Divorced, Then Find My Mr. Right

Divorced, Then Find My Mr. Right was the first show I produced with DramaBox, and it became an important learning experience for me in understanding vertical storytelling. The project was adapted from an existing Chinese drama, which gave us a direct reference for the characters, plot, and how certain scenes could be filmed. The director and I appreciated the original and wanted to preserve what made it emotionally engaging. At the same time, we needed to make the story work for an American audience. Finding that balance became a central part of my producing work, particularly as the adaptation changed direction during script development.

When we received the shooting script, the second half of the story had changed substantially, shifting the focus toward the male protagonist. As one of DramaBox’s early adaptations of a Chinese series for the US market, the project was still finding its footing between the original story and the new audience. The director and I held several rounds of meetings with the writers to work through that balance. We advocated for keeping the moments we felt carried the most visual and emotional weight: a pool table scene, a scene at a bar, and the heartbreaking moment when the female lead walks away in the snow. We also worked with the writers to reduce the emphasis on sexual scenes and remove the male lead’s mother as a character, simplifying the story and creating more room to develop the relationship between the two leads.

What I learned most from this production was how to negotiate between different creative perspectives while helping the story reach its potential. Localization made those conversations especially challenging. A creative choice that works exceptionally well in one cultural context may need substantial reshaping in another, and it takes careful discussion to decide what to preserve and what to change. Working through those decisions with the director and writers taught me to be more specific about why a scene mattered and what it contributed to the relationship at the center of the story. As my first DramaBox production, Divorced helped me understand how much a producer can shape a project through those conversations.