While most people headed home for family reunions during the Lunar New Year holiday, a group of 12 moviemakers has been busy in the US, taking part in a three-week training seminar on Hollywood film production.
The government-sponsored group is attending a program titled "Producing for Hollywood" at the Argonaut Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
"We came up with a proposal to send moviemakers to study abroad to enhance film production among senior professionals," said Chen chun-che (陳俊哲), director of the Government Information Office's (GIO) Department of Motion Picture Affairs.
Chen said the Argonaut Institute seminar was "a tailor-made program for Taiwanese producers" arranged by Lee Tain-dow (李天鐸), a leading figure in contemporary cultural and media studies in the greater Chinese academic community.
SYLLABUS
Lee said he has worked closely with UCLA since last year to arrange the seminar's syllabus, which includes the basics of feature film development, independent financing, agency packaging, marketing and acquisition, and distribution by both studios and independent companies.
The course began on Jan. 28 and will end on Wednesday.
The programs' instructors include UCLA faculty and top professionals -- independent producers, studio executives, entertainment attorneys and agents -- who are closely associated with the university's regular degree granting Producers' Program, Chen said.
Chiu Shun-ching (
The domestic film industry has collapsed over the past decade and the market share of Taiwanese cinema is now less than 5 percent of the total annual box office gross, Chiu said.
Chiu described Taiwan's film industry as a "vacuum," in which about 80 percent of film devices are imported -- with the exception of sets and stages.
He said it was also difficult for Taiwan-made films to get time slots at theaters because cineplexs are taken up by Hollywood movies.
CREATIVITY SOUGHT
Aside from the hardware shortage, the creativity needed to develop local subjects for films must also be nurtured, Chiu said.
Senior GIO executive officer Joanne Tien (
The GIO hopes the students will be able to learn how to deal with the problems the local movie industry faces, she said.
Part of the curriculum focuses on how Hollywood studios have favored blockbusters since the 1970s, and accelerated this type of production in the 1980s and 1990s, Tien said.
The students will also learn the different ways of finding materials, pitching a project and how to advance a project in Hollywood, she said.
Financing, packaging and marketing in Hollywood is also a main part of the program.
Students will be taught the history and basic elements of independent film financing, and how to develop a business strategy to promote a film, among other courses, the GIO staffer said.
The third part of the program deals with distribution for general, niche and specialized markets.
Panel discussions have been arranged to allow students to talk to prominent agents and managers, studio and development executives, and working writers, she said.
COPYING THE JAPANESE
Chen said the proposal was inspired by a similar USLA program the Japanese government set up for its film professionals.
"We didn't have much difficulty when talking with UCLA about the program because Taiwanese films have grown in popularity [overseas] in recent years, especially after audiences from international films festivals started taking notice," Chen said.
Chen said that the government is planning to offer more seminars periodically as part of its efforts to revive the local film industry.
Filmmakers who complete these courses can serve as "seed teachers" here at home, Chen said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and