Hong Kong film labor, notes

1. We thank the Hong Kong Research Grant Council for funding our research (GRF 640708, 2009–2011), “The production networks of the Hong Kong film industry: Flexible specialization, labor market and creative cluster. [return to page 1]

2. Triad involvement is not unique to Hong Kong film. Typical triad activities include money laundering, forcing famous stars and artists to play major roles in films, or as one informant noted, after being paid their due fees, stars find themselves harassed by “crew” members constantly borrowing money from them that were never repaid…etc. In this research, interviewee anonymity is maintained throughout unless permission is obtained for the disclosure of identity. [return to page 2]

3. He said: “It should be less than thirty-five. Some films were publicly released for only one to two days, just in order to push up the price of DVD rights. … These cannot be counted as real releases.” This informant is a famous director and producer who works across different media and performance-exhibition channels and has been in the industry for over thirty-eight years (see Interview 2, 2009).

4. Among the over 70 interviewees we have encountered, none has bad, ego-centric personalities – the stereotypical image of filmmakers. We later realize that due to limited work opportunity since the 1990s, even if you are talented, you will not get a phone call if you are hard to work with (with the exception of big stars). Thus, through the evolution process, the remaining people are often “nicer” comparatively.

5. This refers to pro-market policies such as indirect subsidies to assist capital accumulation (Harvey, 1989). The HK$100 million Film Development Fund (FDF), HK$50 million Film Guarantee Fund (FGF) and the Film Development Council (FDC) established to advice the government on spending HK$300 million to revitalize the film industry are some examples (Chan et al, 2010: 26-7).

6. In 2013, China became the world’s largest film market outside the US. Its box office is “set to pass the US in seven years” (Pulver, 2013).

7. For more on the Hong Kong SAR New Wave, read Szeto and Chen, 2012. [return to page 4]

Chan, Ho-sun, Peter, dir., The Warlords (Toumingzhuang), Hong Kong & China: Media Asia, ARM, 2007.

Ho, Ivy, dir., Crossing Hennessey (Yueman xuannishi), Hong Kong: Irresistible Films, Distribution Workshop, EDKO Film, 2010.

Hui, Ann, dir., The Way We Are (Tianshuiwei de riyuye), Hong Kong: Class Limited Productions, Mega-Vision Pictures Ltd., 2009.

---, dir., A Simple Life (Tao Jie), Hong Kong: Focus Films Ltd., Sil-Metropole, Bona Film, 2012.

Kwok Chi-Kin, Derek and Clement Cheng Sze-Kit, dirs., Gallants (Da lui toi), Hong Kong: Focus Film Ltd, 2010.

Leung, Longman and Luk Kim Ching, Sunny, dirs., Cold War (Han Zhan), Hong Kong: Edko Films, 2012.

Chan, Joseph M., Anthony Y.H. Fung and Chun Hung Ng (2010), Policies for the Sustainable Development of the Hong Kong Film Industry, Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Chan, Ho-sun, Peter (22 October 2008), Speech at Rayson Huang Theatre, University of Hong Kong.

--- (30 September 2011), speech at “Meeting Film-maker Peter Chan: Public Forum on Wu Xia,” Rayson Huang Theatre, University of Hong Kong.

Christopherson, Susan and Michael Storper (1989), “The Effects of Flexible Specialization on Industrial Politics and the Labor Market: the Motion Picture Industry,” Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 42(3): 331-347.

Chiu, Stephen Chiu and Alvin Y. So (2004), “Flexible Production and Industrial Restructuring in Hong Kong: From Boom to Bust? ” in Raul Fernandez et al., (eds.), Labor Versus Empire: Race, Gender, Migration, London & New York: Routledge, pp. 197-213.

Chiu, Stephen W.K., Tam Yeuk-mui, and Alvin Y. So (2007), “Flexible Employment in Hong Coming Kong: Trends and Patterns in Comparative Perspective,” Asian Survey, 48(4) : 673–702.

