Riz Ahmed’s Left Handed Films and Lulu Wang’s Local Time are partnering to develop the comedy series “The Son of Good Fortune” at Amazon, Variety has learned exclusively.
Based on the novel of the same name by Lysley Tenorio, the series is about an undocumented Filipino teenager in the Bay area navigating a tumultuous relationship with his former B-movie action star mother, falling in love for the first time, and working out how to pay back a massive debt before his whole life crumbles.
Andrew Lopez will adapt the book for the screen and serve as an executive producer. Ahmed will executive produce along with Allie Moore of Left Handed. Wang and Dani Melia executive produce for Local Time. Tenorio will serve as consulting producer, with Amazon Studios producing.
The project is the first for Left Handed since it was announced that Ahmed and the company had signed a first-look TV deal at Amazon in January. He previously partnered with the streamer on the critically-acclaimed film “Sound of Metal,” for which Ahmed received an Oscar, BAFTA, and Golden Globe nomination for best actor. He and Left Handed are currently working on the series “Englistan” for BBC Two, with Ahmed having created that series in addition to executive producing.
Ahmed is repped by WME and lawyers Tara Kole and Danny Passman
Wang is currently working on the Amazon series “Expats,” on which she is the writer, director, executive producer, and showrunner. That series is based on the novel “The Expatriates” by Janice Y. K. Lee. She has previously directed and wrote the highly-regarded films “The Farewell” and “Posthumous.”
She is repped by UTA, Redefine Entertainment, and Yorn Levine Barnes.
Lopez is a Filipino and Korean writer, director, actor and stand-up comic. He’s currently developing a pilot for FX, which he will write, produce and star in, with Hiro Murai and Chris Storer executive producing. He is also currently adapting “Slow Burn” as a feature for Amazon, based on a love story Sean Lewis.
Lopez is repped by UTA, Brillstein, and Felker Toczek. Tenorio is repped by The Book Group and CAA.