As the ties between Hollywood and China continue to deepen, organizers plan to bring a first-of-its-kind entertainment industry convention to Los Angeles this fall.
The U.S. China Film & TV Industry Expo, aimed at broadening business relationships between film and TV producers in the U.S. and China, will hold its inaugural event Sept. 15 and 16 at the L.A. Convention Center.
The expo will include exhibitors from the U.S. and China and will feature panels bringing together filmmakers and entertainment industry executives from both countries to discuss such topics as navigating China's bureaucracy and forming co-production deals.
Delegates will include representatives from the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture, Radio Film & TV; the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Radio and Television; the Beijing International Film Festival and Wuxi Studio, which operates a sprawling film production facility outside Shanghai.
"Our goal is to provide a platform for both countries' industry players to build professional ties and encourage job creation, creative sharing and learning," said Bianca Chen, a TV producer in L.A. who is founder and chief executive of the expo.
The gathering comes at a time of growing cross-pollination between companies in Hollywood and China. Studios such as Walt Disney, 20th Century Fox and DreamWorks Animation have been forming partnerships with Chinese companies to expand their business in the world's most populous country, which generated $3.6 billion in box office revenue last year, making it the largest international market for Hollywood movies.
At the same time, Chinese media companies also have been expanding their investments in the U.S. Two years ago, Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group acquired AMC Entertainment, the nation's second largest theater chain, for $2.6 billion, to create the world's largest cinema chain. Wanda Group also has expressed interest in buying other entertainment properties in the U.S.
Hollywood studios also have been frustrated by restrictions that China imposes on the number of foreign language movies allowed into the country under a revenue-sharing agreement, limiting how much money they can make from movies distributed there. The expo will include a panel on "bypassing the foreign film quota," according to a statement on the event.