China's movie industry is at a formative stage compared to Bollywood or Hollywood, according to some film insiders.
"The entertainment industry here is a newborn baby, which started after the country's reform and opening up in the late 1980s, while Hollywood has a history of more than 100 years," says Chinese producer and director Zhang Jinzhan, who has worked on international co-productions such as Kill Bill 2 and The Kite Runner.
"The 'chaotic' situation in the industry experienced by those like John Paisley is not just confined to foreign actors. Many Chinese actors also cannot bargain for their interests and suffer from similar problems regarding their agents, contracts and overwork," says Zhang, who was also the assistant director of John Woo's Red Cliff epic and Zhang Yimou's Curse of the Golden Flower.
"I suggest that he gets to know some reliable local friends. In China, as in any system that is not complete, guanxi, or connections, help a lot. Or he could sign a contract with a big company, instead of working on his own," Zhang says.
Wang Xiaozhu, a senior producer with more than a decade of experience working with A-list Chinese directors such as Feng Xiaogang and Jiang Wen, says the problems faced by Paisley are embedded in the way "Chinese bosses approach their movie projects".
"All the bosses in the world want to make the most profit using the least amount of capital, but in a sophisticated system like Hollywood, there is a bottom line, which means they know certain expenses are necessary," Wang says.
"Here in China, the bosses have no bottom line, their bottom line is: It is the best if we don't spend any money at all.
"The budget I get is often a mission impossible. In September 2007, the price of pork rose from 10 yuan a kg to 30 yuan, but the catering budget for actors did not increase," he says.
"But the key problem is, we have so many people and a few jobs. You don't show up for work? OK, we have 100 backups ready to take your place."
Paisley maintains that a guild or association could be the first step to help foreign actors stuck in a system they cannot comprehend.
"There's general agreement that we could improve the relations between actors, directors, agents and so on. And improving that relationship would result in an improvement in the quality of the product," Paisley says.
"But there's one fundamental problem at the moment and this is in relation to Western actors. There is an increasing number of them who are new they get someone through the 'normal process' and discover when they start filming that the person can't act," Paisley says.
"Money is not what concerns me. My wife Keying thinks it would be nice if I got more but that's not my complaint. It's the sense of being part of system that is ... grubby.
"The way the cast is selected still leaves much to be desired. Getting the right actors from the start would improve standards and bring the industry to the next level," he says.
"Audiences would be the ones to benefit."
Not everyone, however, is so hopeful.
"The Chinese entertainment industry still needs time to grow into a sophisticated one," says Tan Fei, a producer, director and renowned film critic.
"The most feasible way for Paisley to overcome the barriers is to focus on himself and become more famous, so that he can bargain for his best interests."
(China Daily July 8, 2009)
