Wednesday, November 13th, 2019

11:15 AM -12:15 PM

Session I: Haas Conference Center, Room 172-173

The China - Entertainment Industry Roundtable: A Discussion with China Experts - Investment, Joint Ventures, and Productions

Jesse J. Weiner, Of Counsel, Yingke Law Firm

Bennett Pozil, Executive Vice President, East West Bank

Lora Y. Chen, President, iQicai, Inc.,

Larry Namer, President/CEO, Metan Global Entertainment Group

Yan Cui, Producer/Director

Gary Kho, Partner, XBG Consulting, Moderator

Lora Chen is the President of iQicai, Inc. a Film Production and Service Corporation. Ms. Chen also is the president of China Media Consulting. Founding the company in 2002, she’s helped U.S. major studios, mini-majors, and independent companies navigate and develop their China ventures. Spanning more than 30 years between China and the U.S., Ms. Chen’s career has ranged from creative and producing, to teaching and corporate businesses. Ms. Chen has done business development and strategic planning both for U.S. corporations working with China and Chinese companies doing international business, having worked with the following: Wanda Film Group, Miramax Films, Inc., Walt Disney Imagineering, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Sony Pictures

Entertainment, independent production companies, and law firms. Before coming to the United States, Ms. Chen was a professional Cinematographer in China with five features to her credit. She attended Beijing Film Academy as part of China's “5th Generation Film Makers” along with directors Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, and Tian Zhuangzhuang. For the last two decades, Ms. Chen has been helping her alma mater, the Beijing Film Academy (BFA), develop and teach new courses with an international focus. Her course: “The Study of the U.S. Filmed Entertainment Business” has been popular since its inception in 2010. Currently, Ms. Chen is developing and teaching another new course to international students at BFA: “The Global Film Business.” Her first book “Hollywood: The Study of the U.S. Filmed Entertainment Business” published in 2014, followed closely by its second edition in 2016. It was one of the best-selling film industry books on Amazon.cn for three plus years, until Amazon.cn discontinued selling paper copies on its site. Ms. Chen also co-authored the “Global Film Business Blue Book,” published by China’s Social Science Academy Press in June 2018; the 2nd Edition of the Global Film Business Blue Book has been published in June 2019.

Bennett Pozil heads the Corporate Banking Division at East West Bank where his team specializes in entertainment lending, middle market lending, trade finance and cross-border business opportunities between the U.S. and Greater China. Media and entertainment lending has expanded significantly over the past four years under Pozil’s leadership, making East West Bank one of the premier entertainment investors in both the U.S. and Greater China and the only bank with a significant presence in both markets.  On the forthcoming Hollywood Adventures, the largest Chinese language film ever shot in Los Angeles, East West Bank worked with Perfect Storm Entertainment co-founders, Taiwanese American director Justin Lin and his mainland counterpart Bruno Wu as well as one of the premiere Chinese distributors, Enlight Media, to put this project together.  In the China entertainment space, the Bank has also provided financing for director John Woo’s two-part epic The Crossing, Cheng Kaige’s The Monk, and is the lead bank on the co-financing deal between Lions Gate Entertainment and Hunan Broadcasting.  From the US front, major clients in addition to Lions Gate include Tyler Perry, Good Universe, TWC and Netflix. Over his career, Pozil has structured the financing of a few hundred motion pictures, including major films like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; Hero; Fearless; and Lost In Translation.  He is also a frequent speaker in the US and in China.  Most recently, in November of 2014, Pozil moderated a panel “The C-Suite View: Big-Picture Strategies for U.S.-China Film” at the Asia Society U.S.-China Film Summit, with major film executives to discuss emerging trends shaping the Chinese film market such as big data, social media, the spending race for blockbuster production and shifting demographics.

Jesse Weiner, Of Counsel, Yingke Law Firm: Jesse Weiner is an entertainment attorney with the largest Chinese-owned law firm, Yingke, and has spent over a decade in China. Jesse worked at the firm’s Beijing headquarters from 2011 to 2016 – and became a partner in 2015. During those years in China, Jesse represented clients in the entertainment sphere, having represented financial institutions, mezzanine investors, production companies and equity providers in motion picture, television, digital financing and co-financing, and other corporate transactions. He previously represented Zhang Yimou, Jiang Wen, Gu Changwei, and Ning Hao’s production company Dirty Monkey (for that director’s latest film “Crazy Alien”), and represented Thai-China actor/singer star Mike Angelo. He’s also advised borrowers, distributors, content creators, high-net-worth individuals, funds and others involved in various aspects of the production, financing and distribution of film, television and digital content. During much of 2018, Jesse also served as CEO of a private equity company that invests in the areas of life-sciences, gaming, and the entertainment industries. The company acquired a Los Angeles-based production/distribution house with 27-year history and over 200 titles in its catalogue. The company was also actively involved in the blockchain/cryptocurrency space and looking to fund the development and production of a reality-based live fight competition show through the issuance of its own bespoke crypto token. Additoinally, he brokered and helped structure countless international joint ventures and strategic partnerships, including the slate financing deal valued at $1.5billion between Hunan TV & Broadcast Intermediary Co. Ltd and Lionsgate, and the recent purchase by a Chinese company of the xXx motion picture franchise from Revolution Studios and starring Vin Diesel.

Yan Cui is a writer/director/producer. After she moved to Canada, Yan pursued her film studies at Ryerson University and the Director Residence in the Canadian Film Centre. She also won the fellowship at the PGA Producers Workshop in LA. Yan has written, directed and produced four features and many shorts that have won the awards internationally, including the International Confederation of Art Cinemas Award at Berlin Film Festival and Best Director at Palm Springs Film Festival for her feature debut, CHINESE CHOCOLATE, that has been an official selection by more than 40 film festivals worldwide. Her 2nd film, YELLOW WEDDING, a co-production between Canada, China, and Singapore, was officially selected by World Film Festival of Montreal, IFFM New York, and Asian Pacific Film Festival, etc. Her Chinese language films are WHEN AFRICA MEETS YOU, released in China nationwide in 2018; and LOVE, SIMPLY released in China in 2015. Yan’s multi-cultural background allows her to tell a story from a unique point of view with passion and precision, from page to screen.

Larry Namer, President/CEO, Metan Global Entertainment Group: An entertainment industry veteran with over 45 years professional experience in cable television, live events and new media, Larry Namer is a founding partner of Metan Global Entertainment Group (MGEG), a venture created to develop and distribute entertainment content and media specifically for Chinese speaking audiences in China and abroad. MGEG recently launched the inspirational competition series The Bruce Lee Project in China. In 2018, the company launched the MGEG Film Fund I and serves as managing partner.  He is also the executive producer on the recently announced feature film “EMPRESS.”  Mr. Namer is the co-founder of E! Entertainment Television, a company now valued at over $3.5 billion USD, and the creator of several successful companies in the United States and overseas.  His vision and direction garnered VCTV several Emmy and Cable ACE award nominations, as well as recognition by Forbes magazine as the national model for local cable television programming.

Gary Kho is an international business & technology consultant. Previously, he was Chief Technology Officer for Wanda Studios where he was responsible for building and developing the technology systems and infrastructure in Qingdao, China. During his tenure, he also served as the Chief Marketing Officer for a year and the interim CEO for 4 months. Before Wanda, he served in various CIO/CTO roles in other companies, including the Walt Disney Company holding CIO positions Disney Studios & Disney International. During his 20 years career at Disney, he was instrumental in the global expansion for the company building technology organization, operations, infrastructure and systems across the globe. He holds a B.S. degree in Computer Science & Business Administration from Minnesota State University Mankato.