As I write this from our studio not far from Regent Park, where the show is set, we are one month into production. With the CBC, various federal and provincial funding agencies, and Thunderbird, Kim’s is fully financed in Canada. This is meaningful because with foreign money comes foreign input on scripts. Given how differently immigration is currently viewed in much of Europe and the U.S., it is important to provide a Canadian perspective on this subject, while telling the stories of the Kim family.

You will notice that, compared to the play, new characters are introduced and even existing characters altered slightly. We also meet the Kim family a few years earlier in their history. But the heart and soul of the universal story of immigrant parents doing their all to give their kids a better life is still very much there.

Kevin White
Co-Creator, Executive Producer,
Writer of Kim’s Convenience, the TV Series

A number of years ago, my wife and I went to see Kim’s Convenience at Soulpepper Theatre. We thought it was terrific. I laughed a lot and was even brought to tears, but more importantly I loved the voice behind the writing. I knew nothing of Ins and was surprised and delighted to discover he was also playing Jung at the time.

Skip ahead three years and I get a call from my agent, asking if I know anything about Kim’s Convenience. He told me they were adapting it for television and that the playwright was looking to meet with writers. I told him I definitely wanted to take the meeting. Ins and I met for coffee and discussed the play, what I thought of the characters, and how it might be adapted for TV. I thought the meeting had gone well, but it was weeks before I heard anything back. Finally, I was told by my agent that Ins wanted to meet again. That seemed like a good sign until Ins told me that the reason he wanted to meet was because he’d kind of forgotten what we talked about the first time. I joked that I’d obviously left a deep impression. Nonetheless, we had a great second meeting and I came on board in the summer of 2014. Ins and I would meet in an empty classroom at Soulpepper, talking about the play and the characters and, of course, we wondered where the TV series should start. Should they start at the same point? Should the play effectively be the pilot? If so, what would it be like to see Jung at the store and the family reunited?

After some consideration, we weren’t sure that was the best way to go. Part of what makes the play so strong is the conflict and unresolved nature of Appa and Jung’s relationship.

We decided it might be better for the TV series to explore how the Kim family got to where they are in the play. As such, we rolled the clock back and imagined the family ten years younger than they are on stage. We wanted to see the characters grow and hoped they would have a long life. We wanted to see Janet begin studying photography. We wanted to see Jung starting his job at the car rental agency. We wanted to see Appa and Umma working at the store, day to day.