WEBVTT - How John Penotti Could Get 'Crazy Rich' Beyond Asia 0:00:06.120 --> 0:00:08.960 Movie producer John Pinnatti is best known for his work 0:00:08.960 --> 0:00:12.720 on the smash hit Crazy Rich Asian, But what you 0:00:12.760 --> 0:00:15.760 may not know is his producing work in Asia and 0:00:15.800 --> 0:00:19.200 other territories around the world. Now he's here to talk 0:00:19.200 --> 0:00:22.759 about his innovative strategy that's about as unlikely a breakthrough 0:00:22.840 --> 0:00:29.120 as Crazy Rich Asians itself. Thanks for coming in, John, Hello, 0:00:29.120 --> 0:00:32.360 and I'm really glad to be here, glad to have you. 0:00:32.360 --> 0:00:34.639 You are no stranger to the movie business. Your name 0:00:34.680 --> 0:00:37.080 has been attached to a lot of great indie films 0:00:37.120 --> 0:00:40.239 from in the Bedrooms a Prairie Home Companion, But then 0:00:40.280 --> 0:00:42.920 your career took a big turn. So walk us through 0:00:42.960 --> 0:00:45.640 the before and after, and eventually we'll get too. Crazy 0:00:45.680 --> 0:00:49.720 Rich Asians terrific. I began actually as a assistant director 0:00:49.760 --> 0:00:54.920 for Sidney Lamett in the late nineties. Um he was 0:00:56.160 --> 0:01:01.040 benevolent enough to take me on as a a wayward 0:01:01.360 --> 0:01:04.720 medical student who decided that wasn't going to really work 0:01:04.760 --> 0:01:09.960 out for me, and he allowed me to train alongside 0:01:10.000 --> 0:01:14.440 he in a very tight knit group of filmmakers, crew, etcetera. 0:01:14.520 --> 0:01:18.480 Who basically made a career just working on Sydney Lamett movies. 0:01:18.600 --> 0:01:21.600 And I was fortunate enough to join that family and 0:01:21.720 --> 0:01:27.480 trained in physical production and under his UH close tutelage. 0:01:27.600 --> 0:01:31.360 When I started working with Sydney, I just loved the process. 0:01:31.400 --> 0:01:34.559 I loved how he thought about making movies. I loved 0:01:34.560 --> 0:01:38.960 how he prepared. And that led to creating a company 0:01:39.080 --> 0:01:48.760 in New York City that focused on the um breaking down, budgeting, scheduling, 0:01:48.840 --> 0:01:52.840 and helping to make sense out of what was on 0:01:52.880 --> 0:01:57.480 the page and executing on screen. That company h was 0:01:57.520 --> 0:02:01.960 called Concrete Productions. Soon after, I started a company called 0:02:01.960 --> 0:02:06.120 Green Street Films in the mid nineties. We worked outside 0:02:06.160 --> 0:02:09.480 the studio system. All of the financing for our films 0:02:09.520 --> 0:02:14.919 came from independent equity participants. We we worked a lot 0:02:14.960 --> 0:02:19.480 with Wall Street investors, and we just maybe out of 0:02:19.720 --> 0:02:24.080 necessity and lack of experience, we didn't really look toward 0:02:24.240 --> 0:02:28.560 the studio system for our financing, and that was kind 0:02:28.560 --> 0:02:32.240 of a wonderful way to control what we wanted to make. 0:02:32.760 --> 0:02:39.239 And starting with Lisa piccard Is Famous and The Chateau 0:02:39.880 --> 0:02:45.240 and several other movies UH in the late nineties, and 0:02:45.240 --> 0:02:48.120 then including In the Bedroom, which was in two thousand 0:02:48.120 --> 0:02:52.720 and one, I believe we just were kind of eclectic. 0:02:53.000 --> 0:02:55.480 If something interests us, then we could figure out if 0:02:55.520 --> 0:02:58.560 financing plan we made it. And the independent film at 0:02:58.600 --> 0:03:01.800 that time at Circle was it a good business to 0:03:01.840 --> 0:03:04.360 be in. It was a terrific business to be in 0:03:04.400 --> 0:03:06.880 because at the time there were buyers and there were 0:03:06.919 --> 0:03:10.720 several buyers. Uh, Mirror Max was leading the pack for sure, 0:03:11.160 --> 0:03:14.000 but along with Merri Max you had Fine Line and Warners, 0:03:14.000 --> 0:03:19.799 Independent and um Think Films and other terrific outlets who 0:03:19.800 --> 0:03:23.880 were looking for independent films and finding a strategy to 0:03:23.919 --> 0:03:27.880 release those films. And for several