Gold House co-founder and CEO Bing Chen has a vision “to build the Gold Bridge.”
It’s a symbolic bridge that is already being constructed and heralds the next phase of the not-for-profit he launched six years ago with Jeremy Tran, who also serves as the company’s COO. The Gold Bridge marks the next phase of Gold House, which has championed and empowered Asian Pacific creatives, companies and
communities through various initiatives. One of those initiatives was #GoldOpen, a means of ensuring successful opening weekends for API-led films driven by grassroots campaigns. The #GoldOpen movement rallied minority communities to support such titles as “Crazy Rich Asians,” “Minari” and “Parasite” with such actions as theater buyouts on opening weekends with influencers, executives and press to help further engage audiences.
“Crazy Rich Asians” became the high- est-grossing romantic comedy of the past decade. The company was also a driving force for “Everything Everywhere All at Once” with a #GoldOpen campaign. Gold House also celebrated Michelle Yeoh with a SeeHer award at the May 2022 Gold Gala — kickstarting her historic awards campaign.
(Photo by Stefanie Keenan
Courtesy of Gold House/Stefanie Keenan
The Gold Bridge Initiative was announced last year by Chen at 2023’s Gold Gala. “It’s about bridging industries from content to commerce, bridging communities by showing how we can give a damn and invest in other multicultural groups, and we’re going to bridge continents,” he says.
Early this year, Gold House partnered with GLAAD, the NAACP Hollywood bureau, La Cena, IllumiNative, Harness, Pillars Fund, the Blackhouse Foundation, the Female Quotient and the Latinx House to celebrate the inaugural One House Toast. The event honored the 2024 multicultural Oscar nominees and achievements across filmmaking.
But the event was significant by expanding beyond celebrating API achievements, in collaborating with other groups who champion their communities.
“It has to start with togetherness,” says Chen, pointing to the longstanding history of cross-racial solidarity between Black leaders and Asian lawyers dating back to the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts. “In Hollywood, one success gives permission and opportunity to all of us. We look at this as a responsibility; we know what our gifts are, and we’re going to continue to hone those and make sure we’re serving our community. But we’re going to do so in tandem with others as well.”
When Ava DuVernay’s “Origin” was released, Chen says, “We had a ton of Asians buy out theaters and Gold House hosted a ton of screenings because it’s such an essential story that is Black-created and Black-led.”
It doesn’t end there. “We need to consistently show up for each other,” says Chen, to confront the power brokers who have historically shut out these communities.
Gold House has also built bridges with the Recording Academy for the Gold Music Alliance, with a goal to ensure diversity within the academy. “We’re working with the academy to make sure that the voting bodies are reflective of audiences today, so that the artists who get nominated and win also reflective of our audiences,” says Tran.
Its sights are also set on the Emmys, Broadway, Art Basel, gaming and more.
“Two concrete areas we’ve really put our weight behind are both in the narrative and entertainment spaces, but also in the economic empowerment realm,” says Chen.
At the core of building the Gold Bridge is economic empowerment.
The One House Filmmakers Fund supports talent from historically underrepresented communities, while the One Leadership Coalition is a union of top multicultural funds that empowers diverse leaders in the boardroom. “There has been no diverse change in public or private boards in three decades, which is insane,” Chen says. “We’re exceptional at founding and funding companies, and I think it’s on us to hire inclusively from other communities and to promote equitably.”
Chen and Tran have spent many hours with studios and streamers to help the industry do better when it comes to multicultural storytelling. The 2023 USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative showed that Asian characters in filmed entertainment had increased from 3.4% in 2007 to 15.9% in 2022. Overall, 37 of the 100 top-grossing films were led by an actor from an underrepresented racial or ethnic group, increasing from 31 in 2022. But, these did not translate to women of color, who were the protagonists in just 14 movies, down from 18 in 2022.
Tran says the conversations have helped change how studios and streamers think about diversity and multicultural storytelling. “It’s not being part of DEI, but being a business imperative. This is what the world is looking like. This is what America looks like. This is where audiences are spending their time and their eyeballs on. So it’s important for them to think about our stories. And it is not about ‘multicultural marketing’ but that these are good stories that audiences resonate with.”
Furthermore, Chen hopes there’s a mental shift. “We need to shift greenlighting power. There needs to be more green-lighters who look like audiences.”
Their goals are focused on building the Gold Bridge. They just signed a multi-year deal with the Singapore government and economic development board. “You’re about to see analogs of that with South Korea, India, Southeast Asia and Taiwan. Being able to bring thought leadership and notes across the continents, but also to be able to swap investment opportunities, services, as well as promotion is going to be increasingly important.”
Source Agencies
