PRODUCTION

The origins for the original idea for PING PONG PLAYA essentially came from three different sources: 1) the character, Christopher “C-dub” Wang, as conceived by Jimmy Tsai in a series of web commercials; 2) the idea of a ping pong comedy by producer Joan Huang; and 3) director Jessica Yu’s idea to merge the two together. From this kernel of a concept, development on the script began in late 2005 with Jessica and Jimmy writing together.

Approximately one year later and with the addition of producer Anne Clements, PING PONG PLAYA began rounding into shape for production. Several months before pre-production was slated to begin, the production team sought out both training for its actors and consultation on the world of table tennis via a renowned husband-and-wife coaching team with experience in both the worlds of cinema as well as international table tennis competition.

The production team then focused on finding the other key actors to round out the cast. The search for the child actors, especially, proved to be a challenging one, as casting notices were put out in the usual places as well as in open calls and emails targeted towards local area schools and children. Though the first few weeks proved fruitful in finding and narrowing down choices for many of the adult leads, the same process unfortunately proved less fruitful in producing stellar candidates in the key roles of the three main child leads. It was only with just under three weeks left before cameras began rolling that, in a fortuitous coincidence, the production came across undeniable choices for all three child leads.

After the final roles in the cast were filled out in the final week leading up to production, principal photography on PING PONG PLAYA officially commenced in March of 2007, shooting in various locations in and around Los Angeles, California. A complete store front (both interiors and exteriors) for Ping Pong Palace, the Wang family store, was erected in Altadena; a local high school gymnasium in Norwalk stood in for the East Hills tournament location; and the production even participated in an actual parade in the city of Monterey Park to stage the final scene in the movie.

With filming completed in early May, post production immediately commenced, predominantly at facilities in Burbank, California. But the production also went truly international with over seventy CGI ping pong shots being created at Bulky Studios in Taipei, Taiwan.