Neurosphere Entertainment is a film development company cofounded by William Andrew Mundell and Ina-Alice Kopp in 2022.

The Los Angeles-based company finances the development of projects from ideation to script, with a thematic focus on heartfelt, inspiring stories related to the US and China.

Neurosphere’s mission is to build a better understanding between the two countries and encourage learning from each other.

Past projects include ”Better Angels”, a documentary on US–China relations, directed and narrated by two-time Academy Award winning director Malcolm Clarke, and “Gerrymandering”, a documentary on the widely abused practice of drawing electoral districts to fix elections, directed by Academy Award winner Jeff Reichert.

Upcoming projects include “Untitled Dean Lung Project”, a true story about a Chinese manservant in 19th century America, who donated his life’s savings to the founding of the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at Columbia University.

Ina is an award-winning stage, screen and TV actor who has appeared in successful stage, film and TV productions in Europe, the US and Asia.

She’s played leading and supporting roles opposite recognizable names such as Oscar- winner JK Simmons („Counterpart“), Sarah Jessica Parker („Glee“) and John Malkovich („Klimt“). As the female lead in Huayi Brother’s 30-hour WWII epos “Departed Heroes”, Ina was one of the 1st foreign actors to star in a high-value Chinese studio production. Her performance in Chinese, English and French reached record audiences and earned critical acclaim. In 2012 Ina received the “German Chinese Friendship and Culture award” at the HUADING AWARDS in Beijing.

Since then, Ina has been consulting on Hollywood-China coproductions, working with established Media and Entertainment companies such as Sony Pictures and Creative Artists Agency (CAA). She was instrumental in the financing of international projects involving celebrated directors such as Jackie Chan, Martin Scorsese and Gary Marshall (“Pretty Woman”).

Through her work in Entertainment, Ina took an interest in 4th revolution technologies, and subsequently founded LA-based venture capital advisory boutique “Wings Capital Group”. Ina is also a former venture partner to several venture capital funds and boutique investment banks in Silicon Valley, Shanghai and London. Through “Wings”, Ina has been actively involved in the ideation and build out of “Realport“, a digital private equity investment platform for Renewable Infrastructure Assets, as well as New Zealand fintech firm “Bitcover”.

Ina’s a trained classical pianist, sings Jazz and speaks 7 languages including Mandarin Chinese. In addition to her formal acting training at the prestigious Vienna Conservatory, she has earned degrees in International Management and Sinology from Vienna University of Economics, Fudan University in Shanghai, and the School of Oriental and African Studies in London.

Neurosphere was truly a meeting of minds. When we first met, we each had our own history with China, and our own experiences with Hollywood.

But we also had a shared understanding that clever Entertainment has the power to unite cultures, and a desire to achieve just that.

So, we formed Neurosphere, with a mission to educate and entertain, while tearing down walls and building bridges, in the hope for a future that brings out the best in humanity.

COME INTO OUR NEUROSPHERE AND HELP US SHAPE THE FUTURE THROUGH ENTERTAINMENT.

William is the producer of “Better Angels” and executive producer of “Gerrymandering”.

„Better Angels“ is a documentary directed and narrated by two-time Academy Award winner Malcolm Clarke. It critically examines the present and future state of US-China relations through a series of interviews with thought leaders, former secretaries of state, and everyday people , the “accidental ambassadors of the US-China relationship”, with the goal of shattering myths and highlighting the true potential of the US-China relationship. The film took 5 years, 800+ hours of filming and interviews with almost 300 people. It received the Grand Jury Prize at the 2019 BEIJING INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL and screened at select theaters in the United States as part of the Academy Awards qualification. “Gerrymandering”, a documentary on the widely abused system of drawing election districts to fix elections, was directed by Academy Award winner Jeff Reichert, and premiered at the TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL. In 2010, it was sent to 600k households in California, ultimately effecting a change in legislation.

Both “Better Angels” and “Gerrymandering” were direct results of William’s political work. A candidate for the California State Assembly at age 24, William took a leading role in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s redistricting reform campaign and spearheaded the “Californians for Fair Redistricting” at 44, which ultimately culminated in “Gerrymandering”. Another decade later, after over a hundred trips to China, William began work on ”Better Angels”. He felt that the US and China had reached an inflection point and wanted to promote a future where the two countries would collaborate to capitalize on their differences.

