Producer Nina Yang Bongiovi admits her enthusiasm for being recognized for the profound social and cultural weight of her output.
After several years in the Hong Kong film industry, she zeroed in her own producorial worldview: “I was like, ‘Gosh, these action sequences are really great, but if they only had a good script,’” she recalls. “And everybody’s like ‘Why is she so annoying? Why is she asking about the script? It’s a storyline.’ And I was just like, ‘Hmm, maybe that’s what producing is: figuring out what their original script should be.
Partnering with Whitaker to form Significant Pictures, Yang Bongiovi soon made a vital discovery. “An old professor I knew from USC said, ‘There’s a young kid in my class who’s pretty brilliant. You guys should talk to him. His name is Ryan Coogler.’”