By Kevin McCauley
Entertainment firm 42West is working publicity for the first Beijing International Screenwriting Competition for American writers under a contract inked with Serial Enterprises Ltd, a Hong Kong-based outfit.
The Cultural Assets Office of Beijing's city government announced the program on March 3.
It describes the initiative as a way to "foster artistic collaboration and an ongoing creative dialogue between China and the U.S."
The office is looking for short and feature film screenplays that are centered in China's capital city. The deadline for scripts is next month with the winners to be announced in May.
The contest offers cash prizes of more than $100K and finalists will receive all-expense trips to Beijing in June to meet and pitch their ideas to Chinese investors.
The New York and Los Angeles offices of 42West are doing media outreach for the contest in the U.S.
42West will receive a fee of $64K through June for its efforts. The shop also will get a "performance bonus" of $5K for each "hit" in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Forbes and CNN.
On March 3, The NYT ran a story about the competition, which featured a phone interview with Zhang Huiguang, director of the cultural assets unit.
She promised that "once we have a good script, we will try to find investors."
Zhang is a fan of Ang Lee's "Life of Pi." |