years, including some of 0:03:27.919 --> 0:03:32.120 our crossover stuff like Uptown Girls and Swim Fan. I 0:03:32.120 --> 0:03:35.000 mean really, we would just make whatever interest us we 0:03:35.200 --> 0:03:38.760 and we'd figure out, almost as an afterthought, how we 0:03:38.760 --> 0:03:41.200 would distribute it. And for the most part we got 0:03:41.280 --> 0:03:44.240 very lucky with that. That sounds so different than what 0:03:44.360 --> 0:03:47.520 the film businesses today. You hit it on the head, Andrew, 0:03:47.600 --> 0:03:51.320 that is that was a uh not just a different time, 0:03:51.400 --> 0:03:54.880 but it was a different way to think about equity 0:03:54.960 --> 0:03:58.280 risk in films. Uh. For us, we always felt there 0:03:58.320 --> 0:04:00.880 was a way to work it out. So if you 0:04:01.000 --> 0:04:05.760 were fortunate enough to attract multiple buyers, you had an 0:04:05.760 --> 0:04:08.480 auction and still exists now for sure. But you're able 0:04:08.520 --> 0:04:10.840 to sell it. If for some reason the film fell 0:04:11.000 --> 0:04:16.120 short of attracting a theatrical there were still ways, uh 0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:20.560 to um mitigate your risk, whether it was international sales, 0:04:20.720 --> 0:04:25.400 whether it was a non theatrical release. Here and remember 0:04:25.400 --> 0:04:29.279 at this point, Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, all the streamers were 0:04:29.320 --> 0:04:33.919 not part of our consciousness or anyone's consciousness. Uh, but 0:04:34.080 --> 0:04:37.600 the DVD business is still robust, and people looked at 0:04:37.600 --> 0:04:42.080 ancillary as UH, if we had enough elements, maybe there 0:04:42.160 --> 0:04:44.600 was a way to work our way out of um 0:04:44.680 --> 0:04:49.800 A a less than optimal theatrical film. UM And that 0:04:49.920 --> 0:04:53.800 was great and helped balance our business to probably the 0:04:53.839 --> 0:04:58.920 mid two thousands, when it doesn't seem like too long ago, 0:04:58.960 --> 0:05:03.640 but I guess it was. These terrific independent distribution entities 0:05:03.839 --> 0:05:07.680 were disappearing, like before our eyes. Warners went out at 0:05:07.720 --> 0:05:11.520 Warners Independent went out of business, Think went out of business. Uh. 0:05:11.839 --> 0:05:16.320 Merrimax was in a transition between UM that label and 0:05:16.400 --> 0:05:21.279 the Weinstein Company. UM Fine Line I believe no longer 0:05:21.320 --> 0:05:24.760 existed right at that time. And I'm sure I'm missing others, 0:05:25.839 --> 0:05:29.680 but we just got caught. We got caught with several 0:05:30.560 --> 0:05:33.880 several millions of dollars. Of investment in a slate of 0:05:33.920 --> 0:05:38.920 films and uh really no one to sell them to. 0:05:39.520 --> 0:05:42.160 You know, I'm exaggerating, but it was pretty close to that. 0:05:42.800 --> 0:05:46.160 Um So if you missed the mark on some of these, 0:05:46.320 --> 0:05:52.120 the the downside could have been catastrophic. Um So that 0:05:52.200 --> 0:05:55.080 was a tough time, and we kind of had to 0:05:55.120 --> 0:05:57.440 look inside ourselves and say, Okay, how do we work 0:05:57.480 --> 0:06:02.080 our way out of this? UH quired cutting back um 0:06:02.200 --> 0:06:06.240 on the size of the company, the uh incremental investments 0:06:06.320 --> 0:06:08.599 we were going to take after that, and we really 0:06:08.640 --> 0:06:11.159 just focused on the films we had in production and 0:06:11.200 --> 0:06:14.240 how to work our way out of them. Um But 0:06:14.320 --> 0:06:18.040 could it domestically facing business as you were running back 0:06:18.080 --> 0:06:21.680 then continue to survive more or was it about finding 0:06:21.720 --> 0:06:25.040 a completely different model? Uh? It wasn't going to survive 0:06:25.080 --> 0:06:27.680 for us. Maybe there were other companies who had a 0:06:27.720 --> 0:06:31.560 different strategies, but for us we were so um um 0:06:31.960 --> 0:06:38.040 dependent on our upside coming from a domestic sale that 0:06:38.480 --> 0:06:42.320 for us the model fell apart. And for me that 0:06:42.560 --> 0:06:47.160 was a um an aha moment where I said, Wow, 0:06:47.279 --> 0:06:49.440 I never want to be in a position again where 0:06:49.480 --> 0:06:54.480 external forces could so radically upset the course of our business. 