Beyond Co-Production: New Models for Financing, Creating, and Distributing Global Screen IP
This panel will focus on four key issues in the global film and media industry: how to combine financing, talent, and production resources from different countries; how to incorporate global distribution and audience considerations from the project planning stage; how AI can reduce production costs while preserving creators’ unique styles; and how to carry out cross-cultural redevelopment of classic films and established IP. Through cross-disciplinary dialogue, the panel aims to explore more innovative paths for content production and distribution.
Moderator:
Rance Pow, Founder and CEO, Artisan Gateway
Panelists:
Belle Avery, Founder, Apelles Entertainment
Bennett Pozil, Executive Vice President and Head of Corporate Banking, East West Bank
David Lee, Founder and CEO, Leeding Media
Randy Greenberg, Senior Global Entertainment Executive, U.S. China Co-Productions
William Feng, Head of Greater China and Vice President, Motion Picture Association (MPA) Asia Pacific
Speakers
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Belle AveryFounder, Apelles EntertainmentHaving worked in the global entertainment industry for 25+ years, Belle Avery is a creative producer who understands the business with optioning, financing, banking covenants, and distribution agreements. Avery has consulted with leading global financial institutions & companies including Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, IMAX, Maurebeni of Japan & many other private banks private banks as well as developed film funds with spends of over $1.4B in Hollywood.
Avery’s entertainment career started in editing and copywriting at an award-winning boutique trailer house in the film industry. Avery later wrote and directed in dependent films, “Innocent Obsession” , “Malevolence”, based on the assassination of Martin Luther King, which Paramount distributed and “Grizzly Park”. Avery produced My Sexiest Year and The Keeper: The Legend of Omar Khayyam.
Avery adapted two important novels, In Search of Sugihara and Man’s Fate. In Search of Sugihara is an adaptation of Professor Hillel Levin’s novel about an elusive Japanese diplomat who risked his life to rescue 10,000 Jews during the Holocaust., the documentary about Sugihara won the Academy Award. Man’s Fate an adaptation of the famous Andre Malraux novel about human suffering during the Chinese Revolution. Avery also produced Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead with Academy Award winner Sidney Lumet directing, the film won the coveted American Film Institute Award.
Avery developed and produced “The MEG” which she optioned from best-selling author Steve Alten and then strategically developed as a co-production with China / Gravity Pictures/CMC — putting together the financing and distribution for the project — before taking it to Warner Bros. for a worldwide distribution deal (Ex-China). THE MEG was the blockbuster hit of 2018 summer and is the most successful US/China co-production bringing in global revenues of over $530m at the box office. Avery developed and produced with Gravity Pictures “The Curse of Turandot” directed by legendary Director Xiaolong Zheng.
Belle produced MEG 2 THE TRENCH, the sequel to THE MEG, which was released August 4, 2023 with approximately 400m in global box office revenues.
Avery is currently in prepre-production on The ToyMaker with Director Mauro Borelli, and developing The Loch, a novel by Steve Alten book and 18 Seconds, a sci-fi thriller written by global Best Selling Author George Shuman. -
Bennett PozilEVP and Head of Corporate Banking, East West BankBennett Pozil is Executive Vice President and Head of Corporate Banking at East West
Bank, where he oversees key sectors including Entertainment, Commercial and Cross
Border Banking. A recognized authority in entertainment finance and cross-border
business, he has financed over 1,500+ titles, including Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon,
Hero and Lost in Translation, and he has played a key role in establishing the Bank’s global presence. Pozil is a frequent speaker at industry forums across Asia & the US, is a regular lecturer at the Beijing Film Academy, and serves on advisory boards for Gold House and the Asia Society’s Southern California Chapter. He has been honored in the Variety 500, by the Los Angeles Times and Los Angeles Business Journal. -
David LeeFounder and CEO, Leeding MediaDavid U. Lee is the founder and CEO of Leeding Media, a production, distribution, and advisory company serving as a premier bridge between the U.S. and Asian entertainment landscapes. Since 1997, Lee has orchestrated groundbreaking cross-border transactions valued at $200+ million, including advising the major 2021 film slate acquisition between Content Partners, TIK, and Lionsgate. As an executive producer, his global credits include Jackie Chan and Jet Li’s The Forbidden Kingdom, Anthony Mackie’s Outside the Wire, and Johnny Depp’s The Professor, alongside providing strategic casting support for blockbusters like Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and xXx: Return of Xander Cage.
