DATE=4/11/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=HOLLYWOOD / CHINA TRADE (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-261196
BYLINE=ALISHA RYU
DATELINE=LOS ANGELES
CONTENT=



INTRO:  The president of the Motion Picture 
Association of America, Jack Valenti, urged the U.S. 
Senate on Tuesday to quickly approve the establishment 
of permanent trade ties with China.  As V-O-A's Alisha 
Ryu explains from our West Coast Bureau, Hollywood 
believes China's potential as a market for its 
products are too great to ignore. 


TEXT:  Industry observers say Mr. Valenti sees 
permanent normal trade relations status with China as 
the only way Hollywood will ever penetrate and profit 
from a market of more than one-point-two billion 
people.  Without permanent trade status, the Chinese 
government may not have the incentive to open its 
doors further to American entertainment.

Washington bureau chief for the Hollywood Reporter 
trade magazine, Brooks Boliek (pronounced bo'-lick), 
says that uncertainty is spurring Mr. Valenti and the 
film industry to fight for a quick passage of 
permanent trade relations.

            /// FIRST BOLIEK ACT ///

      As good as the box office and the secondary 
      market has been in this booming economy in the 
      United States, it is still relatively flat level 
      of growth whereas you look at China and that is 
      just a huge market.  They basically see this as 
      a way of getting a foothold in China and the 
      sheer number of Chinese that are there.

            /// END ACT ///

If China gains permanent trade status, one big 
beneficiary could be large U.S. theater chains.  Under 
a tentative agreement reached in November between U.S. 
and Chinese trade officials, American and other 
foreign firms would be allowed to own up to 49 percent 
of companies that build, own, or operate movie 
theaters in China. 

The Motion Picture Association of America says China 
currently has only one screen per 122-thousand people, 
compared with one for every 86-hundred people in the 
United States.
 
Hollywood's tentative deal with China also includes an 
increase in the annual quota of American movies 
allowed to be shown in the country - from the current 
limit of 10 films to 50 films over three years.

Since the quota was established in 1995, U.S. film 
producers say they have averaged only eight film 
showings per year in China and took in only 20 million 
dollars at the box office last year.  By comparison, 
the U.S. box office took in a record seven-point-five 
billion dollars in 1999.

Mr. Boliek at the Hollywood Reporter says there is yet 
another reason Hollywood is ready to do business with 
China.

            /// SECOND BOLIEK ACT ///

      We all know that the media is tightly controlled 
      in China.  But it will allow American companies 
      to do joint ventures with China film 
      corporations. And the Chinese now, from what I 
      can tell, are at least putting forth a good-
      faith effort to control piracy within the 
      borders of China, trying to protect copyrighted 
      works.

            /// END ACT ///

Mr. Boliek says members of Mr. Valenti's organization 
who support permanent trade status include all of the 
major studios including The Walt Disney Company, Sony 
Pictures Entertainment, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Paramount 
Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox Film, Universal 
Studios, and Warner Brothers.

But they face stiff opposition from organized labor 
groups and human rights activists in the United States 
who want to continue the practice of reviewing China's 
trade status on an annual basis.  They say this would 
give Washington greater flexibility to deal with China 
if it violates agreements or workers' rights.  
(Signed) 

NEB/AR/TVM/PT



11-Apr-2000 19:30 PM EDT (11-Apr-2000 2330 UTC)
NNNN

Source: Voice of America
.