ASK & DISCUSS INDEX

10 years, 7 months ago - Lucas Jedrzejak

I worked with Aussie and British companies based over in China but I employed Chinese fixers, English speaking. Not heard much about Chinese-European co-productions though there are many media companies based in Beijing. I've heard it's easier to find a Chinese investor than set up a co-pro over there, mainly down to so many beaurocratic rules. It could be wrong though. One thing we found that was crucial when on shoot in China was having a properly working VPN, ideally Hong Kong based.

10 years, 7 months ago - John Lubran

For those who don't speak "shop" VPN means "Virtual Private Network". The term private in this context however soes not include the many private and governmental agencies who can easily hack into most VPN's, especially Chinese. so some degree of caution is best.There's a few options for setting up VPN's, none of it, thanks to the World Wide Web, is rocket science.

With regards to co-pro's with Chinese companies, one should always bare in mind the pervasive nature of the Chinese government and the staggering level of corruption generally. We had a conversation quite recently here on SP about this. Here's what I contributed to that conversation.

Whilst there's a continuing trend toward the West and China's convergence in so many ways, it remains a fact that there are some huge chasms yet to be bridged in terms of media ethics, copyright and government censorship, even with regard to the most trite of issues. Everybody wants to make money and much Western enterprise will ignore the most onerous of unpleasantries to make a buck...... As yet China needs Western media enterprise much more than the West needs China's

Fundamental truths continue to evade commentators and skewed analysis of global economics continues to baffle brains. Whilst China is still on course to grow its economy to a scale commensurate with its population size it remains very far from that ideal. (it ought to have one fifth of global GDP if one includes Africa and the rest of the undeveloped world or a third of global GDP if ones reckoning excludes those places, as any thoughtful analysis ought) At about nine trillion dollars (once 'official' figures have been corrected) China's economy lags much further behind than having the second largest economy in terms of nation states might imply to the unthoughtful. USA and Europe have a thirty two trillion dollar GDP between them with less than 800,000,000 people, or 2/3rds that of China. Add the rest of the free Westernised economies such as Japan, Canada, Australia, South Korea, Brazil etc., etc. and the differential becomes very much greater (c.$45 trillion) and still with a smaller population! So even though most Chinese and too many unthoughtful Westerners like to believe the hype that China is overtaking the World and that the World should be focusing on how to relate to China, the fact is that despite China's exponential, though slowing, growth, the opposite is true.

With regard to the Chinese government shutting down an independent film festival.....

Clearly it would be hopeless to try and make any case mitigating what happened in China with the film festival. Personally I'm pretty livid with what goes on here in the UK as an excuse for liberty and decency, but really! Good grief! The explanation that those independents are acting illegally according to the totalitarian paranoid criteria of that government will have absolutely no merit here. The fact is that everything that humans do has some political element. The fact that those independent film makers are in a small minority simply underlines just how pervasive that totalitarianism is and if anything suggests that that little group are brave heroes of thought freedom who have put themselves very much in the firing line well beyond that festival issue. If you want to consider a film that ought to be made between Chinese and British partners, how about a Chinese version of George Orwell's '1984'?

10 years, 7 months ago - David Graham Scott

Agreed...a good VPN is a must!

10 years, 7 months ago - Marlom Tander

Friends of mine have dealt with China wearing various hats (not film).

The initial mating dance is expensive if done from outside China because they like face to face - so lots of flights, lots of good hotels and lovely restaurants and that's 10K gone at which point you realise that you haven't met the decision makers yet, only the gatekeepers, and now a whole new round starts :-)

If I was serious about China, I'd look around for an expat settled in China, running a local operation, who has made good connections, and who has either a film background or a general deal making one. Make them the sherpa, then by the time you fly in, it should be to meet seriously interested people.

Good luck

10 years, 7 months ago - Lee 'Wozy' Warren

Thanks all for the detailed responses.

I was at China Image recently in London and met some interesting people. Sounds like there is a huge appetite for co-productions now that the government is formalising tax benefits for China/UK.

We work with UK and US producers and following the festival (above) we'd be keen to develop strategic partnerships out east.

Thanks again all for your very valued contributions.

best

Lee