Janice Chua unveiled as co-founder and producer as indie unveils US adaptation of King The Land
US and South Korean label Third Culture Content has named Crazy Rich Asians producer Janice Chua as its co-founder and producer, while also unveiling an English-language adaptation of hit Korean drama King The Land.
Chua will draw on her expertise in international and Asian TV and film development, production and distribution to expand the label’s output, working alongside TCC chief exec and co-founder Sean Dulake.
Nine-year-old TCC, established in 2016 to produce English-Korean bilingual series Dramaworld, is working up a slate of cross-cultural projects from creatives in the US, Canada, South Korea, India, Japan and myriad other countries across Asia.
Chua’s appointment comes as TCC, which has been backed by seed investment from partners including YouTube co-founder Steve Chen and US-Korea venture capitalists Strong Ventures, begins work on a US version of King The Land in conjunction with Korean studio SLL.
The workplace romantic drama centres on Gu Won, heir of a luxury hotel conglomerate, who is thrown into an inheritance war, and unexpectedly finds an ally with staff, Cheong Sa-rang.
The series debuted on Korea’s JTBC and was then picked up for select territories by Netflix in 2023, spending eight weeks in its global top 10 for non-English-language TV series.
Singapore native Chua was previously vice-president, international development and production at Brian Grazer and Ron Howard’s Imagine Entertainment, where she was central for the US producer’s local-language content production. At Imagine, she exec produced Taiwan Crime Stories for Disney.
She has previously served as vice-president of development and production for Asia at film outfit Ivanhoe Pictures, where she developed and packaged Chinese-language projects for China and Southeast Asia. Her biggest credit was being a producer on breakout 2019 film Crazy Rich Asians, which became a global box-office hit.
Dulake said: “We are entering an exciting new chapter for the company in 2025 and an ambitious period of growth. Janice brings expertise and vision, as well as a deep understanding of cross-cultural storytelling and this will all be instrumental in driving TCC forward, as we continue to scale and serve our stakeholders and audiences with compelling, impactful content. We’re energised for what’s ahead.”
Chua added: “It’s been my ambition to build a business where global and international collaborations can thrive and TCC is that home.
“I’m really looking forward to working with Sean to take Third Culture Content to new heights; we are poised to expand our reach in 2025 in exciting ways and to continue championing unique voices in global storytelling”.
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