Ironpond Film Investment Management Co.
Fengxue Zhu, 2011
I have always been interested in Asia-Pacific film production especially the business side. I have developed more interest in the producing and financing of high quality films with my studies in economics. In the past, I had some experience in film festivals and China Film Group. I hope to obtain more knowledge about film producing and financing aspect through a winter internship.
Ironpond Film Investment Management Co.ltd is a China/US based entertainment company with bilingual management founded by Teddy Zee. A former executive of Paramount and Columbia, Teddy Zee was the producer for Pursuit of Happiness and Hitch. I met him the first in Shanghai International Film Festival and his speech about the future of international co-production and his vision about China-Hollywood cooperation really excited me.
Mr. Ji, a former executive for Walt Disney Pictures China contacted me after I submitted my resume. I was informed that the company, in partnership with several ventures such as China Film Foundation, China Film Co-production Corporation, Peking University Finance Research Institute, and Rocks Capital, just starts up a sub company named National Film Capital. It specializes in film private equity fund management. This is the first company of its kind in China. Mr. Ji had a graduate degree from USC and had many distribution experiences with Hollywood productions in China. He says that this is a promising area to explore and he would like to place me in this new company.
Since Mr. Ji was completing his business in the states during the beginning half of my internship, when I arrived at the company, Mr. Wang, Vice President of China Film Foundation, became my supervisor for the first two weeks. As the company is in its very beginning phrase, obtaining original industry data and researching on current market trends are the priority. Mr. Wang introduced me to two research projects: Chinese films’ box office performances in North America in the last ten years and the historical trend and the relationship between recession and entertainment business. He asked me to utilize statistic method and analyze these data with insight in film.
I feel very lucky that the classes I have taken at Middlebury last semester including Film History, Economics Statistics and Chinese Cinema really help me in many ways with my research. The most difficult part of my research is that in China, The State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television mostly keeps box office result to itself and what is available to the public are more likely inaccurate calculation by the media. In addition, only very recent years data is available through direct search. Mr. Wang introduced me to the industry channel analyst at Chinafilm.com Miss Niu. She offers me much help with research resources and her own data set. I also consult to almost all of the books available on film industrial development in the market. National Film Archive also offers help with English resources. During my research, I have read more than 10 books and more articles in either English or Chinese on Internet and journals. I finally have all the data I need by analyzing and gathering data through a combination of the above resources. During this process, Mr. Wang provided me a lot of suggestions and insights in the organization of my reports with his many experience in film and finance.
In the mid of my one month internship, I enjoyed the opportunity to attend New Year Forum of International Cultural Industries because one of the investment partners is the head of the organization committee. During the forum, experts from cultural industries such as journalism, film, television ad tourism, discuss about the future developmental possibilities of these fields. I was asked to gather reports of the entire forum for the company, especially the part about trend in film financing. There were many enlightening ideas and new concepts in the forum that benefit my understanding of these fields.
The last two weeks, Mr. Ji returned to Beijing and I was directly under his supervision. He instructed me on another research project about the top 50 box office gross films in 2008. I was asked to gather information about box office results from the opening, following week’ and the rest for box office to see the distribution abilities of these films. After I completed this project, he directs me into the field of private equity fund and I spent most of my time learning about this new investment concept. I read about how the portfolio is created and film funds in the states, Hong Kong and South Korea. I learnt that PE fund is not yet legalized in the mainland but about to be, and our fund is registered as a kind of industrial fund. Mr. Ji told me that National Film Capital is preparing to invest more than 1 billion US dollars next year in Chinese films of all kinds. In addition the company recently gets funding from the SARFT to conduct a completed research on film fund. He said after I returned to the school, he will let me be in charge with some part of the research that I can utilize my language abilities and finance knowledge and help me gain more understanding of this field.
Performance
Generally I believe I have completed my tasks and learnt much from my experience. Before my internship started, I have set up standards and personal goals for myself: to be professional, curious and modest. I believe my learning happens in the process of discussing with the experienced people and completing my work. I would say that since the available researches in the field of film investment in China is very limited, my summarization of data and analysis contribute at least to a certain extent to this research field. Although I got this internship simply through submitting my resume and directly communicating my interest in this new field without even an interview, I think it is my performance and positive attitude that wins me trust from my supervisors and their fully support and instructions. Thank to the liberal arts education at Middlebury that has trained me a liberal mind and with research skills.
My findings in the research that films offers much entertainment values at cheap cost to audiences in bad economic years confirms my understanding that film is a media medium that means much more to average audiences than the general belief. The reception of Chinese films overseas offers me insights into the power of specific genres and elements in films that can be instructive to later commercial film production. My readings in film industry and finance all enhance my knowledge about this field. I feel very lucky that I got exposed to such a new area. I actually find myself some talent in this field and I would continue with serious interest. In China, film fund is in its very beginning and so is the company. I feel that my supervisors are convinced by my work ability, but most importantly, by my passion for cinema. They are examples of people who work for the future of this industry and high quality films instead of commercial gains. In the future, I would like to further my knowledge in films and prepare myself as a future financial analyst. Everyone tells me that this is a difficult path because both entertainment and finance industries are about high risks and hard work, but I feel very fortunate to be part of a invigorating field that I could take advantage of my former training in quantitative analysis and moreover might be able to contribute more or less to the dynamic and intriguing Chinese film industry.
Contact the Career Services Office for more information on this internship.