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PERSPECTIVE

Viewpoints from the frontline of content.

Finding the plot

By Josh Selig 10-05-2016

We humans are a plot-driven species. Everything needs a beginning, a middle and an end. Otherwise we get bored. This is as true for a book or a movie as it is for a meal or a media conference. It begins, something happens, it ends. And then we ask, how was it? Was it good?

Well, my trip to China this week did not start out so good. When I arrived, a Chinese colleague gifted me a book on Chinese etiquette. He had bent the corner of page 92.

Until this week, my strategy for communicating with the Chinese has always been to nod my head and smile a lot, regardless of whether I knew what was going on. Smiling, I assumed, was more or less the international default position for expressing happiness and well-being.

CICAF 2016

CICAF 2016

Not so. On page 92 of my new Etiquette Guide to China it says, “The Chinese often distrust people who smile a lot.” It went on to explain that “Chinese people often smile when asked a question they can’t or don’t want to answer.”

So, I no longer smile in China. I now try my best to frown at all times, except perhaps when someone tells a joke and then I try to smile subtly using just my nostrils. This has taken some practice, but as they say, one must make certain sacrifices in order to do business in China.

The reason I came to China this week was to give a talk at CICAF, China’s largest animation conference, held in the lovely lakeside city of Hangzhou. My speech was part of a series called Hello, Master!, and I must confess that I found this title to be a nice little confidence booster.

I began my speech with a joke saying, “Hello, students! I am Master Josh!” I looked out at the room and not one person was smiling. I took this as a very good sign.

The topic of my speech was How Chinese Companies Can Sell Their Animation Overseas. As some of you may know, Little Airplane Productions produces Super Wings for Sprout with Korea’s FunnyFlux and China’s leading toy company, Alpha. We’re also making P King Duckling with Uyoung for Disney Junior. These are the first two Chinese shows in history to find homes on top US channels. As one local indie here said: “Josh, you have found a niche within a niche.”

I attended the Core Forum at CICAF, which was a day of presentations by animation experts including Mark Osborne, director of Kung Fu Panda and The Little Prince, as well as local officials and an array of media executives.

What struck me most about the event was how deeply supportive the Chinese government is of the nation’s growing animation industry. Not only does it provide extensive financial support for education and training, but it also gives incentives and grants, and hosts elaborate award ceremonies.

Uyoung and Little Airplane's P King Duckling

Uyoung and Little Airplane’s P King Duckling

If only the US government cared as much about supporting our animation industry as the Chinese government does. Ironically, most of the animation that the world thinks of as American is now produced in Canada, Asia or Ireland.

There was an eloquent speech by Tian Jin, deputy director general of the National Administration of Press, Publication and Broadcasting, aka SARFT. Referring to Chinese animation, Mr Jin said: “In the past we only focused on quantity and now we’re focusing on quality.” He said Chinese animation should reflect “the soul of our culture and we should use animation as the wind to allow the Chinese spirit to fly.” I thought that was lovely.

The Chinese animation industry is thriving these days, thanks mostly to the recent success of Chinese animated features. In 2015, the Chinese box office grew 48.7% to a whopping US$6.78bn.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that this boom has driven up the cost of animation in China, and one Chinese producer lamented that he must now outsource all of his animation to India because “it’s good and a lot cheaper.”

Another Chinese TV producer told me: “It’s hard to keep good people in my animation studio these days because they all want to go into feature films and become big shots.”

There was a good turn-out of international companies at CICAF this year including execs from Disney, Nickelodeon, Marvel, Rainbow, CJ E&M and Funimation. There was also a gaggle of Oriental Dreamworks execs who seemed as surprised as anyone when the news broke that their company, or at least the US part of it, had been acquired by Comcast.

An unusual vendor machine at CICAF

An unusual vendor machine at CICAF

The oddest thing I saw at CICAF was a Japanese booth filled with supermarket-style vending machines that dispensed toys in small plastic balls. At first blush the toys looked pretty benign but upon closer inspection, they were not.

One of the machines sold toys that were, simply, tiny cats’ asses made out of plastic. There were several different breeds of cats’ asses you could choose from: Persian, Siamese, Tabby, etc. Now, I am a dog person myself, but I had to spend 20 yuan to see if there would really be a furry little cat’s ass inside my plastic ball and, well, there was. I never cease to be amazed by the Japanese.

CICAF has just ended and I’m spending the weekend with a friend in the mountains outside of Beijing. Our hotel overlooks the lovely Yanqi Lake and I can see a group of elderly Chinese ladies doing some form of rhythmic exercise that looks like a cross between tai-chi and The Hustle.

I keep thinking about some advice a US colleague gave me when I first came to China and began exploring ways to cooperate with Chinese companies. “When it comes to doing business in China,” he said, “the gringos always lose.”

Perhaps. Sometimes. But not always.

My own experience of making shows with the Chinese has been overwhelmingly positive. Although there are the occasional cultural misunderstandings, the vast majority of the people I have met and worked with in China are honest, creative, good-hearted and they simply want to make and sell great international shows. In other words, the Chinese are just like the rest of us. Only there are 1.3 billion of them.

So despite having to smile through my nostrils now and then, I will keep coming back to China as long they’ll have me.

How was my week in China? It was great. The end.

today's correspondent

Josh Selig Founder and president Little Airplane Productions

Josh Selig is the founder of Little Airplane Productions. He is the creator and executive producer of Wonder Pets! on Nick Jr (winner of the 2009 Japan Prize for Best Television Series), as well as 3rd & Bird and Small Potatoes, both of which aired on CBeebies and Disney Junior.

Josh is executive producer of Super Wings on Sprout and the co-creator and executive producer of P King Duckling, which premiered on Disney Junior US and airs on CCTV in China. Josh has received 11 Emmys in multiple categories.



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