0:06:55.160 --> 0:07:00.839 UM So I did, but I maybe anybody else would do. 0:07:00.960 --> 0:07:06.680 I looked to greener pastures, and to me, Asia represented that. Um, 0:07:07.360 --> 0:07:09.600 I should say, I don't think the average producer wouldn't 0:07:09.600 --> 0:07:12.840 necessarily look to Asia because that is a completely different 0:07:12.880 --> 0:07:16.720 world as the film business go. UM. Maybe I guess 0:07:16.720 --> 0:07:19.480 from my point of view, living in New York City, UM, 0:07:19.520 --> 0:07:23.400 having my closest of friends not in the film business 0:07:23.440 --> 0:07:28.800 but in finance and law and international commerce, it kind 0:07:28.800 --> 0:07:32.400 of seemed logical at that point, not necessarily from the 0:07:32.480 --> 0:07:35.440 place of well, what's happening in the film business there, 0:07:35.520 --> 0:07:39.160 but place of what's happening in trade there, what's happening 0:07:39.280 --> 0:07:44.840 in commerce and um. And also I had to always 0:07:44.840 --> 0:07:47.840 had an inclination towards you know, great Asian films that 0:07:47.920 --> 0:07:49.840 I would never thought I'd be making, but I would 0:07:49.960 --> 0:07:52.760 enjoy and quite frankly, what do I have to lose? 0:07:53.160 --> 0:07:56.040 You know? At that point I didn't believe in the 0:07:56.120 --> 0:07:59.360 model anymore. The money was still there. Quite frankly, we 0:07:59.400 --> 0:08:01.880 had done well enough that there were still investors, but 0:08:02.400 --> 0:08:05.240 I couldn't take investors money for a model I no 0:08:05.280 --> 0:08:08.280 longer believed in. So what did you see exactly in 0:08:08.360 --> 0:08:13.360 Asia that spoke to you as opportunity. So um I 0:08:13.480 --> 0:08:17.080 landed in Beijing on kind of a fact finding mission 0:08:17.480 --> 0:08:20.560 that included in that first ship a visit to Hong 0:08:20.600 --> 0:08:23.960 Kong and a visit to Seoul. And the first thing 0:08:24.000 --> 0:08:26.960 I saw, or the first thing I was introduced to, 0:08:27.280 --> 0:08:30.640 was some two thousand and ten two thousand eleven was 0:08:31.360 --> 0:08:35.440 the idea that the government was going to support a 0:08:35.559 --> 0:08:39.680 growing film industry, and it was yet to materialize. Meeting 0:08:39.720 --> 0:08:43.600 there was obviously a handful of incredible Chinese directors, but 0:08:43.679 --> 0:08:48.920 it had not yet taken a turn into no, no, no, no, 0:08:49.000 --> 0:08:52.079 we're going to make this work. And what I saw funny. 0:08:52.240 --> 0:08:55.400 The first set of meetings I had were not really creative. 0:08:55.480 --> 0:08:59.680 They were about construction and how many theaters were being built. 0:09:00.240 --> 0:09:03.800 And so as a Westerner in from the movie business 0:09:03.920 --> 0:09:06.679 entering into these meetings, the questions were in about hey, 0:09:06.760 --> 0:09:09.520 do you have material, do you know directors? How do 0:09:09.520 --> 0:09:13.480 you make movies? It was about anyone you can introduce 0:09:13.559 --> 0:09:16.720 us to who could help advise on the building at theaters. 0:09:17.280 --> 0:09:19.520 And if you recall around this time, and I don't 0:09:19.520 --> 0:09:23.320 know the exact date, but AMC had been purchased and 0:09:23.360 --> 0:09:28.360 there was a lot of attention given to UM, how 0:09:28.400 --> 0:09:33.120 do we use the expertise of Western exhibition companies to 0:09:33.160 --> 0:09:36.600 help build here. Maybe I wasn't involved at that level, 0:09:36.760 --> 0:09:40.480 but the next level down, every real estate developer wants 0:09:40.559 --> 0:09:45.079 to understand how they could build theaters. And that kind 0:09:45.080 --> 0:09:47.240 of clicked in my head and said, well, something's going 0:09:47.280 --> 0:09:52.600 on here. Someone clearly is getting a signal from the 