In addition to entertainment and politics, William has a background in education, business and finance. He is currently chairman of WorkToOwn (

), a non profit dedicated to improving economic mobility by demonstrating how ownership architecture impacts enterprise value. He previously served as Chairman of ZBB Energy Corporation, a New York stock exchange alternative energy company. He is also the former Chairman and CEO of Vidyah Inc., and TeckChek, companies founded out of “Knowledge Universe”, a joint venture fund of Larry Ellison and Mike Milken. Prior to that, William served as President and CEO of Wharton Econometric Forecasting Associates (WEFA), founded by Nobel Laureate Dr. Lawrence Klein, and as Chairman of Trade Inc., controlled by Bain Capital and Sutter Hill.

William was an adjunct professor at UCLA’s Anderson Graduate School of Management and is an honorary professor at Tsinghua University in China. He received his undergraduate degree in Economics and Political Science at Carlton University and completed an MBA in Finance and a Masters in International Economics and Public Finance at Columbia University. William has authored numerous articles published in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times and others.

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 William Mundell’s Neurosphere Entertainment has acquired film and TV rights to 

The Lucky Ones: One Family and the Extraordinary Invention of Chinese America

, historian Mae Ngai‘s work of nonfiction that tells a multigenerational story of trailblazers in the fight for Chinese American civil rights during the Chinese Exclusion era.

Neurosphere is developing the book as a historical drama spanning both feature film and limited series formats. Mundell will produce alongside Joseph Culp, who will pen scripts with Robyn Mundell.

Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, (now by Mariner Books/HarperCollins, in paperback by Princeton Press) 

 centers on Joseph and Mary Tape, immigrants who defied systemic racism in 19th century San Francisco to demand equal rights for their children. When their daughter Mamie was denied entry to a local public school in 1884, the Tapes took their case to court — and won. The ruling in Tape v. Hurley affirmed birthright citizenship for children of Chinese immigrants, decades before Plessy v. Ferguson or Brown v. Board of Education would reshape American jurisprudence.

Neurosphere’s take on the material will focus on the Tape family’s legal battle for constitutional birthright citizenship and how the fully assimilated family was essentially on trial for its “American-ness” in a deeply racist period of U.S. history, in the spirit of 

. The project will trace the Tape family’s journey from post-Gold Rush San Francisco and the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act, through the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, the Jazz Age, and the pro-Chinese rallies during World War II, examining their legacy within the broader American tapestry.

“I am thrilled that Neurosphere will develop 

 for the screen,” Ngai told Deadline. “It’s an amazing story of one family’s unexpected journey that contended with racism, exclusions, and the personal costs of ambition and striving.”

Said Mundell, “Tape v. Hurley is arguably the most important American civil rights case you’ve never heard of. Long before other communities fought their battles in court, a Chinese American family stood up to the state and changed the law. We believe this story—rooted in resilience, justice, and belonging—will resonate powerfully with contemporary audiences.”

A professor of history and Asian American studies at Columbia University, Ngai one of the nation’s preeminent scholars on immigration and citizenship. She is also the author of the award-winning 

Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America 

(2004), as well as Bancroft Prize-winner 

The Chinese Question: The Gold Rushes and Global Politics

 (2021), and is co-editor of Corky Lee’s 

Asian America: Fifty Years of Photographic Justice 

Ngai is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has been a Guggenheim Fellow, a Radcliffe Fellow, and a Kluge Chair at the Library of Congress.  She also has received fellowships from the Institute for Advanced Study, the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the NY Public Library, and the Russell Sage Foundation, among others. Ngai has written on immigration history and policy for the Washington Post, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Atlantic, and The Nation. Before becoming a historian, she was a labor-union organizer and educator in New York City. She is now writing 

Nation of Immigrants: A Short History of an Idea

, based on the Laurence Stone Lectures at Princeton. 

Neurosphere Entertainment is best known for its U.S.-China diplomacy doc 

, directed by two-time Academy Award winner Malcolm Clarke, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2019 Beijing Film Festival, as well as 

, a documentary on the widely abused practice of drawing electoral districts to fix elections, directed by Oscar winner Jeff Reichert.

The Gotham Group brokered the rights deal on behalf of the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency.

