Daily Inspiration: Meet Grace Mei Ng

Today we’d like to introduce you to Grace Mei Ng.

Hi Grace, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory. 
I’m a TV writer from Singapore! My most notable credit would be working as staff writer and co-story editor on the 854-episode daily drama KIN (2018-2021) by Mediacorp Studios. In total, I’ve written 1000+ episodes of soapy goodness, but now I’m in Los Angeles trying my luck at breaking into Hollywood. 

After a stint in marketing at Century Games and participating in various regional film labs like the Cartoons Underground Animated Visions Lab 2021 and Full Circle Lab Philippines 2022, I’m graduating from the MFA in Writing for Screen and Television at the University of Southern California, School of Cinematic Arts. I’m grateful to have received the Jack Nicholson Scholarship for Writing 2023-24 at USC. 

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I’m very grateful with the way I started my journey, though it surely had its ups and downs. Singapore’s media industry is very small — the budgets and talent pools don’t compare to the US at all. I think Singapore itself might be smaller than LA! So, my time writing for Singaporean TV had its unique challenges, and without the tradition of training and education that Hollywood has, I was thrown into the deep end from my very first day. But that meant I also learned so much, and I’ve become a highly technical and pragmatic writer who relishes rather than dreads creativity within constraints. 

Coming to LA, however, has definitely felt like being a big fish swimming from a little pond into the ocean. Culture shock aside (I got mugged a few months ago, which unfortunately seems like an LA rite of passage), I couldn’t help but worry that I wasn’t actually *good* compared to everyone else in Hollywood. I think it’s a Singaporean thing — in this globalized world, we’re biased against ourselves. But over the past two years, I’ve managed to build up my confidence and see my international status as a strength instead of a weakness. I’d love to be a cultural bridge for others and bring many more unheard stories from around the world to light. 

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Many people don’t know this, but for soap operas and other daily dramas, the story and script teams are separate because that’s the only way all those episodes can be written in time. When I was at Mediacorp, I actually spent more time as a storyliner – writing storylines and episode outlines – than as a scriptwriter. Till this day, I still love writing outlines and get a little nervous writing scripts! Not that I don’t love both, of course. 

Although my background is in slice-of-life and family drama, I actually specialize in sci-fi/fantasy. Maybe it’s because I’m from overseas, or I just grew up reading too many sci-fi anthologies, but I would say my greatest writing strength is worldbuilding — orientating viewers to a new environment with clarity and intrigue. That being said, my brand of SF is more grounded, character-driven, and often uplifting. I love writing about mental health recovery, friendship and family bonds, and fearful people learning to embrace their true colors. 

I’ve written both feature and television scripts, and I actually have a feature script optioned by a European animation producer right now, who I met at Full Circle Lab Philippines 2022. But I would say that my biggest passion is TV because I just love being in the writers’ room and contributing to a creative vision that’s bigger than myself. 

Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
When I was fourteen, I watched the Wachowski Sisters’ Speed Racer (2008) and honestly have not stopped talking about it till this day. It’s not that it’s the best film ever made (though I firmly believe it was ahead of its time), but something about its storytelling and emotional catharsis has stuck with me as a writer. If you’re in a writing class or writers’ room, and someone makes an odd reference to a narrative choice or scene in Speed Racer, it’s probably me. 

Contact Info:

• Website: n-grace.wixsite.com/portfolio
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/notveryaugust/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/graceng.mf
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grace-ng-1a41a267/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/notveryaugust
• Other: https://writers.coverfly.com/profile/grace-mei-ng

Image Credits
Full Circle Lab Philippines
Mediacorp Singapore