Chung, S. P. (2004), “Hollywood of the East” in the Making: the Cathay Organization vs. the Shaw Organization in Post-war Hong Kong, Hong Kong: Centre for China Urban and Regional Studies, Hong Kong Baptist University.

Coe, Niel M. and Jennifer Johns (2004), “Beyond production clusters: towards a critical political economy of networks in the film and television industries” in Dominic Power and Allen J. Scott (eds.), Cultural Industries and the Production of Culture, London and New York: Routledge.

Curtin, Michael (1999), “Industry on Fire: The Cultural Economy of Hong Kong Media,” Post Script 19(1): 28-52.

--- (2007), Playing to the World’s Biggest Audience: The Globalization of Chinese Film and TV, Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press.

Goodstadt, Leo (2005), Uneasy Partners: The Conflict Between Public Interest and Private Profit in Hong Kong, Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.

Harvey, David (1989), “From Managerialism to Entrepreneurialism: The Transformation in Urban Governance in Late Capitalism,” Geografiska Annaler, Series B, Human Geography, The Roots of Geographical Change: 1973 to the Present, 71(1): 3-17.

--- (2005), A Brief History of Neoliberalism, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press.

Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department (HKCSD), (March 2010), Quarterly Report of Employment and Vacancies Statistics. Hong Kong Government.

Hong Kong Motion Picture Industry Association Ltd. (HKMPIA), (2010, 2012), Statistical Digest of the Services Sector, Hong Kong: HKMPIA.

Hu, K. (2000) “Hong Kong Cinema in the Chinese Mainland (1949-1979)” in Leisure and Cultural Service Department (ed.), Hong Kong Cinema Retrospective – Boarder Crossings in Hong Kong Cinema, Leisure and Cultural Services Department, Hong Kong.

Interview 1, by Mirana Szeto and Yun-chung Chen, 22 Oct. 2008, Hong Kong, with Peter Chan Ho-sun, prominent Hong Kong director-producer who has moved headquarters to China.

Interview 2, by Mirana Szeto and Yun-chung Chen, 10 December 2009. This informant is a famous director-cum-producer who crosses-over from film to include theater production. He has been in the industry for over 38 years, working across different media and performance-exhibition channels.

Interview 3, by Mirana Szeto and Yun-chung Chen, 3 June 2010, Hong Kong. This informant from Southeast-Asia is a pan-Asian producer for Asian film-makers with medium to smaller budgets films for local, regional and global markets.

Interview 4, by Mirana Szeto, 23 September 2008. This informant is a top corporate executive from Media Asia. Media Asia is the most powerful Asian regional film investment company. Its business covers the entire range of media production, distribution and marketing. It also owns a formidable library of titles.

Interview 5, by Yun-chung Chen, 28 Sept. 2010. This informant is a young, important, award-winning Hong Kong SAR New Wave director.

Interview 6, by Mirana Szeto and Yun-chung Chen, 26 May 2010, with John Shum Kin-fun. He has been in the Hong Kong film industry for over three decades, is an industry leader in production, exhibition, distribution and union organizing. He is co-founder and senior executive of Dadi Media corporation based in both China and Hong Kong. He is, until recently, appointed member of the Hong Kong government-sponsored Film Development Council. Since 2005 until recently, he is also the Executive Secretary of the Federation of Hong Kong Filmmakers, the federation of all the ten unions and guilds in the Hong Kong film industry.

Interview 7, by Mirana Szeto and Yun-chung Chen, 29 October 2009. This informant is a self-employed, sub-contracting boom operator and recording artist who has joined the industry in 2001.

Interview 8, by Mirana Szeto and Yun-chung Chen, 17 February 2009. This informant is a lighting master and gaffer with thirty years of experience in the industry.

Interview 9, by Mirana Szeto and Yun-chung Chen, 25 May 2009. This informant is a multiple award winning art director with a young family.

