For Barbara Robinson, a writing job with a magazine, taken while she was studying Chinese in Taiwan during a break in her studies, was to change her life in a way she never expected. A chance meeting with filmmakers during the course of her work, led to offers to write press releases and promotional materials and that, as they say in the movies, was the start of a beautiful friendship.

"I was originally headed for medical school," she says, "but after I got to know some local filmmakers in Taiwan, who introduced me to people at Era (International), the company who was backing their films, I was offered my first job in the film industry. That's when I realized that was what I wanted to do."

For Robinson, managing director of Columbia Pictures Film Production Asia (CPFPA), it was a move from which she has never looked back. As head of the movie house, the Asia region division of film company Columbia Tristar Motion Picture Group - itself a part of media giant Sony Pictures Entertainment, Robinson oversees a successful movie-making unit that has been setting new standards in the local film industry with its astute selection of stories and high production values.

Under Robinson's watch, CPFPA, which was set up in 1998, has been behind some of Hong Kong and the mainland's biggest box office hits. It produced "Big Shot's Funeral", a dark satire on the intrusion of capitalism on modern Chinese society that starred Donald Sutherland, Ge You, and local screen idol Rosamund Kwan. It is also the name behind 2004's biggest hit, Stephen Chow's "Kung Fu Hustle" and co-produced one of the most internationally recognized and successful Chinese language movies, Ang Lee's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", which won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 2000.

Passion makes blockbuster

"We've been successful because we focus on finding a good story and a good script, as well as making a good movie," she says. "We really get behind the films we make. It is important to have a passion for what you are doing. We are lucky we can offer filmmakers access to different avenues for their movies to be seen and of course we have to look after our bottom line," but it's important that "we have a vision, we have a story and we really want it to be seen. The two go hand in hand."

Ironically, Columbia's individual successes are in stark contrast to the state of Hong Kong's film industry in general and come at a time when local output is hovering near an all-time low. Television content tailored to individual tastes, the popularity of the Internet, computer games, and a host of other entertainment options are proving strong competition for the film industry that produced around 60 films last year, with numbers expected to drop even further in coming years.

But filmmaking can be a successful venture, insists Robinson. And while she is reluctant to compare CPFPA's operations with its local counterparts, she does believe some differences exist.

"We take a great interest in each story that we make into a movie," she says. "I am pitched hundreds of stories a year, but I only select a handful that go on to further development." And from these "only a small number are developed into a movie package which I present to our head office for final approval", she adds. "I am always looking for a good story, one which will make an impact or resonate with the audience."

Producer vs director

Another major difference is the role the company plays as producer, she says. "In Hong Kong, movies are director-driven. The director will choose the script, choose the actors and the locations - everything is controlled by him, whereas in the US, movies are producer-driven and this is the method we follow here.

"As producers, we will develop a story, hire writers, commission a script.. We engage the technical staff and other professionals. And we will even have input on the script and the (movie) cut and make changes if we need to. In everything there is a lot more exchanging of ideas and information that goes on."

The added layers of involvement extend the time line for making each movie, an aspect which the movie boss believes is important when pursuing quality. The "one month" movie - one which opens on screens a month after the day the first scene is shot - is "a well known occurrence here," says Robinson, but adds that such tight schedules, while understandable given the budgets for local movies, are not helpful to the final product.

With the backing of one of the industry's biggest players, there's no doubting that CPFPA enjoys advantages that local production houses don't. Again, "being part of Columbia Pictures, we obviously get access to its world-wide distribution network - a film like "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" would not have been able to get the international exposure it received if it had been made by a local movie company. We also have a budget for the advertising and promotion of our films and access to other professionals, all of whom raise the standard of our product."

The film unit's access to finance does allow it to hire the best local movie-making talent it can and this, together with the company's own expectations, can only help raise the standard across the board, the movie veteran believes. But despite having a larger budget, "we still have to work within the scale of the economics that we have here", she says. And despite CPFPA's advantages, "it is possible for local players to make a great movie".

Hope from the mainland

When the subject turns to the local industry's prospects, Robinson's take on the topic is a sober one.

"The Hong Kong movie industry has changed. Movies made here have always found an audience in Asia, especially in Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore. Even Viet Nam. And a movie made money, not from the local market, but when it was released overseas. This was attractive to many investors in Taiwan, who allowed local filmmakers to make a movie anyway they wanted. If they had a script and big stars on board, they (investors) just left them to it.

"But then, in the early 90s, Taiwanese investors who were pre-buying the movies were not happy with the movies they were getting, so they pulled out. There has been a drop in production because there is no financing. Now (regional) markets are making their own movies. Local audiences are watching Hollywood movies so there are a lot of factors involved." For the local industry, "the mainland is definitely the future", she says.

But while the huge Chinese market might be the saviour of the Hong Kong movie, it does not mean a rush on period dramas or kung fu epics is required anytime soon since, "mainland audiences have shown a sophistication and interest in all kinds of movies", she says. At the same time, "Hong Kong is well known for its filmmaking expertise and its technical skills, and its professionals will always be in demand."

What will be a challenge to outside movies is the getting access to audiences since the mainland is still "screen-starved".

"There are still not enough movie theatres to show our movies," says Robinson. "The distribution system is not fully developed and without comfortable theatres, we cannot get audiences in." As well as this, "there still may be issues with quotas as well as getting approval from (government) censors", she adds. As for the issue of piracy, the movie boss insists that it is "something the industry is facing together".

Beating the pirates

In a market that is in the maelstrom of the piracy storm, Robinson, unsurprisingly, believes the problem is a serious one and says the company is making a concerted effort to fight back. One strategy has been the simultaneous release of a movie world-wide, giving counterfeiters less time to get their goods out on the market and dampen interest in a film. Another front on which the battle might be fought is in DVD releases, where some studios are releasing movies straight onto DVD rather than going through the costly exercise of a cinema release. Optimizing the price of DVDs is also an ongoing battle between keeping prices at levels attractive to buyers and still making money.

There's no doubt that "pirated copies force prices down, and prices for DVDs are dropping as companies try to compete with that," she says. This narrows the gap between the fakes and genuine articles, but Robinson believes that "part of the problem (for companies) is that they make these products but never come to the country and try to sell them. This is what has happened in places like Taiwan, but when the legitimate companies moved in, it helped legitimize the market and drove the pirates out."

What also helps are the extra features and content on DVDs which add value to them, she says. "This is something that (some) pirate DVDs do not have."

Despite the rockier times ahead, for Columbia's local unit, the outlook is decidedly smoother. It's unique position as the only player, with access to international resources, in the local market, allows it to continue to make a small number of good quality films which benefit its reputation even more.

But as Robinson is quick to reiterate - "the reality of this business is that, out of every 10 movies made, only two ever make any money. At the end of the day, it's all about the quality."

(HK Edition 07/07/2005 page4)