Wild Wild East

Days 3-Day 5 was a non-stop choreography of meetings, site visits, siestas and Eastern therapeutic practices. Socked feet and bare feet around a small table filled with the endless billow of cigarette smoke, we review contracts and ask & answer the questions that will shape the phases of this film from its current level-development/fundraising-thru production, post and distribution. We think and -rethink, wanting to leave no stone unturned. How many theaters are avail? Avg ticket price? Exposure to animation is minimal here so the company will have to cultivate an audience. I recommend audience teasers and other ways to expand the project's reach. What's the projected viewership in Vietnam in 2010? We meet with the head of the largest exhibitor who controls 40% of screens. I'm doubtful this type of meeting would happen in L.A., a small production company meeting directly with exhibitors. But here there is no distributor middle man. "It's the Wild Wild East right now." Legally exhibitors and companies alike can distribute product. Exhibitors produce to meet demand. This distinguishes it from filmmaking in the U.S. In 2002, the Vietnamese government opened up film-making to private companies and as the population and the economy rapidly boom so will media consumption and savvy filmmakers like these are preparing to meet the demand. As I sit in the middle of my new friends and watch their eyes light up at the possibilities of success, that familiar feeling of gratitude rises from my stomach. I'm elated I've been asked to ride along for this adventure.