Interview 10, by Mirana Szeto and Yun-chung Chen, 2 October 2008. This informant is an assistant director with fifteen years of experience in the industry.

Interview 11, by Mirana Szeto and Yun-chung Chen, 29 October 2009. This informant is a location sound recording artist and boom operator who has worked in the industry for thirty years.

Interview 12, by Mirana Szeto and Yun-chung Chen, 9 April 2010. This informant is an experienced producer with nearly forty years of experience in local and international film production, pre and post-production, marketing and distribution.

Kapur, Jyotsna and Keith Wagner (2012), “Introduction: Neoliberalism and Global Cinema: Subjectivities, Publics, and New Forms of Resistance,” in Jyotsna Kapur and Keith Wagner (ed.) Neoliberalism and Global Cinema: Capital, Culture, and Marxist Critique, New York: Routledge, 1-16.

Kong, Lily (2005) “The sociality of cultural industries: Hong Kong’s cultural policy and film industry," International Journal of Cultural Policy. 11:61-76.

Lim, Kean Fan (2006) “Transnational collaboration, local competitiveness: Mapping the geographies of filmmaking in/through Hong Kong,” Geografiska Annaler, Series B: Human Geography, 88 (3): 337–357.

Marchetti, Gina and Tan See Kam (eds.) (2007), Hong Kong film, Hollywood and the new global cinema: no film is an island, London: New York: Routledge.

McRobbie, A. (2002) “From Holloway to Hollywood: Happiness at Work in the New Cultural Economy," in P. du Guy and M. Pryke (eds.), Cultural Economy: Cultural Analysis and Commercial Life, London: Sage.

Miller, Toby et al. (2005), Global Hollywood 2, London: British Film Institute.

Morris, Meaghan, Siu Leung Li, Stephen Ching-kiu Chan, eds. (2005), Hong Kong Connections: Transnational Imagination in Action Cinema, Durham, NC: Hong Kong: Duke University Press.

Pang, Laikwan (2006), Cultural Control and Globalization in Asia: Copyright, Piracy, and Cinema, London, New York: Routledge.

Paul, Alan and Archie Kleingartner (1994), “Flexible production and the transformation of industrial relations in the motion picture and television industry,” Industrial and Labor Relations Review. 47(4): 663-678.

Pulver, Andrew (22 Mar. 2013), “China confirmed as world’s largest film market outside US,” The Guardian, accessed 1 May 2013, http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2013/mar/22/china-largest-film-market-outside-us

Scott, Allen (2002), “A new map of Hollywood: The production and distribution of American motion pictures,” Regional Studies, 36: 957-975.

--- (2005), On Hollywood: The Place The Industry, Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Szeto, May Mirana and Yun-Chung Chen (2011), “Mainlandization and Neoliberalism with Postcolonial and Chinese Characteristics: Challenges for the Hong Kong Film Industry,” in Jyotsna Kapur & Keith Wagner (ed.), Neoliberalism and Global Cinema: Capital, Culture, and Marxist Critique, New York: Routledge, pp. 239-260.

--- (2012), “Mainlandization or Sinophone translocality? Challenges for Hong Kong SAR New Wave cinema,” Journal of Chinese Cinemas, 6(2): 115-134.

