Writing for the Chinese/HK market?

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  • Writing for the Chinese/HK market?

    Hey guys,

    I was wondering what your thoughts are on trying to writing something for the Chinese market.

    I'm looking for a project to work on to distract me from the spec I'm polishing up right now and there's this old treatment for a Wusia (Chinese swordfighting and romance movie) lying around.

    I've always had a desire to do one of these, as I'm a Hong Kong film fanatic, but could I actually, potentially sell one of these damn things? I like to think of myself as professional-minded, and can't see doing it just for personal satisfaction when I have a dozen other ideas shooting around my skull for projects that have a greater chance of earning me a buck.

    Cheers,

    B
    SIX-GUN GORILLA: LONG DAYS OF VENGEANCE.
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    "... (an) indie powerhouse of a book.- - AIN'T IT COOL NEWS

  • #2
    Re: Writing for the Chinese/HK market?

    Hot right now.

    There are all kinds of strange issues though - because Chinese films are no longer HK films - they are mainland films. NO TIME TRAVEL!

    IRON MAN 3 is being co-produced by China.

    - Bill
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    • #3
      Re: Writing for the Chinese/HK market?

      Originally posted by wcmartell View Post
      Hot right now.

      There are all kinds of strange issues though - because Chinese films are no longer HK films - they are mainland films. NO TIME TRAVEL!
      *L* Yeah, I know Bill. 1997 was a loooong time ago, but I still can't help but think of it as the "Hong Kong" movie industry. Thank goodness Chinese movies are still going strong.

      Now, I'm assuming I could submit the thing in English? My Mandarin is a little rusty.

      Cheers,

      B
      SIX-GUN GORILLA: LONG DAYS OF VENGEANCE.
      http://www.sixgungorilla.com/
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      "... (an) indie powerhouse of a book.- - AIN'T IT COOL NEWS

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      • #4
        Re: Writing for the Chinese/HK market?

        from a Chinese screenwriter friend of mine -- she said there's a long list of do's and don'ts that's really difficult. they have their own version of "politically correct".

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        • #5
          Re: Writing for the Chinese/HK market?

          I've been through this experience. It's horrific. Every draft has to pass through the government censorship board and the limitations they put on stories are strict. They also take a considerable amount of time to evaluate each draft.

          Your safest best is to write something period, which could have absolutely no reflection on how modern China is run by its government.

          As an example of the hurdles you can run into with a contemporary piece... if your story features a bank robbery, you'd better make sure the Chinese police are shown arriving on the scene within 30 seconds. The gov't wants its people to believe they are well served and protected by the authorities.

          After jumping through countless hoops like this for more than a year, the censors said "There are no criminals in China" rendering the entire story (an earlier incarnation of BULLET RUN) impossible to stage in China.

          Good luck.
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          • #6
            Re: Writing for the Chinese/HK market?

            Originally posted by EvilRbt View Post
            I've been through this experience. It's horrific. Every draft has to pass through the government censorship board and the limitations they put on stories are strict. They also take a considerable amount of time to evaluate each draft.

            Your safest best is to write something period, which could have absolutely no reflection on how modern China is run by its government.

            As an example of the hurdles you can run into with a contemporary piece... if your story features a bank robbery, you'd better make sure the Chinese police are shown arriving on the scene within 30 seconds. The gov't wants its people to believe they are well served and protected by the authorities.

            After jumping through countless hoops like this for more than a year, the censors said "There are no criminals in China" rendering the entire story (an earlier incarnation of BULLET RUN) impossible to stage in China.

            Good luck.
            Just to add to this, we have had recent discussions on the topic and a good friend of ours helped the Chinese government create their current production partnership with the Australian government and also put in place their protocol for dealing with outside production companies.

            There is one rule that you need to abide by if you want the preferred return which a mainland qualified production will give you:

            "Nothing bad happens in China."