0:09:52.679 --> 0:09:57.040 Chinese government, from Chinese financiers that we need to invest 0:09:57.080 --> 0:10:03.000 in infrastructure. So that that actually started the path. It 0:10:03.080 --> 0:10:07.199 wasn't aha moment of there's five great directors I want 0:10:07.200 --> 0:10:10.560 to work with in China. It was about this is 0:10:10.600 --> 0:10:13.520 coming and we're not going to stop it, and it's 0:10:13.520 --> 0:10:17.600 going to be something. UM. We're going We from the West, 0:10:18.080 --> 0:10:20.480 both from a finance and production point of view, are 0:10:20.480 --> 0:10:23.319 going to have to take notice of. I know it's 0:10:23.360 --> 0:10:28.320 an often quoted UM statistic and I haven't checked recently, 0:10:28.400 --> 0:10:35.720 but for many years, two screens per day we're coming 0:10:35.760 --> 0:10:40.079 online in China, UM, and that includes Saturday and Sundays, 0:10:40.160 --> 0:10:42.480 as I always like to say, UM. And I'm not 0:10:42.520 --> 0:10:47.080 even sure what the penetration is now, but absolutely there's 0:10:47.120 --> 0:10:50.440 more to go UM where you know I would arrive 0:10:50.520 --> 0:10:54.320 in a second tier city. So travel from Beijing to 0:10:55.200 --> 0:10:58.520 um Chin Dao and um and someone would say, yes, 0:10:58.600 --> 0:11:01.360 Toruistic city, they have ten million people in it. That's 0:11:01.360 --> 0:11:06.000 a second tire city. And there's eight theaters. And there's 0:11:06.080 --> 0:11:09.800 just mind boggling to me. And not that that existed, 0:11:09.920 --> 0:11:13.600 but that the amount of growth possible was still ahead 0:11:13.640 --> 0:11:17.640 of us UM. So these theaters needed content. What was 0:11:17.679 --> 0:11:21.199 your first moves? So the first thing we did was 0:11:21.640 --> 0:11:26.800 um A. The gentleman I met there an American who 0:11:26.800 --> 0:11:29.360 had been living in Asia for thirty years, a gentleman 0:11:29.400 --> 0:11:33.680 named Robert Friedland who's been in disparate businesses UH mining 0:11:33.720 --> 0:11:37.320 and resources. He was the original investor in serious satellite 0:11:37.400 --> 0:11:40.640 radio believe it or not. UM He had some inkling 0:11:41.000 --> 0:11:45.880 toward uh UM entertainment, but more he had the connections 0:11:45.920 --> 0:11:51.320 within China and he introduced me to um several companies, 0:11:51.400 --> 0:11:54.920 one called Poli which was a formerly a state owned 0:11:55.559 --> 0:12:01.199 company that UMU had holdings in auction houses, had a 0:12:01.600 --> 0:12:06.280 film technology and also distribution. At one point they had 0:12:06.320 --> 0:12:12.080 been um UH Polly Bona was an entity that was 0:12:12.160 --> 0:12:16.680 a um UM connection between Pauli the company I mentioned 0:12:16.679 --> 0:12:20.240 in Bona, which um eventually spun off to be a 0:12:20.320 --> 0:12:24.520 terrific distributor today in China. UM, but at this point 0:12:24.559 --> 0:12:26.560 they had spun off. We made a deal with Poulli 0:12:27.080 --> 0:12:32.040 to cooperate to develop projects together and that was the 0:12:32.320 --> 0:12:37.760 first step into formalizing relationships in China. UM and that 0:12:37.840 --> 0:12:40.400 would ended up while we did. While no films came 0:12:40.400 --> 0:12:43.119 out of it, a lot of understanding of the structure 0:12:43.720 --> 0:12:47.480 and particularly in China became more clear to us. Who 0:12:47.520 --> 0:12:50.319 were the people making the decisions, how was the government 0:12:50.360 --> 0:12:56.679 truly supporting the ascension of the Chinese film market? Just 0:12:56.920 --> 0:12:59.679 key and something we would have never been able to 0:13:00.280 --> 0:13:03.680 uh take advantage of without this particular investor and now 0:13:03.760 --> 0:13:08.840 my partner Robert Friedland helping UM. That was the first 0:13:09.400 --> 0:13:13.240 uh we realized quickly, or I realized quickly that in 0:13:13.360 --> 0:13:18.880 order to get to some momentum here, because we remember, 0:13:18.920 --> 0:13:21.640 we didn't have a slate of films, we didn't have 0:13:21.640 --> 0:13:25.199 