Film summit explores Hollywood-China ties

Hollywood and China will deepen their collaboration in the movie industry at a Los Angeles summit next month, where thought leaders, top executives and talent will discuss China’s mounting bet on Hollywood, animation and the future of digital and immersive entertainment.

The Seventh Annual US-China Film Summit, scheduled for Nov 1 at the Luskin Conference Center at the University of California-Los Angeles, will feature panels examining timely issues and will introduce “Talent Spotlight” and “Executive Spotlight” keynote conversations, according to Asia Society Southern California, the summit organizer.

“Talent Spotlight” speakers include Jon M. Chu, director of the Now You See Me and Step Up movies; “Executive Spotlight” speakers include Jack Gao, CEO of the Wanda Cultural Industry Group, and Michael Ellis, Asia-Pacific president and managing director of MPA.

During the summit, the panelists and speakers are expected to discuss topics such as China’s deepening bet on Hollywood talent and America’s groundwork to develop new financing sources in China, China’s digital-content promise and lessons for Hollywood, as well as the art of making international co-productions.

“In the past year, collaboration between Hollywood and China has taken off in new directions, and Asia Society’s US-China Film Summit brings together the thought leaders and key people at the forefront of this dynamic relationship,” said Tom Nagorski, executive vice-president of Asia Society.

During the event, three honorees — Wang Zhonglei, vice-chairman and CEO of Huayi Brothers Media; Melissa Cobb, head of studio and CEO of Oriental DreamWorks, and Cao Baoping, a writer and director — will be honored for their roles in film industry leadership, US-China creative collaboration and awardwinning storytelling, respectively.

“Hollywood and China’s film industry are still learning to get to know how the other operates. The audience in China and the audience in America are enormous. They need one another,” said Jonathan Landreth, co-organizer of the summit and the managing editor of China File, a website of the Asia Society in New York.

He explained that it was because Chinese finance was becoming more important to Hollywood companies to make multimillion-dollar budget blockbuster films, and the Chinese audience was becoming more important to justify the production of such enormously expensive movies.

Hollywood has a lot to teach China. ... Much of the world doesn’t watch Chinese films.” Jonathan Landreth, managing editor, the China File