2018年CRI Co-productions: China's new plan for international movie success

Co-productions: China's new plan for international movie success

In recent years, with the number of screens and box office growth in China, many countries have set their eyes on China, hoping to grasp the opportunities that the Chinese market has to offer.

Seeing the trend, a renowned¹ American film producer recently came to China offering his insight on how to build movie characters that will resonate in cross-cultural co-productions.

Laiming has more.

Since 2015, the number of co-productions between China and other nations has boomed. More and more countries have come forward to sign film co-production deals with China.

Mitchell Peck is best known in China for producing the movie "Priest."

"I think the opportunity is, for the Chinese film community, to incorporate western characters into Chinese stories to get western audiences to engage with them. I think the same opportunities for western, for Hollywood and European movies, is to have more real and three-dimensional great Chinese characters; the same is truth for both."

In fact, it's quite common for a co-production to have actors and actresses on both sides. For instance, Chinese pop star Jay Chou was cast in a 2016 American heist thriller² film "Now You See Me 2".

Chinese actress Li Bingbing was also cast for "Guardians³ of the Tomb", an upcoming 2018 science fiction horror film which is the largest Chinese-Australian co-production to date.

But according to Mitchell Peck, a co-production featuring familiar faces on both sides is not enough.

"I think the headline is, that I would say, is that you have to have a screenplay that have stories that are relevant and appealing to audiences beyond your local one. It's important to have stories that have international application."

Mitchell Peck was in Fuzhou, joining the Silk Road International Film Festival, where he discussed the future of co-productions with a number of Chinese film industry insiders.

He noted⁴ that storytelling is more important than rhetoric⁵. By emphasizing the importance of screenplays in a film project, Mitchell Peck pointed⁶ out what he believes the disadvantage the Chinese film industry is confronted with now.

"I think that China needs to prioritize screenplays more. I've heard from the people I talked to here that sometimes it's looked at as an afterthought, like we have all the money; we have all the stars, ready to go, just you know, get us the screenplay and we'll make this movie. You know, as if you snap your fingers and the screenplay will materialize. Whereas in America, they realize that it is the foundation of the process and they make room for it and they prepare to make the time and the expense necessary to cultivate screenplays knowing that it's a labor-intensive, time-consuming process but there's no shortcuts⁷."

The point: what kind of movie does an international audience really want to see? This is the biggest question for filmmakers now.

Although Chinese audiences easily fall in love with historical period dramas, Mitchell Peck thinks this genre⁸ of film is much less attractive to international audiences.

In December 2016, a large-budget US–China co-production, "The Great Wall" starring global superstar Matt Damon was released in China. Although the top-notch director Zhang Yimou was ambitious about the film's global release in 68 countries and regions, Mitchell Peck noticed the Great Wall failed to reach its anticipated box office earnings⁹.

Mitchell Peck thinks that's because they set Matt Damon in an ancient period.

"I do like to see a movie with Matt Damon in a contemporary Chinese movie. I think that movie would make ten times as much money, because it's relevant. Does that make sense? I look at a period piece Chinese movie, even a period piece American movie, and I feel oh, its lessons are not so applicable to me."

A co-production can be considered a domestic film in China, enjoying benefits like preferential tax, investment policies and avoid being subject to the limit of foreign films that China imposes every year. Also, according to "chinafilm.com", co-productions are more suitable for different markets, which naturally have more commercial potential for international distribution.

So far, 20 countries have signed co-production agreements with China.

In making a co-production, China should develop its screenplays in connection with its international counterparts as Mitchell explains:

"China has every advantage. It can be the biggest and the most exciting film community on the planet. I think the only thing that's missing, or that's slowing down its progress, which is almost inevitable¹⁰, is content. It just needs more content that is relevant to the world. That's why you need a fleet of screenwriters, an army of screenwriters, turning out screenplays and getting better and better. Because then, those movies can be made and that's important because that's how you get your culture travelling around the world, is through your movie."

During the Silk Road International Film Festival, a total of 19 international filmmaker representatives have signed co-production agreements with China.

According to a leader with the China Film Co., LTD., the total investments involved in these deals are estimated to reach 2.3 billion yuan or over 353 million US dollars. The anonymous¹¹ leader believes the signing of these deals will help drive Chinese movies to reach beyond expectations, and facilitate exchanges and cooperation in the movie industry between China and the countries along the Silk Road.

For CRI, I'm Laiming.

1 renowned   

adj.著名的，有名望的，声誉鹊起的

参考例句：

• He is one of the world's renowned writers.他是世界上知名的作家之一。
• She is renowned for her advocacy of human rights.她以提倡人权而闻名。

2 thriller   

n.惊险片，恐怖片

参考例句：

• He began by writing a thriller.That book sold a million copies.他是写惊险小说起家的。那本书卖了一百万册。
• I always take a thriller to read on the train.我乘火车时，总带一本惊险小说看。

3 guardians   

监护人( guardian的名词复数 )； 保护者，维护者

参考例句：

• Farmers should be guardians of the countryside. 农民应是乡村的保卫者。
• The police are guardians of law and order. 警察是法律和秩序的护卫者。

4 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

5 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

6 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

7 shortcuts   

n.捷径( shortcut的名词复数 )；近路；快捷办法；被切短的东西（尤指烟草）

参考例句：

• In other words, experts want shortcuts to everything. 换句话说，专家需要所有的快捷方式。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Offer shortcuts from the Help menu. 在帮助菜单中提供快捷方式。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

8 genre   

n.(文学、艺术等的)类型，体裁，风格

参考例句：

• My favorite music genre is blues.我最喜欢的音乐种类是布鲁斯音乐。
• Superficially,this Shakespeare's work seems to fit into the same genre.从表面上看， 莎士比亚的这个剧本似乎属于同一类型。

9 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

10 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

11 anonymous   

adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的

参考例句：

• Sending anonymous letters is a cowardly act.寄匿名信是懦夫的行为。
• The author wishes to remain anonymous.作者希望姓名不公开。