MCLC: screenwriting competition

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: brian bernards <bcbernards at gmail.com>
Subject: screenwriting competition
*******************************************************

List members may be interested in this article.

Brian

========================================================

Source: Hollywood Reporter (3/4/13)
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/china-launches-screenwriting-competit
ion-us-425793

China Launches Screenwriting Competition for U.S. Writers
The finalists will be announced in May and given an all-expenses paid trip
to Beijing about making their stories into films
By Clarence Tsui

HONG KONG ­ James Cameron did it last year for Titanic 3D; Robert Downey
Jr. will probably do it next month for Iron Man 3. And now budding,
as-yet-unknown U.S. screenwriters will get their own chance to follow the
example of Hollywood heavyweights and make a pitch to booming China, now
the world's second-largest film market.

The Chinese government on Monday announced an international scriptwriting
contest targeting American writers, for which finalists will be flown to
China to discuss having their stories set there made into films.

Zhang Huiguang, director of the Beijing Municipal Government¹s Cultural
Assets Office, made the announcement that officially launched the 2013
Beijing International Screenwriting Competition for U.S.-based writers.
The deadlines for feature and short-film scripts are April 7 and April 20,
respectively, followed by a May announcement of the list of top finalists,
all of whom will be given prize money as well as an all-expenses-paid trip
to meet potential financiers in the Chinese capital.

The competition is the Chinese authorities' latest attempt to get the
country more exposure in international markets through voices that might
be more in touch with the tastes and expectations of foreign audiences.
The difficulties of getting Chinese stories to transcend cultural barriers
were illustrated last month when Lost in Thailand -- the current
highest-grossing domestic production ever to be released in China --
flopped in its limited release at the now-Chinese-owned AMC cinema chain
in North America.

Zhang will serve as the president of the competition, with film producer
Kevin Niu serving as chairman. Oscar-winning journalist-filmmaker Mark
Harris and producer Tracey Trench (a former Twentieth Century Fox
executive and now a key consultant to the Oriental Dreamworks animation
studio joint venture in China) will be the competition¹s grand judges. It
is understood that the panel will meet during the Beijing International
Film Festival in late April, after which the decision on the list of
finalists will be made and unveiled.

"My hope is that the competition will bring the two cultures closer
together through the delicious language of film," Trench told The
Hollywood Reporter. "As a judge, I will be looking for the elements of any
good feature or short: solid storytelling with fresh characters. And in
this case, I will be particularly interested to see how writers weave the
hugely fascinating city of Beijing into their narratives."

In a statement, the competition was described as an "unprecedented
opportunity for aspiring and established U.S. writers to obtain
international recognition," with submissions required to "prominently
feature Beijing as a location, conveying in some way the romance, mystery
and cultural richness of this great world capital." According to Niu, the
competition "is one of the first established routes for U.S. filmmakers to
obtain direct access to the Chinese market."

"I am thrilled that the Beijing International Screenwriting Competition is
taking place at this time in history," said Zhang. "The city and people of
Beijing are excited to begin a new era of creative and cultural
collaboration with the U.S."

The Beijing authorities are backed in the competition by Beijing
International Creative Industry Corporation, online video providers LeTV
and Harvardwood, an organization for Harvard alumni working in the media
and entertainment industries.