Shaw Studios and Co-Production Models

On Friday, I had the opportunity to interview the business director of Shaw Studios about the practice of film co-production between the U.S. and Greater China. One of my goals for this project is to identify both financially and strategically successful models for co-production. My interviewee on Friday had some interesting insight into the process. Namely, he highlighted the fact that studios, especially major Hong Kong studios like the Shaw Brothers, have had extensive experience driving their own productions. When asked to collaborate with other studios, particularly other power players like those in Hollywood, the co-production process becomes a bit bumpy. His argument was that the successful Hollywood/Hong Kong co-production would include a highly respected independent producer/director combo and the strength of Hong Kong filmmaking infrastructure. This structure would essentially give the Hong Kong side freedom to manage the studio as they choose while the director and producer would focus on achieving the desired creative and financial results. The upshot is that in addition to competitive advantage driven by economies of scale in China and to a lesser degree, Hong Kong, film co-productions rely tremendously on a workable power dynamic between the different regional partners. While this is by no means new news, the delicate power balance between partners from both sides of the Pacific has been an important challenge in every one of the productions I have studied. The next step will be to better understand if the same model works as well within the Mainland context.

Stuntmen, Slumdog Millionaire, and 60 Minutes of 'Shot in Shanghai'

Sadly, the work on this page has gone the way of the blogyard for the past few months...No, I did not drop off the face of the earth while doing yoga in Hainan. The world of media in Shanghai has become an exciting place and has steered me away from writing. Here are a couple of highlights from the period of fallow blog activity:

1. International Channel Shanghai aired "Shot in Shanghai," a special on co-productions, a television show based on my research in Sino-U.S. film co-production. The link will follow once I get my hands on a DVD copy. I had the opportunity to collaborate with Xu Zhanxiong, the editor of 'Reel Talk' on ICS, and former East China Normal University Critical Studies colleague.

2. The students and faculty of Shanghai University invited me to deliver a lecture on the politics of 'Slumdog Millionaire' and international co-productions. Our talk focused on the use of local space in transnational filmmaking, and the shifting power differential between Hollywood and Asian domestic filmmakers.

3. I have started taking martial arts classes to become more involved with the stunt community here in Shanghai. Well-trained, cost-efficient martial arts practitioners and stuntmen are some of the major reasons for the financial benefits of shooting in China. Look for more information about the community as the world unfolds for me.