A distribution pioneer, Lee has overseen the marketing and theatrical release of major global franchises, including Ender’s Game, Ghost Rider 2, and the Divergent trilogy, while managing a massive library distribution of over 500 acclaimed titles such as Million Dollar Baby and Whiplash. Today, Lee continues to reshape screen IP models as the co-founder of CurtainCall AI, co-producing next-generation content with award winning filmmakers and publishers via a proprietary application that achieves a 100% style match with minimal prompting. Recognized by The Hollywood Reporter as a “Next Generation Asia” leader, Lee holds a bachelor’s degree and an MBA from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California.
$530m at the box office. Avery developed and produced with Gravity Pictures “The Curse of Turandot” directed by legendary Director Xiaolong Zheng.
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Rance PowFounder and CEO, Artisan GatewayEstablished in 2003, and from a ground presence in five locations across the Asia Pacific and North America, Artisan Gateway delivers film & cinema business development, investment, and market intelligence services to clients and partners worldwide. Continuing clients include major Hollywood and international studios; international cinema operators; investors; and technology service providers.
A 30-year veteran of the international film and cinema industry, Rance oversees Artisan Gateway’s corporate development, client management, and product & services delivery.
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Randy GreenbergSenior Global Entertainment Executive, U.S. China co-productionsRANDY GREENBERG is a film and television producer, entertainment and media executive, and educator with 35 years of experience in the financing, marketing and distribution of global screen content. He was Executive Producer on the U.S.–China co-productions The Meg and Meg 2: The Trench.
Greenberg has been involved in the greenlighting, marketing and distribution of more than 200 films, and his strategies have generated over $6 billion in theatrical box office. He served as Head of International Theatrical Distribution and Marketing at Universal Pictures and VP of International Theatrical Marketing at MGM/UA. He executive produced the graphic-novel adaptations Cowboys & Aliens and Dylan Dog: Dead of Night, and was Co-Executive Producer of Netflix’s animated series A Tale Dark & Grimm.
Beyond producing, Greenberg has been CEO of an entertainment roll-up venture, COO and CMO of a NYSE-listed business streaming platform, and EVP of Marketing & Business Affairs at a comic book entertainment company. He also co-founded a talent agency and a mar-tech start-up. He began his career at DDA, after working as an accounting intern at Warner Bros. and an assistant manager for Edwards Theatres.
Greenberg is President of The Greenberg Group. He created The Business of Entertainment course at UCLA Extension, where he has taught for more than two decades, and publishes The Business of Entertainment on Substack.
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William FengHead of Greater China and VP, Motion Picture Association (MPA) Asia PacificSince joining MPA in 2008, Mr. Feng has initiated and managed major U.S.
-China film industry initiatives, including the U.S.
-China Filmmaker Exchange Program, Global Film Industry Value Chain Development Forum. Master Classes at Beijing and Shanghai film festivals, and programs advocating for China’s film industrialization and international cooperation. Mr. Feng brings more than 30 years of experience working within government institutions and Global Fortune 500 companies in both in China and the United States. Before the MPA, he worked in various responsible roles and held senior positions with the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, the Smithsonian Institution, Hill & Knowlton Public Relations Worldwide, Dell China and Viacom China/MTV China Network. He has also served as an adjunct professor and advisory board member for leading academic institutions and programs, including Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai Theatre Academy, and the Beijing Film Academy.Mr. Feng holds a Bachelor of Arts from Beijing Foreign Studies University and a master’s degree in education from George Washington University.