a pipeline of films that would work in Asia, whether 0:13:25.280 --> 0:13:28.920 it be in English that are we're telling Asian stories 0:13:29.360 --> 0:13:34.520 or local language Mandarin films. So UM we decided to 0:13:34.559 --> 0:13:38.480 do a deal with Fox International Productions, which at the 0:13:38.559 --> 0:13:44.000 time was a terrific organization within Fox that Uh, we're 0:13:44.080 --> 0:13:50.199 really early adopters of this idea of producing local content 0:13:50.520 --> 0:13:55.959 for the indigenous markets, and we made a deal with them. 0:13:56.080 --> 0:14:01.040 They we agreed to comb finance films in China, India, Japan, 0:14:01.200 --> 0:14:06.000 Korea and Taiwan. For us, it was a transformative deal. 0:14:06.600 --> 0:14:10.719 So all of a sudden, with as that deal came online, 0:14:10.960 --> 0:14:17.240 we had access now to Foxes terrific production slate in 0:14:17.240 --> 0:14:21.680 their development pipeline. We looked into countries that would interest us, 0:14:21.800 --> 0:14:25.360 trying to for sure worked. Korea is a country that 0:14:25.800 --> 0:14:29.400 we started with Fox there. I'm sorry. We we started 0:14:29.440 --> 0:14:32.960 our work in Korea via our deal with Fox. UM 0:14:33.080 --> 0:14:38.040 ended up having some terrific successes there with director Naha 0:14:38.240 --> 0:14:41.840 Jin's film of the whaling or locally known as Guck 0:14:41.880 --> 0:14:45.640 Sung Um and that helped us as a company establish 0:14:45.720 --> 0:14:50.960 our own relationships on the ground. We UM duplicated that 0:14:51.000 --> 0:14:55.360 effort in India. UM in China for sure again under 0:14:55.400 --> 0:14:58.400 the auspices of our co financing co production deal with 0:14:58.520 --> 0:15:03.040 Fox International Productions UM. So when Fox when f I 0:15:03.120 --> 0:15:09.800 p UM took a detour and started to UM for 0:15:09.880 --> 0:15:16.480 whatever the internal inclinations in Fox happened, we were there 0:15:16.520 --> 0:15:18.920 to continue the efforts. And by this point we had 0:15:18.920 --> 0:15:22.920 our own relationships. We could go directly to the distributors. Um, 0:15:23.000 --> 0:15:27.440 we could go directly to the filmmakers. And that moment, 0:15:28.080 --> 0:15:30.640 uh is when really my eyes opened. I said, wait 0:15:30.680 --> 0:15:32.600 a second, we could do this on our own. We 0:15:32.640 --> 0:15:37.560 could be a mini international local language studio as long 0:15:37.600 --> 0:15:40.680 as we were willing to get on flights and deal 0:15:40.720 --> 0:15:46.280 with translations and all of that extra step you need. Um. 0:15:46.720 --> 0:15:51.560 And it's just been a wonderful business and intellectual and 0:15:51.640 --> 0:15:56.040 social experience. But it's no small feat because companies bigger 0:15:56.080 --> 0:16:00.400 than yours have sort of knocked on international door. Zen 0:16:00.920 --> 0:16:05.280 felt discouraged. They've tried and failed. What were you doing 0:16:05.600 --> 0:16:09.600 that was succeeding? You couldn't use the word precedent, so 0:16:09.640 --> 0:16:12.840 if you thought in precedent, you were dead. So when 0:16:12.840 --> 0:16:15.280 when we will go into a market. Even now we're 0:16:15.280 --> 0:16:18.200 shooting in Mexico, we're in we're making a movie in 0:16:18.280 --> 0:16:21.840 Indonesia as we speak. Many country total are un so 0:16:21.880 --> 0:16:25.440 we're in seven Um, not shooting at any one time, 0:16:25.520 --> 0:16:28.960 but there's a seven countries that at least now we 0:16:29.040 --> 0:16:33.080 have resources and material that we own that's going to 0:16:33.120 --> 0:16:36.080 grow in two thousand nineteen, we're going to expand in 0:16:36.160 --> 0:16:40.080 Latin America, which we see is fertile for us UM. 0:16:40.120 --> 0:16:45.200 But this is the idea that you can't walk into 0:16:45.640 --> 0:16:50.480 a new market, especially ones who you for sure have 0:16:50.560 --> 0:16:54.440 their own filmmaking apparatus. What do we offer? And one 0:16:54.480 --> 0:16:58.520 things we offer a flexibility. So not only do we finance, 0:16:58.560 --> 0:17:01.800 