Foreigners in China's Film Industry

choi

Gabrielle Jaffe, Hollywood dreams move to China; Movie and TV actors, directors, special effects professionals and more are finding work in the nascent Chinese film industry. But there are catches. Los Angeles Times, June 10, 2012.
http://www.latimes.com/entertain ... lm-careers-20120610,0,688679.story

Quote:

"While [Beijing's Nate] Boyd, for example, relishes the chance to work with Brody, he regrets that the parts he plays in Chinese TV series are often limited. 'There are two roles for foreign guys: either you play a military officer during World War II or a study-abroad student chasing a Chinese girl,' he says. 'She of course rejects you because you don't understand her culture and instead chooses the Chinese guy,' says the easygoing actor, now married to a Chinese woman, and laughs.

"Western actors like Wang and Boyd can find themselves working on Chinese productions for up to 24 hours at a time. Worse still, while in LA actors are often paid by the hour, in China they are usually offered a lump sum with no guarantee of how much time they'll be needed on set. Even when working on co-productions, if hired here [in China], they are considered 'local talent' and are paid local rates.


Note:
(a)
(i) The Jewish surname Jaffe is derived from Hebrew yafe ‘beautiful,' ‘pleasant.’
(ii) The Scitish surname Boyd is from the island of Bute in the Firth of Clyde, the Gaelic name of which is Bód (genitive Bóid).Dictionary of

* Isle of Bute
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isle_of_Bute
(iii) The Hungarian, Slavic and Jewish surname Brody came from any of the many towns and cities in central and eastern Europe named with Slavic brod ‘fort.’
(b) Diamond Bar, California
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_Bar,_California
(a cty in eastern LA County; named after the "diamond over a bar" branding iron registered in 1918 by ranch owner Frederick E Lewis)

* A branding iron, when fired red-hot, is used to brand cattle.
(c) Screen Actors Guild
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_Actors_Guild
(Founded 1933; Office location  Hollywood)
(d) Hacienda Heights, California
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacienda_Heights,_California
(in 1961 renamed Hacienda Heights)

* hacienda
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacienda

(e) DMG Entertainment   DMG 娱乐
dmg-entertainment.com/
(f) The report quotes Mr Daniel Zhao as saying, "We did a lot of major fixes, from shooting pickup shots to editing scenes to rewriting dialogue."

pick-up (filmmaking)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pick-up_(filmmaking)
(g) Peter Pau  鮑德熹
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Pau
(born 1951 in Hong Kong)
(h) Base FX  
http://www.base-fx.com/

The company has no Chinese name.
(i) CTC Digital Entertainment Inc  美国华域数字娱乐有限公司
http://www.ctceg.com/company-introduction/
(简称为“华域CTC;” 是一家根据美国特拉华州法律组织和存在的公司，主要营业地址为美国得克萨斯州，达拉斯市，公园大道15455号，邮编：75001)

(j) Ron Gress
* official home page
http://www.rongress.com/index.html
* His Chinese name is 容.格瑞斯. Here is his Linkedin page.
http://cn.linkedin.com/in/rongress

It is written in the report: "'I've been on sets where the grips, gaffers and even some of the key PAs are just migrant workers who would have otherwise been working on a construction site,' Zhao says."

* grip (n): "STAGEHAND"
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/grip
* stagehand (n): "a stage worker who handles scenery, properties, or lights"
* gaffer (n; alteration of godfather): "a lighting electrician on a motion-picture or television set"
* PA (abbreviation): "personal assistant"

All definitions are from www.m-w.com.