Studio executive believes young producers in Singapore are positioned to triangulate between China and Hollywood.
Pietro Ventani, an industry veteran with experience in marketing, distribution, finance, and business development within U.S., European and Asian markets for Disney and Sony, spoke to the International Media Producing students at New York University Tisch School of the Arts Asia.
According to Gillian Gordon, chair of International Media Producing, Ventani spoke eloquently about the Chinese film and television market noting that China is no longer a secondary market and its massive population and largest online population with unique viewing habits cannot be ignored.
He said that the day has now come when studio executives and producers are asking, “How will this film play in China?”
“Already representing $100 billion in entertainment business, China will be bigger than the USA as a consumer of media by 2015-2016,” Ventani said.
He reminded the students that economic power brings cultural influence and that young producers in Singapore are well placed to succeed in China by using Singapore “to triangulate between Hollywood and China.”
Ventani encouraged students to develop content for a Chinese market in all genres. It is crucial to consider the ancient and established culture of China and the Confucian notion that copying directly from the works of others was considered a compliment to the author, rather than an infringement of their ‘natural’ rights.
Ventani went in to detail about the legal aspects of doing business in China and managing the partner relationship. He spoke of “harvesting techniques” and ways of working with co-productions, co-ownership, IP rights licensing, and foreign rights. New technologies are changing the rules of the content creation business, and students at Tisch School of the Arts Asia have the knowledge and the skills to play an important part in developing both traditional and new media.
Valuing Chinese culture, understanding the real power structure, making sure that obligations are properly fulfilled whilst establishing long term relationships will lead to co-production success. As Confucius said “Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance.”
Pietro’s new venture, Tiger 62 Media, with partner director Rob Minkoff (The Lion King, Stuart Little 1 and 2) is currently setting up the feature film, Chinese Odyssey.
