Metan Enters Chinese Partnership

LOS ANGELES: Metan Development Group and Shandong Film & TV Group have struck a partnership that sees the U.S. outfit consulting on current Chinese productions to help bring this content into the global market.

Metan will represent Shandong’s interests in co-productions with Western companies for international films shot in China and co-productions of Western television formats in the country. Metan will also represent Shandong’s programs to Western brands for advertising and sponsorship opportunities. Also as part of the deal, Shandong TV channels, reaching an audience of some 97 million, will carry Metan’s original programming.

Metan and Shandong’s first major co-production, Golden Mountain, follows two Chinese families that came to the U.S. in the 1850s during the Gold Rush, later to become part of the large Chinese contingent that helped build the Central Pacific Railway from Sacramento to Ogden, California. The project has a total budget of more than $25 million annually. The 120-part series will feature 40, one-hour episodes per year for three years and will be shot in both China and the U.S.

“Our partnership with Metan will help to make our productions more relevant to international markets, as well as attract Western brands seeking to reach the rapidly growing Chinese middle class,” said Wang Hanping, the VP of Shandong Radio & TV Bureau (governing body of SARFT in Shandong Province) and president of Shandong Film & TV Group. “Metan is a unique company that has it foot in China, yet remains focused on the pulse of the global television and media scene.”

Metan’s president, Larry Namer, commented, “This is our first major deal with one of China’s major provincial TV and film groups. Shandong has brand new production facilities comparable to anything we have in the U.S. Working with them, we can license any TV show format from anywhere and reshoot it in China with Chinese casts in Mandarin language. This will give us the opportunity to perfectly pair Western brands with proven audience-grabbing content.”

"We’re excited to work with Metan to bring high-quality TV programs into China and develop content for the international TV market," added Jin Liang, the VP and director of film and TV for Shandong Film & TV Group. "The project of Golden Mountain is a win-win cooperation. We believe Metan’s strong media operation and comprehensive network and contacts in North America and Europe will help to maximize the value of the project, as well as to deliver Chinese culture to television audiences all over the world."