LOS ANGELES: The world has been struggling with a prolonged economic downturn, but in show business things are looking up, especially when it comes to film and television projects involving the United States and China
David Lee, whose Los Angeles-based firm Xinhua Media Entertainment is a leading company in packaging film projects involving China, has a deep background with both Chinese and American cultures, and sees a lot of parallels between them. The company has over a dozen projects in development, including facilitating the co-production of The Karate Kid, now shooting in China for a global audience.
"Having been on the Hollywood film side of things for over 10 years, it is just fascinating how innovative deals are now happening," said Lee, managing director of XME, which has offices in Beijing. "But more importantly, business is booming because in the end, we have much more in commonbetween America and China than people think. The names, terminology and roles sound different, but really there are a lot more similarities."
Raffaella De Laurentiis, a veteran Hollywood producer (The Forbidden Kingdom, Dune, Tai-Pan) has worked extensively in both America and China. "I want to do more movies in China because I think it is a fantastic country to work in that has a lot to offer."
To straddle both realms successfully, she said: "The trick is to find the right combination so that it appeals to both cultures. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is one such example."
De Laurentiis also pointed out there is a history of film partnerships between America and China that goes back more than three decades.
"If you go back to the earlier collaborations between Hollywood and China, like Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon (1973), that was a good example of using an emerging cross-cultural idol to great marketing effect, especially here in America."
Lee said the cross-cultural trend is "what it should be - a collaborative working environment across the spectrum - Chinese filmmakers, Western cast, Chinese cast, Western screenwriters - working together, a true collaboration."
Lee also stressed there is much more than just martial arts stories coming from this growing creative fusion between East and West.
Slated for release in January is a feature film that stars an Academy Award-winning American actor in a contemporary dark comedy. "This one has a Chinese director and an all-Chinese cast minus the US star," Lee said, declining to reveal who the American actor is. "So far there have been lots of action films; this will show the global audience a different type of co-production."
Another highly anticipated project is a $25 million television series that will explore Chinese families' experiences in America in the 19th century.
Golden Mountain will be produced by Los Angeles-based Metan Development Group, founded in February by US television veterans Larry Namer and Martin Pompadur, with Jean Zhang of San Francisco-based China business consultancy AmeriLink.
"I liken the series to Roots, says Namer, who co-founded E! Entertainment Television.
"Golden Mountain is a dramatic series that starts off with two families that come from China to America in the 1850s? and end up working for the railroad," said Namer. "The story follows these families and their children coming up through the present day? It is a multi-generational drama set against a historical backdrop."
Metan is capitalizing on the growing demand among Chinese for Hollywood news, as well as TV shows using formats popular in US programming. Perhaps the biggest project involves a partnership with an iconic American entertainment publication for broadcast back in China.
"We are producing a program with the Hollywood Reporter using Hollywood-based field reporters for coverage of all the show business parties, premieres and events," said Namer. "The hosts speak Chinese as well as English. So they'll speak to Tom Cruise in English and then turn around to the audience and speak in Mandarin."
Metan is also producing an A&E "Biography"-type show for Chinese viewers. Icons, produced in Los Angeles, profiles recognizable figures from any sphere of influence, including NBA star Kobe Bryant and US business tycoon Warren Buffett. Other programs on their slate include a music show and a fashion/style program called Runway, as well as a sort of home improvement program Namer described as "an East meets West design show".