            That's it. And I'm not kidding. At the same time, you should have a minimum of 25% of the story take place in mainland China. The process to pass through the government review process is a minimum of three months.

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            • #7
              Re: Writing for the Chinese/HK market?

              Originally posted by EvilRbt View Post
              I've been through this experience. It's horrific. Every draft has to pass through the government censorship board and the limitations they put on stories are strict. They also take a considerable amount of time to evaluate each draft.

              Your safest best is to write something period, which could have absolutely no reflection on how modern China is run by its government.
              Yeah, it's a Wuxia, so it's definitely period. CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON is probably the best known Wuxia to Americans.

              Cheers,

              B
              SIX-GUN GORILLA: LONG DAYS OF VENGEANCE.
              http://www.sixgungorilla.com/
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              "... (an) indie powerhouse of a book.- - AIN'T IT COOL NEWS

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              • #8
                Re: Writing for the Chinese/HK market?

                coincidentally, just stumbled onto this site today: http://www.celestialtiger.com/index.asp
                they're partnered with lionsgate. keep it handy if you ever go this route.

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                • #9
                  Re: Writing for the Chinese/HK market?

                  Originally posted by NikeeGoddess View Post
                  coincidentally, just stumbled onto this site today: http://www.celestialtiger.com/index.asp
                  they're partnered with lionsgate. keep it handy if you ever go this route.
                  Thanks! Yeah, I may never end up writing the thing, since I promised myself this latest spec would be my last (so I can focus on comics), but who knows?

                  Cheers,

                  B
                  SIX-GUN GORILLA: LONG DAYS OF VENGEANCE.
                  http://www.sixgungorilla.com/
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                  sigpic
                  "... (an) indie powerhouse of a book.- - AIN'T IT COOL NEWS

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                  • #10
                    Re: Writing for the Chinese/HK market?

                    All my advice is based off my experience as one of the writers on Man of Tai Chi that is currently shooting in China.

                    Writing for the Chinese market is tough. Getting past censorship and getting certified by SARFT is not easy. What makes the censorship process even more frustrating is that the rules change every time you talk to SARFT. Sometimes they will approve a story element only to reject the exact same story element months later. It is a slow and long process. If you have money and star power, you can grease the wheels a little bit. Like SBScript said, "Nothing bad happens in China." You can get around some of the censorship issues by setting the story in the past.

                    You cannot submit to SARFT in English. The script must be translated into Chinese. It takes months to get a response. Chinese production companies/studios will pay an unknown or new writer about $10-12k for a script. If you want to make money, you're best bet is to sell to an American company trying to co-produce in China.

                    wcmartell is wrong. Hong Kong is a separate market than China. There is still HK film production. The HK industry produces about 20 films a year. They operate under different rules than mainland Chinese films. They are all star driven. You cannot get a movie made in HK without the backing of one of the major stars or singers.

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                    • #11
                      Re: Writing for the Chinese/HK market?

                      Originally posted by Huangjinyoujiao View Post
                      You cannot submit to SARFT in English. The script must be translated into Chinese. It takes months to get a response. Chinese production companies/studios will pay an unknown or new writer about $10-12k for a script. If you want to make money, you're best bet is to sell to an American company trying to co-produce in China.
                      First of all, thanks a TON for this info. Second, do you have to need your script translated into Mandarin *before* submitting it, or do the production companies generally take care of that?

                      And I'm glad to see that HK film is still going strong with people like Johnny To and Wilson Yip doing such great work.

                      Cheers,

                      B
                      SIX-GUN GORILLA: LONG DAYS OF VENGEANCE.
                      http://www.sixgungorilla.com/
                      https://www.facebook.com/SixGunGorilla
                      sigpic
                      "... (an) indie powerhouse of a book.- - AIN'T IT COOL NEWS

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                      • #12
                        Re: Writing for the Chinese/HK market?

                        Originally posted by BChristgau View Post
                        First of all, thanks a TON for this info. Second, do you have to need your script translated into Mandarin *before* submitting it, or do the production companies generally take care of that?

