Brendan Davis – Investigate Your Foreign Investment Carefully, Appearances Can Be Deceiving

Brendan Davis is a writer-director-producer working internationally in film & TV. He began his entertainment career in Atlanta in 1990, moved to Los Angeles in 2002, and has split his time between Beijing and Los Angeles since 2013. In December 2019, Davis was recognized for his cross-cultural leadership by being appointed to serve as a Distinguished Special Foreign Expert with the Beijing Global Talent Exchange Association. His appointment as an advisor runs through 2024.   “Pick your battles carefully. Set yourself up for success as much as possible.” Brendan Davis   Worst investment ever Exploring an international investment opportunity In 2013/14, China was wide open to foreign investment co-productions trying to work with other treaty partners. One of the countries the Chinese were the keenest to work with was New Zealand. Brendan happened to have two partners in New Zealand and a Chinese partner in Los Angeles. The partners had been working on a project together for a while now. He figured that this project would be a good co-production with China. And so he decided to explore this international partnership. Changing the script The project was initially developed as a Western New Zealand Hollywood type of project. So the first step was to change the script to fit the co-production requirements of New Zealand and China. Due to cultural differences, censorship, and sensitivities in China, they had to re-examine and rebuild the whole story and characters. Finding a Chinese financier For the project to receive the co-production incentives, Brendan had to find a Chinese financier. Through former colleagues and his Chinese partner, he found someone who fit the bill. The gentleman was a second-generation wealthy guy in China and a Vice President of a big studio film finance entity. He was one of the guys deciding where to spend money. The gentleman had been rewarded for his success so far, with a few 50% government investments in a new firm all his own to develop and produce projects. So he was just getting going with this new company when Brendan and his project came along. And it seemed like they were the answer to each other’s dreams. Sealing the deal Because Brendan at the time barely spoke any Chinese and the gentleman spoke zero English, they each got an interpreter. Brendan and his team went to Beijing, met him, liked each other, and things got onto a great start. The gentleman had very fancy offices. He was seemingly very rich and powerful. Everything about him validated that he would be the guy to do this. He even gave them a suite of offices in his fancy custom design, new headquarters building. The business plan seemed to be coming together very smoothly. After a couple of back and forth trips between Beijing and LA, and discussions, they signed a deal that detailed everything about how Brendan and his team were supposed to operate, and it also spelled out exactly what the financier was committing to do as the executive producer and a financier. Introducing the human speed bump As Brendan and his partner were preparing to leave...