Neurosphere Entertainment Takes Film & TV Rights to Mae Ngai Book ‘The Lucky Ones’ Chronicling Landmark Chinese American Civil Rights Saga

“Hard Boiled” director John Woo is developing a historical drama about Chinese American Dean Lung — the valet of Oakland’s first mayor Horace Walpole Carpentier — whose donation helped found Columbia University’s Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures. The film has the working title “Dean Lung.” 

The university still refers to the letter Lung sent to Columbia president Seth Low in 1901. “I send you here with a deposit check for $12,000 as a contribution to the fund for Chinese learning in your university,” it said. Later, in order to honor him, Carpentier provided additional donations. 

“I hope I can make it before I retire. I really want to do it,” Woo told Variety at Fantasia Film Festival in Montréal, where he picked up his Career Achievement Award. 

“He was this man’s servant and there were conflicts at the beginning, but later, they started to learn from each other. When he retired, he donated all his savings to the university. His picture still hangs on the wall.” 

Woo described the film — whose script is being written, with financing being sought — as “serious drama, but not too serious.” 

“It’s a very human story,” he said, also underlining its universal appeal. 

“These days, there are so many misunderstandings between the people in the West and the people in the East. I think we need to work on it more, work on understanding each other. I want to make a movie that would serve as a bridge between two different cultures. We can be friends – I really believe that.” 

Before that, Woo will stretch his action muscles with Joel Kinnaman starrer “Silent Night,” already hailed as his comeback. 

“It’s a pretty unique film, even though it’s a common story: a son gets killed and a father tries to avenge him. But there is no dialogue – it’s completely visual,” he said. 

“It was very challenging. I had to make sure the audience understands the story and accepts it, and accepts this character’s emotions. I am so lucky to have found an actor like Joel. He delivered a great performance and he was so happy to do it, too. After all, he didn’t have to talk!” 

Always interested in dramatic storylines and high stakes, with his characters looking for redemption or fighting for their honor, Woo partly attributes it to his Christian upbringing. 

“I guess that’s where it comes from. When I was younger, I just loved the church. When I decided to make films, I automatically started to put a lot of Christian imagery in them. Concepts of redemption and love for people, spirituality. I never wanted to lecture about religion. I just wanted people to feel this atmosphere.” 

Still, despite all the drama, humor is always the key, he said, which is something he misses in new action spectacles. 

“It’s all about action, action, action and special effects. They are missing a sense of humor. But it helps, in real life as well,” he said. 

“Humor brings meaning to our relationships. When I was still shooting films in Hong Kong, we always liked to make people laugh.” 

While the instant recognizability of his work might have eventually hurt his international career, he admitted, he grew to appreciate people’s love for some of his famed visual motifs, such as white doves flying around in slow-motion. 

“The funny thing is that sometimes, I didn’t want to use these things in my films. I would go: ‘It’s too much, let’s do something different.’ And then the whole crew would rebel! ‘John, please, put some birds in there somewhere!,’” he said with a laugh. 

“But I am so grateful. After all these years, people still love my movies. I was so amazed, seeing all these people [at Fantasia] who care for me and support me. It’s very encouraging.” 

Some of his stars also continue to reach out, including his “Face/Off” leads. 

“Nic Cage always says nice things about me in public. The truth is, I don’t talk too much with my actors. They are busy, I am busy. And I am not very social! But some keep sending me Christmas cards, they keep celebrating my birthday. Especially John Travolta.” 

“He has been sending me cards every year!” 

John Woo Develops Historical Drama ‘Dean Lung’ 

Speaking to Deadline from Fantasia Film Festival (Montreal, July 14-August 3), where he is being honored with a career achievement award, Hong Kong filmmaker John Woo revealed details of his recent return to U.S. filmmaking – feature films Silent Night and Peacock’s reboot of his iconic 1989 action thriller The Killer – as well as an upcoming passion project about the man who helped establish Columbia University’s East Asian Languages & Cultures Department. Woo wrapped Silent Night, produced by Thunder Road and Capstone Studios, in Mexico in May. The film stars Joel Kinnaman as a father on a mission to avenge his young son who was killed in the cross-fire of gang violence. Kid Cudi, Harold Torres and Catalina Sandino Moreno also star. NBCUniversal’s streaming service Peacock recently announced Woo’s English-language remake of The Killer as part of its first slate of original films. 

