The massacre history books left out | Ghosts of Chinatown origin Reel

Concept

A talking-to-camera / voiceover Reel telling the true origin story of 'The Ghosts of Chinatown' — starting with what you thought the piece was about, then the real discovery that changed direction.

Script (beats)

Beat 1 (hook, on screen text): 'I had never heard of this massacre. And it happened here.'

Beat 2 (voiceover, real quote): 'I've been wanting to tell the forgotten history of Chinese Americans for a long time... as someone who came to this country ten years ago, I'm fascinated by their stories and feel indebted to them.'

Beat 3: 'I initially wanted to tell the story of the Chinese railroad workers banned from the transcontinental railroad celebration — the more well-known chapter.'

Beat 4 (turn): 'Then David and I talked with novelist Lisa See, who told us about LA's new memorial for the 1871 Chinese massacre — one of the deadliest racially motivated killings in American history, wiping out 10% of the city's Chinese population.'

Beat 5 (closer, on-screen text + CTA): 'The Ghosts of Chinatown premieres Sept 11 — 🎟️ link in bio'

Filming

• You talking to camera or narrating over archival LA/Chinatown photos (public domain historical images), score pages, and behind-the-scenes writing footage.
• Consider a text-overlay reveal on the massacre statistic (10% of the population) — let it land as a beat, don't rush past it.

CTA

Comment if you'd never heard of this history either — let's talk about it.