*JUMP CUT* A REVIEW OF CONTEMPORARY MEDIA

	Notes 1. We thank the Hong Kong Research Grant Council for funding our research (GRF 640708, 2009–2011), “The production networks of the Hong Kong film industry: Flexible specialization, labor market and creative cluster. [return to page 1] 2. Triad involvement is not unique to Hong Kong film. Typical triad activities include money laundering, forcing famous stars and artists to play major roles in films, or as one informant noted, after being paid their due fees, stars find themselves harassed by “crew” members constantly borrowing money from them that were never repaid…etc. In this research, interviewee anonymity is maintained throughout unless permission is obtained for the disclosure of identity. [return to page 2] 3. He said: “It should be less than thirty-five. Some films were publicly released for only one to two days, just in order to push up the price of DVD rights. … These cannot be counted as real releases.” This informant is a famous director and producer who works across different media and performance-exhibition channels and has been in the industry for over thirty-eight years (see Interview 2, 2009). 4. Among the over 70 interviewees we have encountered, none has bad, ego-centric personalities – the stereotypical image of filmmakers. We later realize that due to limited work opportunity since the 1990s, even if you are talented, you will not get a phone call if you are hard to work with (with the exception of big stars). Thus, through the evolution process, the remaining people are often “nicer” comparatively. 5. This refers to pro-market policies such as indirect subsidies to assist capital accumulation (Harvey, 1989). The HK$100 million Film Development Fund (FDF), HK$50 million Film Guarantee Fund (FGF) and the Film Development Council (FDC) established to advice the government on spending HK$300 million to revitalize the film industry are some examples (Chan et al, 2010: 26-7). 6. In 2013, China became the world’s largest film market outside the US. Its box office is “set to pass the US in seven years” (Pulver, 2013). 7. For more on the Hong Kong SAR New Wave, read Szeto and Chen, 2012. [return to page 4] Filmography Chan, Ho-sun, Peter, dir., The Warlords (Toumingzhuang), Hong Kong & China: Media Asia, ARM, 2007. Ho, Ivy, dir., Crossing Hennessey (Yueman xuannishi), Hong Kong: Irresistible Films, Distribution Workshop, EDKO Film, 2010. Hui, Ann, dir., The Way We Are (Tianshuiwei de riyuye), Hong Kong: Class Limited Productions, Mega-Vision Pictures Ltd., 2009. ---, dir., A Simple Life (Tao Jie), Hong Kong: Focus Films Ltd., Sil-Metropole, Bona Film, 2012. Kwok Chi-Kin, Derek and Clement Cheng Sze-Kit, dirs., Gallants (Da lui toi), Hong Kong: Focus Film Ltd, 2010. Leung, Longman and Luk Kim Ching, Sunny, dirs., Cold War (Han Zhan), Hong Kong: Edko Films, 2012. Bibliography Chan, Joseph M., Anthony Y.H. Fung and Chun Hung Ng (2010), Policies for the Sustainable Development of the Hong Kong Film Industry, Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Chan, Ho-sun, Peter (22 October 2008), Speech at Rayson Huang Theatre, University of Hong Kong. --- (30 September 2011), speech at “Meeting Film-maker Peter Chan: Public Forum on Wu Xia,” Rayson Huang Theatre, University of Hong Kong. Christopherson, Susan and Michael Storper (1989), “The Effects of Flexible Specialization on Industrial Politics and the Labor Market: the Motion Picture Industry,” Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 42(3): 331-347. Chiu, Stephen Chiu and Alvin Y. So (2004), “Flexible Production and Industrial Restructuring in Hong Kong: From Boom to Bust? ” in Raul Fernandez et al., (eds.), Labor Versus Empire: Race, Gender, Migration, London & New York: Routledge, pp. 197-213. Chiu, Stephen W.K., Tam Yeuk-mui, and Alvin Y. So (2007), “Flexible Employment in Hong Coming Kong: Trends and Patterns in Comparative Perspective,” Asian Survey, 48(4) : 673–702. Chung, S. P. (2004), “Hollywood of the East” in the Making: the Cathay Organization vs. the Shaw Organization in Post-war Hong Kong, Hong Kong: Centre for China Urban and Regional Studies, Hong