‘Beef’ Creator Lee Sung Jin Pitched Charles Melton on the Show Over Dinner: ‘By the Third Appetizer He Said Yes’ — SkimNews
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- Gold House hosted its third annual "One House Toast to the Emmys" to honor Asian Pacific and multicultural creatives, with co-founder Bing Chen delivering a keynote praising Lee as a "polymathical, multiskilled creator" whose work reminds people of "our humanity."
- Lee Sung Jin's Netflix anthology "Beef" Season 2 received 16 Emmy nominations — the most of any limited or anthology series this year — and has already won three Creative Arts Emmys.
- Lee became the first Asian television creator to receive multiple nominations across writing, directing, and producing for the same series, twice.
- Lee revealed he first noticed Charles Melton's talent in "May December," then pitched him for Season 2 over dinner at one of Bing Chen's celebratory dinners — "by the third appetizer he had said yes."
- Lee praised actress Seoyeon Jang, who plays Eunice, disclosing she was cast off a self-tape and had secretly hired a stretching coach three months before filming to prepare for a scene that was ultimately shot in one take without cuts.
- Other guests at the event included "The Pitt" writer Simran Baldwan, Emmy nominee Sepideh Moafi, Dolly de Leon, and Brandon Perea, with partners Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business, Genesis Motor America, Viki and WME.
Why it matters: Lee's first-of-its-kind milestone — the first Asian TV creator to land multiple nominations across writing, directing, and producing for the same series twice — gives Gold House its clearest empirical evidence that Asian Pacific talent can lead prestige television. For Netflix, the 16 nominations and three Creative Arts Emmys already secured make "Beef" Season 2 a high-water mark for an Asian-led anthology drama.
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