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11/02/2024 07:24:10 am

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Sony Pictures Entertainment Introduces China Writer Initiative

 A logo sits illuminated outside the Sony pavilion during the second day of the Mobile World Congress 2015 at the Fira Gran Via complex on March 3, 2015 in Barcelona, Spain.

(Photo : Getty Images) A logo sits illuminated outside the Sony pavilion during the second day of the Mobile World Congress 2015 at the Fira Gran Via complex on March 3, 2015 in Barcelona, Spain.

Sony Pictures Entertainment will be launching a China Writer Initiative for emerging and established writers in China, the company announced on Tuesday.

Those who have such exemplary talents will get to meet established Hollywood film, television executives, and screenwriters to share and collaborate on ideas both for Hollywood and Hollywood Chinese co-productions, The Wrap reported citing Sony Picture's statement.

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"The screenplay is the foundation of everything we do - it all starts with the writer. So as we look to make great content for global audiences, it's critical that the writers we work with bother here and in China understand each other's cultures," Tom Rothman, Sony Pictures Entertainment's chairman said during the 6th Annual China International Co-Production Film Screenings.

"That's the goal of this program - we can support that dialogue by fostering cooperation between writers to receive each other's perspective, which will benefit Hollywood, Chinese language films, and Chinese co-productions."

The new program, which was developed with Sony Pictures China, will be overseen by Sanford Panitch, President of Columbia Pictures.

Under the initiative, Sony Pictures will select four writers at time for a two-week stay in Los Angeles at Sony Pictures Studio with a schedule of meetings, mutual education, and discussion, the PR Newswire reported.

The final selection of the candidates will be made by a committee of representatives from Sony Pictures' Columbia Pictures; Sony Pictures International Productions, China; and Film Bureau, State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film & TV, People's Republic of China (Film Bureau), according to the Business Times.

Meanwhile, Senator Chris Dodd, Chairman and CEO of Motion Picture Association of America, said that the launching of the China Writers Initiative will see Sony working with China's most promising filmmakers and could pave way on potential new co-productions.

"As China continues on its path to become the largest theatrical market in the world, partnerships between Hollywood and China will mutually benefit our two great film industries and economies," Dodd noted. 

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