                        And I'm glad to see that HK film is still going strong with people like Johnny To and Wilson Yip doing such great work.

                        Cheers,

                        B
                        Yes, you will need to have your project translated into Mandarin before submitting to SARFT. In my experience, you will have to get the translation done yourself. The script I co-wrote had Keanu Reeves attached as an actor and director with China Film Group (the government-owned film studio) producing and we still had to get the script translated from English to Mandarin ourselves.

                        I don't know how many of the production companies in China have readers who are fluent in English. The Director of Development for DMG is a friend of mine and he grew up in Canada and lived in Los Angeles and speaks English natively, but he's an anomaly. Keep in mind that a script in China is worthless if it can't get pass censorship through SARFT.

                        I wouldn't say HK film is going strong, but it's still around. All the talent are looking for projects to go into China because HK industry is shrinking. Johnnie To produces his own movies, but even he is having trouble getting films off the ground.

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                        • #13
                          Re: Writing for the Chinese/HK market?

                          Originally posted by Huangjinyoujiao View Post
                          Yes, you will need to have your project translated into Mandarin before submitting to SARFT. In my experience, you will have to get the translation done yourself. The script I co-wrote had Keanu Reeves attached as an actor and director with China Film Group (the government-owned film studio) producing and we still had to get the script translated from English to Mandarin ourselves.

                          I don't know how many of the production companies in China have readers who are fluent in English. The Director of Development for DMG is a friend of mine and he grew up in Canada and lived in Los Angeles and speaks English natively, but he's an anomaly. Keep in mind that a script in China is worthless if it can't get pass censorship through SARFT.

                          I wouldn't say HK film is going strong, but it's still around. All the talent are looking for projects to go into China because HK industry is shrinking. Johnnie To produces his own movies, but even he is having trouble getting films off the ground.
                          Once again, thanks a bunch for this insider info. Yeah, wow, that does sound like a lot of hurdles to jump over. If I knew a production company or studio over there was interested I would definitely take a shot at it, but just writing a Wuxia on spec sounds like a waste of time better spent of more saleable projects.

                          Still, what a thrill it would be to not only write a Hong Kong film, but maybe even see people like Andy Lau, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Maggie Cheung, Simon Yam or Sammo Hung in it. Well, I guess I can always dream! Maybe if I can sell the spec I'm currently marketing or the one I'm working on now I can extend my feelers and see if it's something feasible.

                          Cheers,

                          B
                          SIX-GUN GORILLA: LONG DAYS OF VENGEANCE.
                          http://www.sixgungorilla.com/
                          https://www.facebook.com/SixGunGorilla
                          sigpic
                          "... (an) indie powerhouse of a book.- - AIN'T IT COOL NEWS

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                          • #14
                            Re: Writing for the Chinese/HK market?

                            As these things go ... some pretty heavy hitters have already dove into that pool...

                            http://screenrant.com/neil-gaiman-jo...-sandy-105343/

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                            • #15
                              Re: Writing for the Chinese/HK market?

                              Originally posted by BChristgau View Post
                              If I knew a production company or studio over there was interested I would definitely take a shot at it, but just writing a Wuxia on spec sounds like a waste of time better spent of more salable projects.
                              You'd have a lot of hurdles to get over and as you say it might be time better spent on more salable projects. However you could try approaching Bey Logan in Hong Kong or Lion Rock. Some of the HK actors are also producing but it's a very tough sell and you need to be able to capture a lot of cultural specifics in the script for it to have appeal - not easy if you haven't lived there.

                              And just by way of clarification, written Chinese is the same for both Mandarin and Cantonese, it's just the pronunciation that's different (and to a small extent vocabulary), but the written translation will be the same whether you are getting it done for Hong Kong or China or Taiwan (or, for that matter, Malaysian/Singaporean Chinese).
                              Last edited by DavidK; 10-12-2012, 03:41 AM.
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