Vancouver film community eyes China business

 　　VANCOUVER, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- When the Vancouver International Film Festival kicked off Thursday night, Mayor Gregor Robertson gave a special greeting in Mandarin¹ to a delegation² of visiting Chinese film producers.

　　Robertson, a distant relative of famed Anti-Japan War hero Dr. Norman Bethune, noted³ the excitement of hosting the Chinese Films Producers Association, saying "the possibility for a really potent⁴ partnership⁶ exists here highlighting B.C.'s competitive strengths on the international stage."

　　With British Columbia's reputation as "Hollywood North," a moniker that stuck when U.S. film and television producers first started coming to Canada en masse in the early 1980s to take advantage of a weak Canadian dollar, the province has increasingly been looking for new business to further expand the industry.

　　After recording⁷ 1.31 billion Canada dollars in total film and television production in 2009, mostly from Hollywood, last year saw the number drop to 1.02 billion Canadian dollars, according to the B.C. Film Commission.

　　The strength of the Canadian dollar, now about even par⁵ with the U.S. greenback did not help, nor did a tax incentive⁸ from rival production center Ontario to lure⁹ new film and TV production business. In turn, B.C. responded by raising the value of its foreign film tax credit to be competitive.

　　B.C. producers have been looking to China in what they view as huge potential for co-productions, funding and distribution, among other cooperations.

　　Harry¹⁰ Sutherland, a Vancouver-based producer, currently has financing to develop six pictures "on the Canadian side" over the next two years. As soon as his production company can find a partner in China and "we've got the money in the bank," work can begin on writing scripts in Canada.

　　The industry veteran, who spends about one of every three months in China, told Xinhua that he has been visiting the country regularly over the past six years, developing projects and talking to people.

　　A current project, The Tea Merchant's Wife, is to be shot in China next spring. It will be produced independently and distributed through the China Film Group.

　　"We've put together an equity¹¹ fund here in Vancouver. It's a development fund because what we realized is where Canada fits in really well with China is, if they want to do international pictures, they need more script development, what we would generally call development," Sutherland said in an interview with Xinhua.

　　"We spend a lot of time developing projects here, whereas in China, because the industry has grown so quickly, there's less emphasis on development, but there's lots of money for production."

　　With the script writing in Canada and most of the financing for production coming out of China, Sutherland said his projects are designed so they work economically in the Chinese marketplace first. The Chinese investors¹² get their financing back, and then the Canadian partner controls the international sales to get his investment back.

　　He points to My Big Fat Greek Wedding as an example of the potential for independently-produced films. The 2002 sleeper¹³ hit, a Canadian-U.S. co-production, was made for 5 million U.S. dollars and took in nearly 370 million U.S. at box offices around the world.

　　Typically, Sutherland is looking to produce films with budgets in the range of 2 million to 5 million Canadian dollars, or what he calls "date movies," genre¹⁴ pictures, thrillers¹⁶, romantic comedies and action adventures.

　　"Right now, because of the leveraging¹⁷ financing out of China, it's very easy for us to find the development financing here in Canada. So we're in the end looking at putting in about 30 percent of the actual budget costs out of Canada, but you are getting the full international picture," Sutherland said.

　　"It's what we call a natural co-production. In other words, both countries are putting in what they do best at a given time."

　　Wesley Lowe is another looking for financing for his production Staged, a psychological thriller¹⁵ about a North American pianist accused of murdering his Chinese girlfriend. The Chinese-Canadian has been to China 10 times in the last four years, most recently in June, meeting industry people.

1 Mandarin   

n.中国官话，国语，满清官吏；adj.华丽辞藻的

参考例句：

• Just over one billion people speak Mandarin as their native tongue.大约有十亿以上的人口以华语为母语。
• Mandarin will be the new official language of the European Union.普通话会变成欧盟新的官方语言。

2 delegation   

n.代表团；派遣

参考例句：

• The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
• We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。

3 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

4 potent   

adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的

参考例句：

• The medicine had a potent effect on your disease.这药物对你的病疗效很大。
• We must account of his potent influence.我们必须考虑他的强有力的影响。

5 par   

n.标准，票面价值，平均数量；adj.票面的，平常的，标准的

参考例句：

• Sales of nylon have been below par in recent years.近年来尼龙织品的销售额一直不及以往。
• I don't think his ability is on a par with yours.我认为他的能力不能与你的能力相媲美。

6 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

7 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

8 incentive   

n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机

参考例句：

• Money is still a major incentive in most occupations.在许多职业中，钱仍是主要的鼓励因素。
• He hasn't much incentive to work hard.他没有努力工作的动机。

9 lure   

n.吸引人的东西，诱惑物；vt.引诱，吸引

参考例句：

• Life in big cities is a lure for many country boys.大城市的生活吸引着许多乡下小伙子。
• He couldn't resist the lure of money.他不能抵制金钱的诱惑。

10 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

11 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。

12 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

13 sleeper   

n.睡眠者，卧车，卧铺

参考例句：

• I usually go up to London on the sleeper. 我一般都乘卧车去伦敦。
• But first he explained that he was a very heavy sleeper. 但首先他解释说自己睡觉很沉。

14 genre   

n.(文学、艺术等的)类型，体裁，风格

参考例句：

• My favorite music genre is blues.我最喜欢的音乐种类是布鲁斯音乐。
• Superficially,this Shakespeare's work seems to fit into the same genre.从表面上看， 莎士比亚的这个剧本似乎属于同一类型。

15 thriller   

n.惊险片，恐怖片

参考例句：

• He began by writing a thriller.That book sold a million copies.他是写惊险小说起家的。那本书卖了一百万册。
• I always take a thriller to read on the train.我乘火车时，总带一本惊险小说看。

16 thrillers   

n.紧张刺激的故事( thriller的名词复数 )；戏剧；令人感到兴奋的事；（电影）惊悚片

参考例句：

• He has written seven thrillers, and clearly enjoys intellectual pursuits. 他已经写了7本惊悚小说，显然很喜欢这样的智力活动。 来自辞典例句
• Most Americans prefer to read fast-moving adventure stories that we call "thrillers". 大部分美国人喜欢看我们称之为"惊险小说"的情节多变的冒险故事。 来自辞典例句

17 leveraging   

促使…改变( leverage的现在分词 )； [美国英语]杠杆式投机，（使）举债经营，（使）利用贷款进行投机

参考例句：

• De-leveraging is a painful process: it has barely begun. 去杠杆化是个痛苦的过程：它才刚刚开始。
• Archimedes said, saying: Give me a fulcrum, I can leveraging the Earth. 阿基米德说过一句话：给我一个支点，我可以撬动地球。