Yahoo News ‘Beef’ Creator-Director Lee Sung Jin On How The Dark, Subversive Comedy Smashed Netflix Charts, Addressed A Mental Health Crisis And Connected With A Global Audience
When Lee Sung Jin’s limited series Beef wrapped production back in 2022, the cast and crew were so happy with the profound camaraderie they’d developed that they’ve attempted to meet for dinner at least once a week ever since — some irony for a story originally borne out of anger and resentment.
Some time ago, pre-Beef, Lee found himself angrily tailing a driver in a road rage incident for nearly an hour. When he happened to tell Ravi Nandan, A24’s head of television, about this moment of madness, Nandan suggested Lee might expand on it. Was there more story to tell?
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The complex and personal stories behind two strangers clashing with such vitriol eventually evolved into Lee’s limited series. At turns hilarious and disturbing, it follows the lives of Amy (Ali Wong) and Danny (Steven Yeun) as they enter into an intense feud that is, in truth, fueled by their deep sadness and pain. Not your standard comedy fare, but then that is the magic of Lee. It worked so well that Beef quickly landed at the top of the global streaming charts after its release in April last year. Critics raved at how it perfectly captured the undercurrent of frustration in society, and it is considered one of the highest-rated Netflix TV originals of all time.
Eventually, in a Beef-level comedy moment, Lee would thank the road rage driver who began it all. In his Golden Globe acceptance speech he declared, “Sir, I hope you honk and yell and inspire others for years to come.”
After spending more than a decade writing and then producing comedies like It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Dave, Lee had built a very successful career working on other people’s popular shows. But the idea of having his own original show tugged at him.
“There was sort of a gradual change that had been happening in me,” he says. “I guess I could call it spiritually. Over the years, I think as I’ve grown into myself on a personal level, my writing has been gradually changing. So, there was a shift happening based off my own individual change.”
Once the idea for Beef came together, Lee immediately reached out to Yeun and Wong, who also joined as executive producers, to hash out the complexities of the characters he was trying to create.
“Early on, [executive producers] Ravi and Alli Reich at A24, along with Steven and Ali, were all collaborators before we even took out the show as a pitch,” Lee recalls. “They really helped encourage me and really push me to a place where it was OK to write more honestly. That support system allowed me to find that confidence and it felt different from day one.”
Being able to work with the two leads from the start, Lee discovered what the story’s universal themes would mean for Amy and Danny, and he dug deeper into the minutia of their Asian American experiences, pulling together a writers’ room of “like-minded individuals”.
“Some of us struggled with very similar mental health things,” he says. “It allowed for us to have a very safe space to share openly. There were a lot of laughs, but there were days with some tears. I think that’s really the best space to operate, it’s in the stuff that we’re too scared to talk about. Because it was during the pandemic, I think weirdly, Zoom helped. Looking back, it was this therapeutic vessel to vomit our insides into. It gave us a little bit of distance to share stuff you normally wouldn’t.”
Lee also mined the notes app on his phone for experiences and conversations he’s saved over the years.
“I write down everything,” he confesses. “David Lynch says something along the lines of, ‘No matter where you are, just write down everything, because the worst feeling in the world is forgetting this thing you thought was good, and it’ll never come back again.’ My notes app is just full of scribbles. For [Beef] I would go back on funny interactions and see if there’s a place where that psychology could fit. Sometimes, I’ll be on the phone with someone, and they’ll hear my fingers clacking and they’re like, ‘Are you writing this down?’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, I am. Sorry.’
“I’ve been pretty cocooned to how big the show is,” says Lee, “but I was in Korea last August, and I was just getting a coffee across from my hotel, and a woman stopped me and in Korean was like, ‘Are you the gamdong-nim (director/showrunner) of Beef?’ That was surreal, especially since I’m in a country where I look more like everyone else, and still someone loved the show enough to seek me out and recognize me.”
With the show’s success, Lee also found himself on a year-long journey promoting the series during its award campaign — an experience that led to what he calls his “five-minute stand-up set describing Beef”, which is “pretty locked in now,” he laughs. “As media-trained as the story has become, it is pretty surreal to reflect on that [road rage] incident, especially after the show coming out and throughout award season. But we have screenings sometimes and I’d meet people who are super connected to the show because of the way we’ve highlighted loneliness, depression, and mental health things that we go through. I think that connection in person impacted me quite a bit, knowing that because of aspects of the show, people felt less alone. That’s been really lovely.”
By the time Lee made it to the Primetime Emmy Awards, Beef had already received countless plaudits — among them, three Golden Globes, four Critics Choice Awards and eight Emmys, including Outstanding Limited Series, directing (Lee), actor (Yeun) and actress (Wong). But Lee is by no means resting on his laurels.
“You never know when that creative alchemy may strike again,” he says. “I think it’s just a reminder for me as a writer, and I guess writers in general, to not game ideas to see what will be successful. Oftentimes, the gold is sitting there right under our noses, through the psychological struggles or the little ego bruises that you’re taking day to day. Reflecting on that has been the coolest lesson this past year.”
A second season of Beef has inevitably been discussed. Though Netflix hasn’t officially announced if the limited series might return as an anthology, Lee wanted to clear the air on some of the theories that are out there.
“In my initial pitch of Beef, we did pitch it as an anthology series,” acknowledges Lee, “but not multiple seasons. I gave a general idea of how a show called Beef could work as an anthology… but I didn’t necessarily have all these things planned out.
“It’s important to be adaptable and respond to the current moment, or whatever current truth is pulling at you as a writer. But it’s too early to say where things will head. I’m just trying to remain as open as possible and am mentally ready to tap into whatever lane I need to, because unfortunately there are beefs everywhere you look, and definitely not a shortage of material to pull from.”
But what Lee knows is that the magic of whatever he works on next will never be replicated from the experience of working on this particular series.
“I’ve let go of the idea that anything I work on next will feel the same as Season 1,” he says. “It was a certain configuration of people that may never come together in that way again. I’ve had to let go of that idea, as sad as that is, because everyone involved would love to replicate the feeling.
“That doesn’t mean whatever comes next can’t be fulfilling, boundary-pushing and truthful. It’s all about getting to know the new collaborators, having those deep conversations, and making sure everyone’s on the same frequency. The people you choose to be around, whether in work or in your personal life, are the most important choices you can make. And I take that aspect very seriously before stepping into the ring with them.”
For now, the weekly dinners will remain in place, where the Beef gang can celebrate the special bond they’ve created through working on the show.
“Me and Steven found a Korean barbeque spot where they have an attached karaoke room,” Lee reveals. “We did an official big Beef reunion dinner, and we may have stumbled in and knocked out a couple of songs. But it’s getting harder and harder to grab that bill. I’ll pretend to use the bathroom early, but then somehow Ali’s beat me to it or Steven has prepaid. That’s the real award, to try and get the check first. I think it’s just a testament to what a lovely group of people we have that everyone’s always trying to treat one another.”
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