and not only do we bring our Western system of 0:17:02.000 --> 0:17:05.840 development and production and post production, but we have to 0:17:05.880 --> 0:17:11.000 bring flexibility and dailmaking. And the companies you're referencing or 0:17:11.080 --> 0:17:14.399 your you may be alluding to are usually older companies 0:17:14.440 --> 0:17:18.760 who are built on precedent um who may not value 0:17:19.240 --> 0:17:24.080 the small winds that we look very positively on because 0:17:24.200 --> 0:17:29.000 we're doing this for the long run. Just can't move 0:17:29.119 --> 0:17:35.679 quickly enough. There's the legal contractual challenges, there's the talent 0:17:35.720 --> 0:17:40.760 relationship challenges. Um. We just and I know it sounds 0:17:41.800 --> 0:17:46.160 um um um self serving, but we really go into 0:17:46.240 --> 0:17:48.960 every negotiation like you want to do it differently. Here great, 0:17:49.080 --> 0:17:51.639 we know we know the bottom line of what we 0:17:51.720 --> 0:17:54.439 need to be covered, but we don't really get held 0:17:54.560 --> 0:17:59.159 up by any institutional drag on our side to stop 0:17:59.160 --> 0:18:02.800 the problem the reduction train. So here you are, you know, 0:18:03.440 --> 0:18:06.680 making significant headway and all sorts of countries. And yet 0:18:07.400 --> 0:18:11.400 eighteen came around and it turned out instead of uh, 0:18:11.400 --> 0:18:15.399 these you know, local films in the local language that 0:18:15.440 --> 0:18:20.400 you were specializing in, Crazy Rich Asians, a movie for 0:18:20.480 --> 0:18:25.400 the American market primarily blows up and explodes. How did 0:18:25.400 --> 0:18:28.800 you get there, especially considering that really wasn't the focus, 0:18:29.280 --> 0:18:32.840 not at all. Although early in two thousand fourteen or 0:18:32.880 --> 0:18:35.840 the end of two thousand thirteen, as we were formalizing 0:18:36.400 --> 0:18:39.600 I don't know Pictures, which eventually has been morphed into 0:18:39.880 --> 0:18:43.159 sk Global, we could talk about that, uh and a 0:18:43.200 --> 0:18:47.760 bit um. We didn't have any content. So we found 0:18:47.760 --> 0:18:51.800 ourselves as a fully financed company working out of New 0:18:51.880 --> 0:18:55.560 York at that time, building the relationships I mentioned through 0:18:55.560 --> 0:19:01.840 our Foxdale and just leg work, and we hadn't yet 0:19:01.960 --> 0:19:04.600 really understood or we hadn't yet gotten to the place 0:19:04.680 --> 0:19:10.280 where we could make decisions for a local market that 0:19:10.359 --> 0:19:15.200 requires being there, requires quite frankly, we may never truly 0:19:15.320 --> 0:19:18.679 understand what a Thaie audience would want. Um, So we 0:19:18.720 --> 0:19:21.400 need our Thai partners to help us with that. When 0:19:21.400 --> 0:19:26.359 Crazy which Asian's came along, there was a comfort zone 0:19:27.000 --> 0:19:29.880 and for us, and I guess I guess we didn't 0:19:29.880 --> 0:19:32.239 realize that at the time. But for us, we had 0:19:32.280 --> 0:19:34.680 already been a tuned and I personally had been a 0:19:34.800 --> 0:19:40.520 tuned to um being in Asia, being in Singapore at 0:19:40.520 --> 0:19:42.520 that point, I was spending six months a year there, 0:19:43.040 --> 0:19:47.680 uh in and around Greater Asia. UM. So when when 0:19:47.720 --> 0:19:51.639 I found this book, it just seemed familiar to me, 0:19:52.240 --> 0:19:54.800 and it was just the opposite of what one would say. 0:19:54.800 --> 0:19:57.679 It was like, Ah, that's that's something that happens in Asia. 0:19:58.320 --> 0:20:01.719 To me, it just it eelt like more of the 0:20:01.840 --> 0:20:05.840 decisions I was making at Greenstreet Films, where wow, this 0:20:06.000 --> 0:20:08.800 is a personal story, this is a personal journey, but 0:20:08.920 --> 0:20:12.440 look there's a context for it on a more broad scope, 0:20:12.520 --> 0:20:15.479 and for us, it fits in this general mandate we 0:20:15.480 --> 0:20:18.200 were that we were looking towards Asia. It was as 0:20:18.200 --> 0:20:21.359 simple as that. And I think the second thing is 0:20:22.880 --> 0:20:27.560 there wasn't financial competition for it at that point, so 0:20:27.760 --> 0:20:30.760 it it didn't fit in as a studio film, just 0:20:30.880 --> 0:20:34.880 as at in the Galley form, or as as Kevin Qualms, 0:20:34.920 --> 0:20:38.960 the author of Pravor Crazy Rich Asians book now has become. 