Kong Baptist University. Coe, Niel M. and Jennifer Johns (2004), “Beyond production clusters: towards a critical political economy of networks in the film and television industries” in Dominic Power and Allen J. Scott (eds.), Cultural Industries and the Production of Culture, London and New York: Routledge. Curtin, Michael (1999), “Industry on Fire: The Cultural Economy of Hong Kong Media,” Post Script 19(1): 28-52. --- (2007), Playing to the World’s Biggest Audience: The Globalization of Chinese Film and TV, Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press. Goodstadt, Leo (2005), Uneasy Partners: The Conflict Between Public Interest and Private Profit in Hong Kong, Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. Harvey, David (1989), “From Managerialism to Entrepreneurialism: The Transformation in Urban Governance in Late Capitalism,” Geografiska Annaler, Series B, Human Geography, The Roots of Geographical Change: 1973 to the Present, 71(1): 3-17. --- (2005), A Brief History of Neoliberalism, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department (HKCSD), (March 2010), Quarterly Report of Employment and Vacancies Statistics. Hong Kong Government. Hong Kong Motion Picture Industry Association Ltd. (HKMPIA), (2010, 2012), Statistical Digest of the Services Sector, Hong Kong: HKMPIA. Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU) (2013), Thanks You Poster from the Dock Workers on Strike to the Supportive Hong Kong Public, accessed 31 May 2013, http://www.hkctu.org.hk/cms/article.jsp?article_id=979&cat_id=8 Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), (2010), Film Entertainment Report. Hong Kong: HKTDC. Accessed 10 August 2010. http://www.hktdc.com/info/mi/a/hkip/en/1X0018PN/1/Hong-Kong-Industry-Profiles/Film-Entertainment.htm. --- (2012), Film Entertainment Industry in Hong Kong. Hong Kong: HKTDC. Accessed 1 June 2013, http://hong-kong-economy-research.hktdc.com/business-news/article/Hong-Kong-Industry-Profiles/Film-Entertainment-Industry-in-Hong-Kong/hkip/en/1/1X000000/1X0018PN.htm Hu, K. (2000) “Hong Kong Cinema in the Chinese Mainland (1949-1979)” in Leisure and Cultural Service Department (ed.), Hong Kong Cinema Retrospective – Boarder Crossings in Hong Kong Cinema, Leisure and Cultural Services Department, Hong Kong. Interview 1, by Mirana Szeto and Yun-chung Chen, 22 Oct. 2008, Hong Kong, with Peter Chan Ho-sun, prominent Hong Kong director-producer who has moved headquarters to China. Interview 2, by Mirana Szeto and Yun-chung Chen, 10 December 2009. This informant is a famous director-cum-producer who crosses-over from film to include theater production. He has been in the industry for over 38 years, working across different media and performance-exhibition channels. Interview 3, by Mirana Szeto and Yun-chung Chen, 3 June 2010, Hong Kong. This informant from Southeast-Asia is a pan-Asian producer for Asian film-makers with medium to smaller budgets films for local, regional and global markets. Interview 4, by Mirana Szeto, 23 September 2008. This informant is a top corporate executive from Media Asia. Media Asia is the most powerful Asian regional film investment company. Its business covers the entire range of media production, distribution and marketing. It also owns a formidable library of titles. Interview 5, by Yun-chung Chen, 28 Sept. 2010. This informant is a young, important, award-winning Hong Kong SAR New Wave director. Interview 6, by Mirana Szeto and Yun-chung Chen, 26 May 2010, with John Shum Kin-fun. He has been in the Hong Kong film industry for over three decades, is an industry leader in production, exhibition, distribution and union organizing. He is co-founder and senior executive of Dadi Media corporation based in both China and Hong Kong. He is, until recently, appointed member of the Hong Kong government-sponsored Film Development Council. Since 2005 until recently, he is also the Executive Secretary of the Federation of Hong Kong Filmmakers, the federation of all the ten unions and guilds in the Hong Kong film industry. Interview 7, by Mirana Szeto and Yun-chung Chen, 29 October 2009. This informant is a