‘The Farewell’s Lulu Wang Turned Down a “Double Offer” From a Streaming Service: “It’s Not About the Money”

Lulu Wang‘s The Farewell could have had a very different trajectory to awards gold. In The Hollywood Reporter’s new directors roundtable, Wang revealed that she initially received a “much larger, double offer” from an unidentified streaming service for the family dramedy, but she turned it down and signed with indie studio A24 instead. The writer and director explained that she was concerned The Farewell would get lost on streaming, as a major streaming platform “wouldn’t have the energy to put behind” a newer filmmaker when they already “have so many esteemed, established directors.”

At the beginning of THR’s roundtable, Wang and her fellow directors — including Joker‘s Todd Phillips, Martin Scorsese, and Greta Gerwig — discussed film’s most contentious issue: the battle between streaming and traditional releases. While Marriage Story director Noah Baumbach described Netflix as “a more democratic break” for indie films, Wang disagreed, explaining that she has “a slightly different perspective” on the matter. “I’ll just say, to be totally honest, I would not be at this table if it were not for our small, independent studio,” she said.

“We got an offer at Sundance from A24, and also got a much larger, double offer from a large streaming platform,” continued Wang. “And, you know, the financiers and the producers of course were like, ‘Are you crazy? We have to take this bigger deal.’ And I said, ‘No. It’s not about the money.'”

Wang added that streaming services like Netflix (which she never mentioned by name, but the implication was clear) operate according to “a different business model” that revolves around “building a brand” rather than turning a profit. “When you’re an established filmmaker, you are a brand that they want to partner with to help build their brand. But with newer filmmakers, newer voices, you don’t have a brand, you need to build that brand,” she said.

The director went on to say that A24 helped The Farewell to succeed in a way that a major streaming platform never could. “For a film that’s 75-80% in Mandarin, subtitled, but is an American film — to even, first of all, get that financed, but then to have that play as an American film, 100% Asian, Asian-American cast, to be seen as an American story and play in theaters for four months, and then for me to be at this table,” she said, “I know for a fact that if I took the bigger money, that they wouldn’t have the energy to put behind someone like me to build my brand when they have so many esteemed, established directors that are also part of the conversation.”

Watch Lulu Wang weigh in on the streaming vs. traditional studio debate in the clip above. You can stream THR’s entire directors roundtable on YouTube.

Where to stream The Farewell