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Movie biz takes baby steps

By Alexis Hoo/Liu Wei (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-07-08 09:41

(Left): Japanese entertainer Takuya Komatsu has many Chinese fans and hopes to be involved in movies and TV serials in China. (Right): Born in the US and raised in China, Charlotte MacInnis is a TV host and familiar face to Chinese viewers.

China's movie industry is at a formative stage compared to Bollywood or Hollywood, according to some film insiders.

"The entertainment industry here is a newborn baby, which started after the country's reform and opening up in the late 1980s, while Hollywood has a history of more than 100 years," says Chinese producer and director Zhang Jinzhan, who has worked on international co-productions such as Kill Bill 2 and The Kite Runner.

"The 'chaotic' situation in the industry experienced by those like John Paisley is not just confined to foreign actors. Many Chinese actors also cannot bargain for their interests and suffer from similar problems regarding their agents, contracts and overwork," says Zhang, who was also the assistant director of John Woo's Red Cliff epic and Zhang Yimou's Curse of the Golden Flower.

"I suggest that he gets to know some reliable local friends. In China, as in any system that is not complete, guanxi, or connections, help a lot. Or he could sign a contract with a big company, instead of working on his own," Zhang says.

Wang Xiaozhu, a senior producer with more than a decade of experience working with A-list Chinese directors such as Feng Xiaogang and Jiang Wen, says the problems faced by Paisley are embedded in the way "Chinese bosses approach their movie projects".

"All the bosses in the world want to make the most profit using the least amount of capital, but in a sophisticated system like Hollywood, there is a bottom line, which means they know certain expenses are necessary," Wang says.

"Here in China, the bosses have no bottom line, their bottom line is: It is the best if we don't spend any money at all.

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