self-employed, sub-contracting boom operator and recording artist who has joined the industry in 2001. Interview 8, by Mirana Szeto and Yun-chung Chen, 17 February 2009. This informant is a lighting master and gaffer with thirty years of experience in the industry. Interview 9, by Mirana Szeto and Yun-chung Chen, 25 May 2009. This informant is a multiple award winning art director with a young family. Interview 10, by Mirana Szeto and Yun-chung Chen, 2 October 2008. This informant is an assistant director with fifteen years of experience in the industry. Interview 11, by Mirana Szeto and Yun-chung Chen, 29 October 2009. This informant is a location sound recording artist and boom operator who has worked in the industry for thirty years. Interview 12, by Mirana Szeto and Yun-chung Chen, 9 April 2010. This informant is an experienced producer with nearly forty years of experience in local and international film production, pre and post-production, marketing and distribution. Kapur, Jyotsna and Keith Wagner (2012), “Introduction: Neoliberalism and Global Cinema: Subjectivities, Publics, and New Forms of Resistance,” in Jyotsna Kapur and Keith Wagner (ed.) Neoliberalism and Global Cinema: Capital, Culture, and Marxist Critique, New York: Routledge, 1-16. Kong, Lily (2005) “The sociality of cultural industries: Hong Kong’s cultural policy and film industry," International Journal of Cultural Policy. 11:61-76. Lim, Kean Fan (2006) “Transnational collaboration, local competitiveness: Mapping the geographies of filmmaking in/through Hong Kong,” Geografiska Annaler, Series B: Human Geography, 88 (3): 337–357. Marchetti, Gina and Tan See Kam (eds.) (2007), Hong Kong film, Hollywood and the new global cinema: no film is an island, London: New York: Routledge. McRobbie, A. (2002) “From Holloway to Hollywood: Happiness at Work in the New Cultural Economy," in P. du Guy and M. Pryke (eds.), Cultural Economy: Cultural Analysis and Commercial Life, London: Sage. Miller, Toby et al. (2005), Global Hollywood 2, London: British Film Institute. Morris, Meaghan, Siu Leung Li, Stephen Ching-kiu Chan, eds. (2005), Hong Kong Connections: Transnational Imagination in Action Cinema, Durham, NC: Hong Kong: Duke University Press. Pang, Laikwan (2006), Cultural Control and Globalization in Asia: Copyright, Piracy, and Cinema, London, New York: Routledge. Paul, Alan and Archie Kleingartner (1994), “Flexible production and the transformation of industrial relations in the motion picture and television industry,” Industrial and Labor Relations Review. 47(4): 663-678. Pulver, Andrew (22 Mar. 2013), “China confirmed as world’s largest film market outside US,” The Guardian, accessed 1 May 2013, http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2013/mar/22/china-largest-film-market-outside-us Scott, Allen (2002), “A new map of Hollywood: The production and distribution of American motion pictures,” Regional Studies, 36: 957-975. --- (2005), On Hollywood: The Place The Industry, Princeton: Princeton University Press. Smith, Neil (2011), “Neoliberalism: Dominant but Dead,” first presented as “Cities After Neoliberalism?” June 27, 2011. http://neil-smith.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Neil.Smith_AfterNeoliberalism.pdf. Accessed, 22 January 2013. Szeto, May Mirana and Yun-Chung Chen (2011), “Mainlandization and Neoliberalism with Postcolonial and Chinese Characteristics: Challenges for the Hong Kong Film Industry,” in Jyotsna Kapur & Keith Wagner (ed.), Neoliberalism and Global Cinema: Capital, Culture, and Marxist Critique, New York: Routledge, pp. 239-260. --- (2012), “Mainlandization or Sinophone translocality? Challenges for Hong Kong SAR New Wave cinema,” Journal of Chinese Cinemas, 6(2): 115-134. The Telegraph (2012), “China eases foreign film quota,” The Telegraph, 20 February 2012. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-news/9093686/China-eases-foreign-film-quota.html. Accessed, 22 January 2013. To topPrint versionJC 55 Jump Cut home This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License.

JUMP CUT A REVIEW OF CONTEMPORARY MEDIA

JUMP CUT
A REVIEW OF CONTEMPORARY MEDIA