Exklusives Interview mit Ding Xiaoyin: Zehn Jahre Auslandspioniertum eines Filmverlegers

36Kr "Workplace Bonus" (ID: ZhiChangHongLi)

At every school reunion sharing event nowadays, in the eyes of her juniors and female juniors, Ding Xiaoyin is the senior sister who "has promoted works such as The Wandering Earth 2, Lost in the Stars, and The Eight Hundred to more than 100 countries and regions."

Few people know that she, like many ordinary graduates, once experienced confusion and distress. For four months after graduation, Ding Xiaoyin lived in a rental apartment. Every morning when she opened her eyes, she started sending emails to submit resumes. Facing countless applications that disappeared without a trace, the dream job always seemed out of reach.

This sense of contrast is not only a microcosm of Ding Xiaoyin's personal growth trajectory but also a true portrayal of the overseas distribution industry of Chinese films - every step seems to break people's conventional imagination of the "path to success."

It was mid - July. Beijing was dry and hot. We met at a riverside café in Liangmaqiao, Beijing. Along the way, curled and brittle leaves that had been scorched by the sun were everywhere. There were many mosquitoes by the river. Ding Xiaoyin kept slapping at the mosquitoes on her hands, but her eyes were firm when she spoke.

By the bustling riverside, she calmly and attentively recounted her story. For three hours, she slowly told the story of how an ordinary girl filled the blank of "Chinese films" in the curriculum into the cinemas of hundreds of countries around the world in ten years.

She talked about how she disenchanted herself from traditional media and accidentally entered the film industry; how she finished her master's degree in the United States in tears; and how she sold Chinese films to Mongolia, Serbia, and Norway in a small office in Beijing. She talked about her boss, her colleagues, her mother, and those days of watching films late at night, revising contracts, and writing reports when no one knew.

She also talked about how "opportunities" were seized by "long - termism"; how those "near - misses" were brought back by "never giving up"; how an industry was reshaped bit by bit; and how a new world was opened up bit by bit.

She said, "I'm not a person with a big dream. I just hope to do every thing to the best of my ability."

The Unyielding Spirit ╱ 01

The Sense of Belief in Long - Termism ╱ 02

The Film Merchant in Crisis ╱ 03

People in the Process of Expanding into New Markets ╱ 04

Q&A with a Beneficiary of the Industry's Boom ╱ 05

The Unyielding Spirit

In 2012 - right after graduating from the Film Dubbing and Translation major at Communication University of China, Ding Xiaoyin found herself at a starting point that was not well - regarded. The Film Dubbing and Translation major is very niche. So far, only Communication University of China in the whole country has set it up as an independent undergraduate major. Ding Xiaoyin was a student in the fifth class (the major was offered for a total of ten sessions). When she graduated, she was facing an environment where dubbed films were on the decline while the capital market of Chinese domestic films was booming [1]. Since the old path was blocked, she decided to look for more possibilities.

So, she chose to pursue a master's degree in film at the University of Southern California in the United States.

There, she directly felt for the first time the absence of Chinese films in the international perspective. In film textbooks, even in the chapters on Asian films, most of the examples were Japanese and Korean films. When Chinese films were mentioned, in the silent air of the classroom, she suddenly felt indignant: by that time, many classic or popular Chinese films had emerged, and these films deserved to be seen by more people. "Chinese films should go global." This thought later became the core of her career.

But no path is easy. "I finished my master's degree in tears," she said.

When she submitted her first short paper, Ding Xiaoyin felt extremely frustrated. It was a two - page assignment. After receiving it, her Indian - origin teacher invited Ding Xiaoyin for a face - to - face talk. She gently suggested, "In the future, submit an outline before writing. After finishing the draft, you can go to the writing center and ask students whose native language is English to help polish it." She even made an exception and allowed Ding Xiaoyin to submit her mid - term assignment two weeks later than other students.

This "protection for international students" made Ding Xiaoyin have mixed feelings.

Besides gratitude, Ding Xiaoyin's unyielding spirit was aroused. From the next day on, she became a regular visitor to the professor's office. During the fixed two - hour question - answering time every week, she would go there without fail with questions and "devour" the introductory books recommended by the teacher one by one. In the self - study sessions at the school reading center, she always arrived early.

The real tough battle was the graduation exam. To get a degree from the film master's program at USC, students must pass a continuous exam: complete two ten - page papers within two days and one night, and each paper must quote the core views of at least three designated works from a reading list of 100 books that cover almost all fields of film studies. To finish reading these books before the continuous exam, Ding Xiaoyin got up at six in the morning, finished one book in three days, and read ten books in a month.

