Emerson College Library: Teach-in on Race 2025: Session 5: Building a Producer's Toolkit Featuring Jennifer R. Lin

Description

Session 5: Building a Producer's Toolkit Featuring Jennifer R. Lin

Thursday, February 6, 10:45-11:45 AM and 12:00-1:00 PM (This talk will occur twice) - Paramount Center, Bright Family Screening Room

Join Jennifer R. Lin, producer and director of Ten Times Better, as she shares insights based on her professional and cultural experiences as a producer, documentarian, journalist, foreign correspondent, and author who focuses on her Chinese heritage and community.

Presenter
Jennifer R. Lin, Director, Producer, Ten Times Better

Related Resources and Further Reflections

Journalist-Turned-Documentarian Gives Tips for Producing
This report by Emma Siebold for Emerson Today summarizes the session and shares some quotes from speaker Jennifer Lin.
Jennifer R. Lin Profile
A short profile on Jennifer R. Lin's work from the Center for Independent Documentary. Read here to learn more her creative work history.
Find reporting by Jennifer Lin in our database access to the Philadelphia Inquirer
Before she became a documentary filmmaker, Jennifer Lin spent 31 years as a reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, working as a correspondent in New York, Washington, D.C., and Beijing. Try running a search for author("Jennifer Lin" OR "Lin, Jennifer") to find decades worth of articles credited to her.
Shanghai Faithful by Jennifer Lin
Lin chronicles the history of her family across five generations, exploring the spread of Christianity in China and the experience of Chinese Christians during the Cultural Revolution.
Beethoven in Beijing
Lin's first documentary reflects on the 1973 visit of the Philadelphia Orchestra to China as part of President Nixon's historic effort to reestablish relations. The visit had a massive impact, both on Chinese musicians who had been cut off from Western music since the Cultural Revolution and on the Philadelphia Orchestra, who have maintained the relationship through frequent return visits.
Richard Nixon Presidential Library
Where did Lin get the archival footage for her Beethoven in Beijing? Lots of sources, of course, but one key resource was the Richard Nixon Presidential Library, where she found not just freely available footage, but also the Oval Office recording of Nixon making the call to Philadelphia Orchestra musical director Eugene Ormandy to propose the trip.
Center for Independent Documentary
Lin finances her films using a non-profit model through a fiscal sponsorship from the Center for Independent Documentary (located in Newton, Massachusetts).
Ten Times Better
Jennifer Lin's latest work is the documentary Ten Times Better, which explores the life and dance career of child prodigy George Lee, who performed in George Balanchine's first staging of The Nutcracker 1954.
Final Bow for Yellowface
The germ of the idea for Ten Times Better came from Final Bow for Yellowface, a book (and eponymous activist organization) which advocates for an end to yellowface in Ballet.
NYPL Archives
Inspired by Final Bow to Yellowface, Lin was researching George Balanchine's influential staging of The Nutcracker at the New York Public Library when she came upon something unexpected. Balanchine had cast George Lee, an Asian man, in the role of Tea - a role infamous for being performed by white dancers in yellowface.
Ancestry.com
While there were many steps between finding that mention of George Lee in the NYPL archives and tracking down the man himself, Lin emphasized that Ancestry.com was a fantastic resource not just for this film but for any historical documentary.
FLOWER DRUM SONG Reunion for George Lee at World Premiere of Jennifer Lin's TEN TIMES BETTER
After his performance in The Nutcracker, George Lee found more luck on the Broadway stage, including the groundbreaking Flower Drum Song which featured a majority Asian-American cast.

Library Resources

The Complete Guide to Film and Digital Production by Lorene M. Wales
The Complete Guide to Film and Digital Production offers a comprehensive introduction to the positions/roles, procedures, and logistics of the film and digital video production process, from development and pre-production all the way to marketing and distribution.

Teach-in on Race 2025

Description

Session 5:   Building a Producer's Toolkit Featuring Jennifer R. Lin

Related Resources and Further Reflections

Library Resources

Session 5: Building a Producer's Toolkit Featuring Jennifer R. Lin