Fantasia is screening Woo’s 1992 classic Hard Boiled, one of the films that helped blast Hong Kong action cinema into the international stratosphere, as well as Face/Off, starring Nicolas Cage and John Travolta, one of several films he directed in Hollywood after making the transition in the mid-1990s (along with Hard Target, Broken Arrow and Mission: Impossible II). He returned to Asia in the mid-2000s, when mainland China’s fledging film industry was first starting to take off, where he directed two-part historical epics Red Cliff and The Crossing, as well as Japan-set crime thriller Manhunt, which premiered at Venice film festival in 2017. 

Q: You seemed to have a lot of projects in development in Asia a few years back. Why decide to return to the U.S. to make a film? 

JW: There were a couple of topics I wanted to make in China, but it was difficult to get the finance and I couldn’t find anything else I wanted to do. When I got the script for Silent Night from Thunder Road, I thought it was very unique and just loved it. What attracted me is that the script doesn’t have any dialogue – the whole movie is totally visual, you’re using visual images, sound and music to tell the story – so for me that’s something pretty new. If I’d stayed in China, I would probably still be making the same old things, another war movie or action movie, so even though this film has a pretty small budget and a tight schedule, that was fine with me. I also got to work with a wonderful actor in Joel Kinnaman. 

Q: What stage are you at with the remake of The Killer? 

JW: We originally tried to hire another director to shoot it, but couldn’t find anyone, so I took on the job. We maybe shouldn’t call this The Killer, because we’re making a very different version, as the lead character [an assassin played by Chow Yun-fat in the original] will be played by a woman. We’re doing the casting now. We were talking to Lupita Nyong’o but she had to pass so we’re looking for somebody else. The story is similar to The Killer, but we can say it’s more of a story about friendship than a love story. 

Q: What was the project you were finding difficult in China? 

JW: One topic was about the Flying Tigers [a U.S. volunteer group working with the China Air Force in the Second World War], a very big Hollywood-style, big-budget action movie. But it was a complicated film, we’d have to build old Flying Tiger planes and use a lot of VFX, so it was hard to get financed. It would have had a budget equal to Michael Bay’s Pearl Harbour. 

Q: Do you keep in touch with the Hong Kong film industry? What do you think about the current state of Hong Kong film? 

JW: I haven’t lived in Hong Kong for some years as I’m living in Los Angeles, but that doesn’t mean I don’t care about [the Hong Kong and Chinese film industries]. I think they need to make some changes, especially in Hong Kong, as it’s becoming limited creatively. We need to come up with more new stories as we have too many gangster films, and a few smaller lifestyle dramas, so we should think about what changes we can make, because otherwise the market is going to get smaller and smaller. Then of course the big problem is that they need more money – more investment in Hong Kong film, including investment from mainland China. 

Q: After such a long break from working in North America, what was it like shooting in the U.S. and Mexico? 

JW: People are still the same, I still get the same respect and all the crew worked so well together. I wish I could make all my movies in different countries. I’m on a mission to learn from new people, and learn from some other cultures, and also make a movie in Hollywood that’s like a bridge; to bring in the culture from China and the culture from the West and try to blend them together. There’s a couple of stories I’m working on. One is based on a true story about a Chinese guy, Dean Lung, who worked as a servant in New York in the 1870s, and his relationship with his master. He donated all his savings to Columbia University so they could set up a Chinese language and culture course. Then he convinced his master to also donate. They still have his picture displayed at Columbia and the course still exists. Hopefully, stories like this can increase understanding on both sides. We’ve got the finance, an American-born Chinese businessman is investing, and hired a writer for the film. 

Q: How are you finding the audiences at Fantasia? 

JW: This is my first time in Montreal and the fans are very supportive. I just found out that this festival started out by showing a few of my Hong Kong films, then they got a lot of support and started developing the festival, so I’m proud to be a part of their family. But there’s a lot of other great Hong Kong films and I hope these can start to appear around the world as well. 

John Woo On His Return To U.S. Filmmaking, New Project About Columbia University Donor Dean Lung & Remake Of ‘The Killer’

NEWS

Neurosphere Entertainment Takes Film & TV Rights to Mae Ngai Book ‘The Lucky Ones’ Chronicling Landmark Chinese American Civil Rights Saga

John Woo Develops Historical Drama ‘Dean Lung’

John Woo On His Return To U.S. Filmmaking, New Project About Columbia University Donor Dean Lung & Remake Of ‘The Killer’