After finally graduating successfully, Ding Xiaoyin was dismayed to find that she couldn't find her dream job in the United States at all.

In May 2014, Ding Xiaoyin stayed in Los Angeles and put all her energy into "job - hunting." Every morning, she first browsed the official websites of various companies, recruitment portals, and a few sporadic industry forums, and listed all the newly posted positions of the day in a table; then she wrote a separate cover letter for each position according to priority, with an average of 20 letters a day, and never sent mass emails.

However, the feedback she received was always the same: when the interview reached the HR stage, she would be asked, "Do you need a work visa?" As long as she answered "yes," the process would end immediately.

In the United States, not only is it difficult for film industry practitioners to get a work visa, but film companies also prefer candidates with a background in law or business. "After all, film is a business. They need more operational talents rather than people who study film theory." Around 2015, imported films in China "had no trouble selling good films." Hollywood didn't lack salespeople who "understood both English and Chinese" and didn't even need to add new staff specifically for the Chinese market.

The closest she came to success was with Disney - the newly established "China Local Production" position got her into the final interview, but because the department was still in its infancy and couldn't promise a visa, the process was postponed indefinitely.

Some people might waste several years in front of this wall, but Ding Xiaoyin chose to look ahead. In despair, she began to think in reverse: "Chinese capital is acquiring American cinemas and production companies in reverse. There may be more opportunities in China." After seeing the situation clearly, she stopped her endless job - hunting and actively wrote to Disney, informing them that she gave up waiting.

On the day she left the United States, Ding Xiaoyin posted a WeChat moment: Los Angeles, see you next time! There was no sadness, no sense of farewell, but more like a challenge. "As long as I'm in this industry, I will definitely come back," she said.

After returning to China, the former director of the international department whom she met during her internship at Huayi contacted Ding Xiaoyin: "We're recruiting in Beijing. Do you want to come back and have a talk?" She didn't know that this turn would make her one of the earliest people in this decade who truly "sold Chinese films overseas."

[1] Around 2010, Sino - American co - produced films such as Iron Man 3, The Great Wall, Shanghai, and The Karate Kid emerged in large numbers. Although most of these works suffered a double blow in terms of word - of - mouth and box office (for example, The Great Wall only had a North American box office of $45 million and a Rotten Tomatoes freshness rating of 35%), this stage became a crucial springboard for the globalization of Chinese film capital.

The Sense of Belief in Long - Termism

In her first year of work, Ding Xiaoyin didn't like her job content. The sense of job satisfaction she had during the internship, which came from "it's interesting to interact with foreigners," disappeared completely. After becoming a full - time employee, the boring life of organizing contracts, translating materials, and contacting buyers made Ding Xiaoyin realize that the core of international distribution work was still sales.

"At that time, I started as a sales assistant and didn't even have the qualification to be a formal salesperson."

Moreover, in American film sales companies, resources are concentrated in the hands of the top 10% of companies in the pyramid. There isn't much territory left for the remaining companies to compete for. Before an independent film starts shooting, the sales department is the lifeline of the production department. Salespeople need to create a "package" with the director, script, and cast, fly to Cannes, Berlin, Toronto, and pre - sell the film to global buyers like a roadshow. Pre - sale contracts, completion guarantees, insurance, tax refunds, and bank loans are pieced together layer by layer to form the final US dollar budget; as long as the film is delivered on time, the buyer must pay the balance.

In the eyes of many industry newcomers, being able to attend the Cannes Film Festival for work seems like a glamorous job - in fact, the work intensity that various international film festivals bring to grass - roots practitioners is extraordinary. For example, they need to attend dozens of meetings in just a few days, more than a dozen meetings a day, and each meeting lasts at least half an hour.

Physical exhaustion is just a minor problem. The most tormenting thing is the disillusionment of ideals. Since she loved watching films since childhood and later was surrounded by classmates who were almost devout about films, she sometimes still had trouble accepting the idea that "film is a business and I'm a businessman."

Ding Xiaoyin's leader, Leslie, thought highly of this young woman. In their years of cooperation, she found that Ding Xiaoyin was not afraid of challenges or difficult problems. She was very willing to communicate sincerely and repeatedly with distributors or producers until she found a solution - the overseas sales of domestic films is not an easy task. Facing the cultural and linguistic differences around the world, this sense of responsibility is a crucial quality.