0:20:39.119 --> 0:20:42.240 At that point, it was just a good story that 0:20:42.280 --> 0:20:45.560 happened to be focused in Asia. UM, So I don't 0:20:45.560 --> 0:20:47.800 know that we really thought that hard about it. We 0:20:47.920 --> 0:20:51.560 just said, well, we need stuff that works toward Asian 0:20:51.680 --> 0:20:54.800 By the way, this is a film probably needs we 0:20:54.840 --> 0:20:57.720 could offer something because it still needs a Western point 0:20:57.720 --> 0:21:01.600 of view to build it. We were super, super lucky 0:21:01.760 --> 0:21:06.480 to read it get excited about it. Just as Kevin 0:21:06.560 --> 0:21:11.080 Kwan was meeting Hollywood producers, Um, he had agreed to 0:21:11.119 --> 0:21:15.560 work with Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson from Color Force 0:21:15.720 --> 0:21:21.160 and who Um, really this is their sweet spot, taking adaptation, 0:21:21.560 --> 0:21:24.520 taking books and leading them through their adaptation. They did 0:21:24.560 --> 0:21:27.200 it well on Hunger Games and Diary of a Wimpy 0:21:27.280 --> 0:21:31.520 Kid and now many other projects. So for me, we 0:21:31.600 --> 0:21:35.400 just got lucky. You know. I expressed interest in financing 0:21:35.520 --> 0:21:40.199 the film, um the Kevin's agent at the time. So 0:21:40.400 --> 0:21:43.160 that's great. We have two uber producers here who want 0:21:43.200 --> 0:21:47.119 to get guide the development. And it kind of was 0:21:47.119 --> 0:21:50.680 one of the simplest tales I've ever made, because nobody 0:21:50.840 --> 0:21:53.200 was even looking at it, at least from the world 0:21:53.320 --> 0:21:56.280 I live in. We're we're not a Hollywood company. We're 0:21:56.320 --> 0:21:59.920 in at this point, we're operating on and West Broadway 0:22:00.080 --> 0:22:03.840 and Soho in New York City. So for us, we 0:22:03.960 --> 0:22:07.560 just saw some material clearly great producers who are already attached, 0:22:08.280 --> 0:22:12.680 and we and it fell under this kind of broad 0:22:12.880 --> 0:22:16.520 construct of well, I haven't Hope Pictures is doing is 0:22:16.600 --> 0:22:19.520 looking to do work in Asia. They'll be fine with it. 0:22:20.440 --> 0:22:23.320 And it was nothing more magical than that. Well, you 0:22:23.359 --> 0:22:26.040 mentioned Ivan Hope Pictures sk Global, I think you need 0:22:26.080 --> 0:22:28.640 to sort of walk through the holy trinity of John 0:22:28.680 --> 0:22:34.200 Panatti's film brands. It's it's complicated. It's complicated. That's exactly 0:22:34.200 --> 0:22:37.879 what it is. Um So, I mentioned Green Street Films. 0:22:37.920 --> 0:22:40.879 That's a film company that I ran out of New 0:22:40.960 --> 0:22:43.960 York City with Fisher Stevens for several years. We started 0:22:43.960 --> 0:22:47.359 in and in fact our backer at the time was 0:22:47.400 --> 0:22:51.760 a gentleman named Sidney Kimmel. Um We in the early 0:22:51.760 --> 0:22:55.200 two thousand's, Fisher and I continued running Green Street, but 0:22:55.280 --> 0:22:59.160 at this point a new financier had come in Sydney 0:22:59.359 --> 0:23:03.840 was moving his operation to l A. He was leaving 0:23:04.000 --> 0:23:08.359 his day job as the chairman of UH Jones New 0:23:08.440 --> 0:23:12.560 York and Jones Apparel, a big fashioned brand that he built. 