text | Wei Xiaoning
According to Variety and other media reports, Chinese director Chen Kexin recently founded the pan-Asian production company Changin' Pictures, with the goal of providing high-quality content to the audience of Netflix and other streaming media platforms. Currently, Donnie Yen , Zhang Ziyi It has been confirmed to participate in the company's new drama.
It is reported that the company will not rely on the production funding, production license and censorship restrictions of the OTT platform. In order to ensure the independence of the new company, Chen Kexin invested millions of dollars himself and raised nearly 100 million dollars. He is cautious about his funders, but says most of his funding comes from Hong Kong and Singapore , or from sources outside mainland China. He said he would not accept that 's stake in would be diluted into a minority stake.
Variety reports that
Changin' Pictures is currently actively developing nearly 20 episodes and will unveil the first five episodes at the Busan Film Festival, which are expected to be delivered within four years. Partners include directors who have directed well-known films such as "Genius Gunner" and " Psychic Medium ", as well as other top Asian film and television producers and emerging talents.
These works are from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, Thailand and Japan, and the company will later expand to Indonesia , Vietnam, Philippines , Singapore and Malaysia .
"I don't want the company to become Chen Kexin's company," said Chen Kexin, "We are not a director production company. Only with the support and promotion of filmmakers can we improve productivity and efficiency. We are determined to be an international production partner and streaming platform. Asia’s most effective one-stop platform for services.”
The company’s first two titles, both from South Korea, were adapted from webtoons with solid fan bases: ONE: High School Heroes is an action drama about the The story of school violence and school heroes; another "Class 2 Li Xishu" is a love story of two high school boys.
Donnie Yen will star in Outright Loser, Hidden Master, an Asian-American fantasy action drama that finds Hong Kong martial artists by combining their memories, martial arts skills and techniques Inscribed on strangers to secretly continue their lineage. Donnie Yen will serve as producer and action director, and may also direct some of the episodes.
"I am very excited to work with Director Chen Kexin. At the same time, I am also confident that we can take the content to a new level together." Donnie Yen said. The work of
and Zhang Ziyi is "The Case of Killing a Husband in the Sauce Garden", which was adapted from a real incident in Shanghai in 1944. The bullied wife Zhan Zhou killed her husband who had abused her for many years with a knife. Since then, various suspects and witnesses have uncovered Zhan Zhou's suffering life, but the case is still stuck. Tracing China's historical events from the Japanese invasion, the national government's rule to the birth of New China, "the play reveals the changing times by depicting the various unpredictable tests women experience." ' Pictures teamed up with other directors for the sequel to 's horror film 'The Hell', which produced 20 years ago.
Changin' Pictures plans to spend $2.5 million per episode, which is well above the average budget of Asian TV productions, and above the cost of many Asian feature films.
Yongting Yang will join Changin' Pictures as Chief Operating Officer. She was the general manager and head of sales and distribution for Hong Kong-based Anle Films, where she oversaw the release of films such as Parasite and Thief in China.
Previously, three well-funded, producer-led companies were already operating in India in a similar fashion. Some people think that the director-driven "revolutionary film industry" is long overdue in the field of streaming.
"I wanted to do this long before COVID-19, but the pandemic gave me time to think about it carefully," said Chen Kexin. “The only difference between now and 20 years ago is that distribution and presentation costs (for streaming) are much lower, and we know audiences are fascinated by Asian content.”
Chen Kexin believes that global audiences are hungry for Asian content, but this cannot be easily achieved under the traditional film and TV distribution system. And with the popularity of streaming, where anything can be seen anywhere, and audiences no longer reject subtitles, high-quality Asian dramas will spread.
Chen Kexin is 60 years old and has been engaged in the film and television industry for more than 30 years. He is a well-known director with considerable influence in Hong Kong and mainland China. His representative works include " Tale of Two Cities ", " Three Heroes of the Dust ", " Golden Branches and Jade Leaves ", " Sweet Honey ", " Name ", " China Partner ", " Wins the Championship " and so on. Hong Kong Film Awards and Taiwan Golden Horse Awards for Best Director.
"My life is going to be transformed into drama series. This is my future life plan. I think I should make some Chinese dramas that are watched by the whole world. I don't think this is impossible." Chen Kexin said in an interview "We have to show that we are not bluffing. We have to bite the bullet."
