The Los Angeles Business Journal quoted Manatt’s Lindsay Conner, co-chair of the firm’s entertainment and media practice, in an article that examines why China invests in American film more heavily than in American television.
Over the past year, several deals between Hollywood’s and China’s entertainment industries have failed, such as the end of Paramount Pictures Corp. and Hua Hua Media’s $1 billion agreement. Deals between the two industries, however, are almost exclusively related to film, and some experts have cited Chinese tastes, government censorship and the differing finance structures for television as an explanation.
“There is not the thirst for American TV the way there is for American films,” Conner told the publication, adding that TV deals generally require less capital. He also explained that TV content, particularly humor, rarely translates as well as movies to foreign markets.
Read the article here.