Writing a Cambodian based crime novel, Velon: Temple of the Leper King, I introduced a minor character: a smart sassy Belgian girl who ran a bar on the riverfront of a town called Kampot, who now appears only in the Amazon edition. I wanted to adapt the book into a screenplay. After ten years in and out of the film industry, I learned to make screenplays budget friendly. The Belgian girl had to go but I liked her sexy, self-assured, flirtatious character.
The changes I made and the Cambodian transgender woman I replaced her with turned out to be a good move.
While developing the screenplay I realised that flying a Belgian in for a role that only appears in two scenes would cost money and finding someone in-country who could act and had film experience would not be good for the budget. The obvious solution would be to cast a Cambodian girl instead. I was worried that a Cambodian with that character was in danger of appearing as if she was for sale, a bar-girl, which did not fit the character or the story.
