. Lu is currently building a team around the show to take it to buyers and studios while also developing her second feature film \u2014 a multi-era drama exploring Chinese immigrant history from the 1800s to present-day America.<\/p>\n

SEE ALSO: <\/b>\u2018Come and film it\u2019: Texas House passes film incentive bill, strengthening major step for media production industry<\/a><\/p>\n

She\u2019s also helping lead the way locally, founding a screening series called HTX Made to spotlight Houston-grown filmmakers and reconnect them with the city\u2019s creative community. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re a huge city. We love TV. We love these stories,\u201d Lu said. \u201cI just want to make sure we\u2019re celebrating the Houston that made us who we are \u2014 and putting that on screen for the world to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

To learn more about the Houston Television Lab, visit their website.<\/a> You can also follow them on social media @houstontelevisionlab. <\/p>\n

Start Here, Houston<\/p>\n

Before you “PRESS START” to your day, get ahead of the game with our morning newsletter.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2013 It\u2019s becoming less and less of a secret about the homegrown talent we have in Houston.…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5708,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5130],"tags":[7175,7172,392,171,4345,7173,7174,7171,7170,399,358,173,3187],"class_list":{"0":"post-5707","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-asian-representation","9":"tag-atx-tv-festival","10":"tag-culture","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-houston","13":"tag-houston-television-labs","14":"tag-pilot-series","15":"tag-representation","16":"tag-sugar-land","17":"tag-television","18":"tag-texas","19":"tag-tv","20":"tag-tx"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5707\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}