AFTRS recently commissioned China co-production expert Mario Andreacchio to capture the state of play of recent approaches and developments to working and creating content in China for the White Paper Beyond the Great Wall – Pathways to Australia-China co-productions.
Working with AFTRS Head of Screen Business David Court, AFTRS alumnus Mario Andreacchio, convenor of the Australia-China Screen Alliance, and one of Australia’s most experienced screen professionals working in China, set out to capture and document his experiences in what is a forthright and invaluable guide for screen producers.
As the paper states, in China a new cinema screen opens every two-and-a-half hours. The box office is growing at 25 per cent a year. Within the next five years China will overtake the US to become the biggest cinema market in the world.
Yet, although Australia has a co-production treaty with China, only two Australia-China treaty co-productions have bee completed in the past five years; The Dragon Pearl and 33 Postcards. Mario investigates and proposes reasons as to why there are so few Australia-China treaty co-productions.
Beyond The Great Wall goes beyond the in-principle embracing of the ‘Asian Century’ to argue that real and practical changes are necessary within the Australian screen industry if it is to be successful at China co-productions.
“Looking in detail at how to develop co-productions with China places the magnifying glass on our own industry, on issues that are fundamental to our future growth and that indeed go beyond the question of co-production with China,” Mario writes.
He argues that the obstacles are deeply systemic, and lie within the Australian screen industry, rather than in China. He offers his considered advice on issues such as creative collaboration, understanding the Chinese market, final right of approval and the meaning of the producer offset in the Chinese co-financing context.
“I hope this paper can provide a detailed and realistic first step to help producers realise the huge opportunities that are on our doorstep,” Mario concludes.
The paper can be viewed on the AFTRS website at:http://www.aftrs.edu.au/courses/areas-of-specialisation/screen-business.aspx
Hard copy versions can be provided on request.