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About the Event

From helping at his parents’ Chinese restaurant to being discovered by Steven Spielberg, visionary director Jon M. Chu dives deep into his life and work in his upcoming memoir Viewfinder. Telling the universal story of questioning what it means when your dreams collide with your circumstances, Viewfinder is about reckoning with your own story, becoming your most creative self, and finding a path that’s all your own.

Join us on Monday, July 22 at 7:00 p.m. ET for an exclusive virtual conversation as Jon M. Chu sits down with his co-author Jeremy McCarter, and pop icon and Wicked star Ariana Grande!

Together, Chu, McCarter, and Grande will discuss the book, working on groundbreaking films like Crazy Rich Asians, In the Heights, and Wicked, succeeding in an ever-changing world, and how they stay creatively inspired. YOU could get a chance to contribute to the conversation, too: Submit a question when you register, and it might be answered during the event!

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Viewfinder by Jon M. Chu, Jeremy McCarter

From visionary director Jon M. Chu comes a powerful, inspiring memoir of belonging, creativity, and learning to see who you really are.

“A must-read for aspiring artists and dreamers of all kinds.”—Ava DuVernay

Long before he directed Wicked, In The Heights, or the groundbreaking film Crazy Rich Asians, Jon M. Chu was a movie-obsessed first-generation Chinese American, helping at his parents’ Chinese restaurant in Silicon Valley and forever facing the cultural identity crisis endemic to children of immigrants. Growing up on the cutting edge of twenty-first-century technology gave Chu the tools he needed to make his mark at USC film school, and to be discovered by Steven Spielberg, but he soon found himself struggling to understand who he was. In this book, for the first time, Chu turns the lens on his own life and work, telling the universal story of questioning what it means when your dreams collide with your circumstances, and showing how it’s possible to succeed even when the world changes beyond all recognition.

With striking candor and unrivaled insights, Chu offers a firsthand account of the collision of Silicon Valley and Hollywood—what it’s been like to watch his old world shatter and reshape his new one. Ultimately, Viewfinder is about reckoning with your own story, becoming your most creative self, and finding a path all your own.

About the Authors

Jon M. Chu

Jon M. Chu is known for his visually stunning blockbuster films, including In the Heights and Crazy Rich Asians, which was nominated for numerous awards, including two Golden Globe Awards, one for Best Motion Picture—Musical or Comedy; a SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble; a PGA Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures; and four Critics Choice Awards, winning one for Best Comedy. Born the youngest of five children in Los Altos, California, Chu continues to use the influences of his childhood (family, technology, food, music, and movement) to tell personal stories in a variety of mediums that connect with audiences from around the world.

Jeremy McCarter

Jeremy McCarter is the co-author, with Lin-Manuel Miranda, of the #1 New York Times bestseller Hamilton: The Revolution. He is the author of Young Radicals, the founder of the acclaimed audio storytelling company Make-Believe Association, and the literary executor of the novelist and playwright Thornton Wilder.