Feeling Ding Xiaoyin's disappointment, Leslie shared her insights with her: "No matter what you do, you should develop one ability that you are best at. No matter how big or small it is, as long as people think of you when they think of it, you'll be successful."

Ding Xiaoyin began to vaguely understand that her value didn't have to be confined by her identity definition but rather by whether she was irreplaceable.

She suddenly thought that focusing on one thing and constantly delving deeper into it was also a "really cool thing."

At that time, the distribution of films at home and abroad was at a critical juncture: in 2014, the Chinese box office reached 29.6 billion yuan (US$4.7 billion), ranking second in the world and contributing 75% of the global box - office growth. The domestic film and television production industry was a blue ocean, and capital, talent, and projects were all pouring in at an accelerating pace.

Ding Xiaoyin realized that if she wanted to understand and master the overall situation of film distribution more comprehensively, it was time to change positions and take a look at a more core place. So, she decided to leave IM Global [2] and go to a client - side company.

Although the 50% salary cut and the team size shrinking by one - fifth initially brought a sense of gap, she never regretted coming to Beijing Culture: here, she grew into a "well - rounded warrior" and enjoyed every new professional experience.

After becoming a client - side employee, the production process of blockbusters in cinemas was no longer so distant and mysterious to Ding Xiaoyin.

On the 15th day of the first lunar month, at the end of the Spring Festival film season, Ding Xiaoyin watched an IMAX screening of The Wandering Earth alone in the cinema. "I have a different feeling for films now." She patiently waited for the credits to finish playing and for the lights in the cinema to come on. At that moment, she was almost glad that she was a film merchant. When she first saw The Wandering Earth, it was still in the form of an early storyboard. She knew how many rounds of feedback collection and revisions The Wandering Earth had gone through and had also opened up the online channel on Netflix for it.

This transformation from the client - side to the supplier - side gave her the first opportunity to truly "accompany a film through its growth." Although her position was called "Head of International Sales and Procurement," in actual work, Ding Xiaoyin almost experienced the entire chain of film production, including the upstream (negotiating with directors and producers, participating in the early development of projects), the mid - stream (accompanying the shooting, coordinating contracts, budgets, and legal affairs), and the downstream (responsible for overseas distribution, leading the team to attend film festivals such as Cannes and Toronto).

After going through the whole process, she found that the mature sales + financing system in the overseas film and television industry didn't have a corresponding position in China - which means that in the existing Chinese system, it's impossible to achieve real international distribution.

In China, film producers shoot the film first and then look for someone to sell it. Overseas distribution is just an added bonus. There is no completion guarantee, banks don't lend, and overseas pre - sales don't work. This also leads to films being generally bought out or resold at a low price and then sold at a high price. The licensing fees are so low that "no one wants to show them even for free." This model of making a one - time price difference makes the scale of China's overseas distribution small and the bargaining power weak, forcing it to become a terminal channel.

For films of the same level, the United States can often collect tens of millions of dollars in international copyright fees - most independent American films rely on international pre - sales to complete financing, so the value of sales companies is extraordinary.

36Kr "Workplace Bonus" (ID: ZhiChangHongLi)

After a year of work experience, Ding Xiaoyin was determined to become a professional. She decided to break out of the single - company system and establish a platform - type film and television service company to participate in the whole process of film projects in a more flexible and controllable way. She named the company Blossoms Entertainment, hoping to make the film market truly blossom.

[2] IM Global is an American film and television investment and distribution company. Its main business includes film and television investment and distribution, covering the Hollywood, Chinese, and Latin American markets. The company also has an office in China and was responsible for the overseas distribution of The Mermaid.

The Film Merchant in Crisis

In 2019, when the industry was booming with a total box office of over 60 billion yuan, all film - makers thought that "the future had arrived." Ding Xiaoyin started her business in November.

Unexpectedly, two months later, due to the pandemic lockdown, American overseas distribution companies gradually withdrew from the Chinese market, and the entire film and television industry came to a standstill. "I didn't know what I should do at that time. I was very confused."

But crises also breed new opportunities. For example, Netflix seized the content gap in the market and used high - quality film sources such as Squid Game to establish its current leading position. And Ding Xiaoyin herself took advantage of the booming development period of online big movies (abbreviated as "online blockbusters") and sold this type of film, which no one had ever thought of before, overseas.

On the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, a phone call from a South Korean client unexpectedly opened a new business line for Ding Xiaoyin: "There