(Reviewed by Don Jung)
So many people graduate from college and think they can get a job in the film industry only to face rejection and disappointment. This is a true story about a Dartmouth graduate who seeks fame and fortune only to stumble. But Chris Fenton persists, and eventually manages to become a key player in the US-Chinese movie industry.
Through his job as a mailroom clerk at William Morris where, by the way, he was eventually fired, he meets Stan Lee, creator of Iron Man, and other famous Marvel Comics. This relationship leads to a meeting with a friend of Lee’s in China, who is a co-owner of a Postproduction Company. Fenton realizes that the Chinese market is open to live-action American films, but the Chinese Film Association is extremely strict on what films are allowed in their country. He becomes the American partner of this entity, DMG, with the role of translating American films into Mandarin.
Sounds straightforward, right? Quite the contrary. China has rules of conduct and Fenton must learn what it takes to succeed in that foreign country. The only American entertainment industry that had gotten a foothold was NBA basketball. American films were limited to twenty pictures a year and the major film studios were having difficulty getting entry into this market.
Our storyteller symbolizes this struggle by choosing the film, Iron Man 3, as his project. He negotiates with the film producers and with Marvel and Disney Studio heads. He gets his company to spearhead this project. While I was hoping for more behind-the-scenes detail on the interactions of these parties, it is pretty much only DMG telling you their side of the story.
The reader will learn multiple ways how he was able to get a movie greenlighted in China –like giving small roles to famous Chinese actors– and all the hurdles he had to jump through.
Getting a script to a film studio, getting it approved, produced and everything that goes with it is a challenge. Making a film that is profitable is even harder. This is a fast read on a fascinating topic where culture, entertainment, and money clash head-to-head.