0:23:13.240 --> 0:23:17.040 Um So, he went on to start Sydney Kimmel Entertainment 0:23:17.119 --> 0:23:20.360 in l A. We stuck in New York building Green 0:23:20.359 --> 0:23:25.280 Street Films up cut to two thousand and thirteen. UM 0:23:25.320 --> 0:23:29.520 I made a deal with Robert Friedland sold the Green 0:23:29.520 --> 0:23:32.000 Street Films asset. At this point we had about thirty 0:23:32.040 --> 0:23:37.360 films in the library. UM we sold Robert the Robert Friedlin, 0:23:37.600 --> 0:23:41.600 who again is lived in Asia. We sold in the 0:23:41.640 --> 0:23:45.560 company under the condition that together we started a company 0:23:45.600 --> 0:23:50.080 called Ivanhope Pictures that was decidedly Asia facing for all 0:23:50.119 --> 0:23:53.920 the reasons we talked about. Robert was intent on us 0:23:54.040 --> 0:23:59.000 looking east and I agree to that. So that actually 0:23:59.000 --> 0:24:01.640 started Ivan Picked years so I have no pictures. Ran 0:24:01.800 --> 0:24:05.800 for three or four years. I eventually moved to Los Angeles. 0:24:06.600 --> 0:24:10.080 UM I hooked back up with my dear friend Sidney Kimmel. 0:24:10.760 --> 0:24:13.680 He asked me to come on and oversee Sydney Kimmel Entertainment, 0:24:13.720 --> 0:24:15.960 which I did. For a period of time. I was 0:24:16.080 --> 0:24:19.840 running both companies UH and kind of made sense because 0:24:19.840 --> 0:24:22.000 there were two different time zones and as long as 0:24:22.040 --> 0:24:25.840 I was willing to work around the clock, it worked. Eventually, 0:24:26.080 --> 0:24:30.600 Robert and Sydney got to know each other. I suggest 0:24:30.640 --> 0:24:35.040 that we should merge the company's we did. Uh. The 0:24:35.119 --> 0:24:38.720 resulting company of ivan Hope Pictures in Sydney Kimmel Entertainment 0:24:38.800 --> 0:24:43.639 is a company called sk Global that is the parent company. Uh, 0:24:43.760 --> 0:24:48.119 we remain. We we kept the Ivanhoe Pictures label in 0:24:48.200 --> 0:24:53.000 the Sydney Kimmel Entertainment label alive. And depending on what 0:24:53.200 --> 0:24:56.640 content we're shooting, if it's a local language picture in Indonesia, 0:24:57.160 --> 0:24:59.439 more likely that's going to be under the ivan Oe 0:24:59.480 --> 0:25:02.879 Pictures And if it's something like Greta, the Neil Jordan's 0:25:02.880 --> 0:25:06.000 film that's coming out this year, or Hell or high 0:25:06.000 --> 0:25:11.440 Water or other more traditional Sydney Kumulo and entertainment films, 0:25:11.520 --> 0:25:14.719 they fall under that banner. Well, so on the Sydney 0:25:14.760 --> 0:25:18.640 Kimmel side, would that be Greta is one production that's 0:25:18.680 --> 0:25:22.920 coming out soon. You also have a show coming to Netflix, 0:25:23.480 --> 0:25:28.800 Deli Crime, that that would come from Ivanhoe Ivanhoe and 0:25:28.840 --> 0:25:32.000 it's going to be on Netflix India but also available 0:25:32.040 --> 0:25:35.760 to all Netflix worldwide. Yeah. So that to direct um 0:25:36.119 --> 0:25:39.960 outgrowth of our comfort zone and working in local language, 0:25:40.600 --> 0:25:44.960 Richie Meta wrote and directed eight episodes of a true 0:25:44.960 --> 0:25:50.320 crime story called Deli Crime. We partnered with Golden Caravan 0:25:50.840 --> 0:25:54.720 who is a Moon Bay, an l A based production 0:25:54.760 --> 0:25:59.040 finance company run by a great group of executives. We 0:25:59.680 --> 0:26:02.720 uh we all agree to just jump in and finance 0:26:02.800 --> 0:26:06.399 and produce those eight episodes. We were fortunate enough to 0:26:06.400 --> 0:26:09.760 bring him to Sundance a few weeks ago where we 0:26:09.800 --> 0:26:13.120 made a deal with Netflix. Netflix Now we'll put all 0:26:13.160 --> 0:26:19.520 eight completed episodes on the service on March of this year, 0:26:20.040 --> 0:26:23.199 and they've also agreed to a second season that will 0:26:23.240 --> 0:26:26.440 be released in two thousand twenty. So it's sort of 0:26:26.480 --> 0:26:28.720 an interesting new phase for you. And first of all, 0:26:28.760 --> 0:26:32.800 you're branching out into television and not just film, but 0:26:32.920 --> 0:26:35.639 also you're dealing now with a different group of buyers 0:26:35.640 --> 0:26:38.399 and Netflix and the others. What is that like for you? 0:26:38.800 --> 0:26:42.240 It's a great outgrowth of why I believe I Haven't 0:26:42.240 --> 0:26:45.520 Know Pictures was wealth positioned to start in two thousand 0:26:45.640 --> 0:26:48.479 thirteen because at this point now there was a model 0:26:48.880 --> 0:26:51.560