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Jane Moir

A new generation is directing Golden Harvest's push into film distribution and running  movie houses

THERE ARE NOT too many listed companies in Hong Kong that have a small, yet devoted, following of groupies.

But Golden Harvest Entertainment (Holdings) introduced the world to Bruce Lee. To this day, fans still laud and idolise the movie company that set the action hero on his road to stardom in the 1970s with Fist of Fury.

Thirty-five years on, the faces behind Golden Harvest may still be familiar - Raymond Chow Ting-hsing  still runs the show, and film star Jackie Chan remains a shareholder. But the icon of an entire movie genre is not its old self.

These days, it no longer makes its own films. It is now in the business of running cinemas and distributing other people's movies.

Behind the scenes, it is also time for the next generation of the Chow family to learn the ropes. Roberta Chin, daughter of Raymond, joined the board in September last year.

This is her second stint at the company, having joined Golden Harvest as a production assistant back in 1985, although she admits: 'I have really been with the company since I was seven.'

Prior to this - her father not bringing too much of his work home - she was oblivious to the Golden Harvest entourage.

'I didn't know that the guy who threw up on my mother's carpet was a famous director, or that the man who missed the ashtray when he put out his cigarette was a famous producer.'

Her career started with a Jackie Chan film, The Armour of God, although the production got off to a rocky start. 'The film was shot in Yugoslavia, so I went to Europe ... but nobody realised no one in Yugoslavia spoke English there.'

After working on a few films, Ms Chin fell ill. She returned to the United States, where she had studied at Stanford University, and would remain in the production business there for 15 years.

In September, she was called back to Hong Kong at the request of her father. 'My mother's father passed away early last year, so we sort of realised as a family [that] families should spend more time together while everyone is healthy.'

For someone who grew up in the movie industry, lived in Los Angeles for more than a decade and is married to an actor, Ms Chin is not quite what you would expect.

She abhors the lifestyle that goes with the territory, shunning the party scene. 'I think the impression I got in LA was unless you partied constantly, you couldn't make the contacts you wanted.' She does embroidery to relax.

On her return to Golden Harvest last year, the company  was enjoying its first breathing space in a while, having resolved the matter of who would be taking up a 17 per cent stake that had been up for grabs.

The shareholding, owned by Taiwan Acer Softcapital, left Golden Harvest vulnerable to unwelcome advances. In the end, the stake was taken up by Li Ka-shing, a move seen by many as an old friend coming to its rescue.

Ms Chin, however, is  emphatic: 'It was never really as bad as it may have looked on the outside ... as it turned out, one of Li Ka-shing's privately owned companies took over these shares. It wasn't as dramatic as it seemed to be. He didn't jump out with sword in hand.'

Nonetheless, the company has  been a takeover target on a number of occasions, in 1998 fending off a hostile bid from partner Village Roadshow. Another potential suitor, Stellar MegaMedia, reportedly made a move last year.

Golden Harvest's financial health has also left it vulnerable, posting losses for the past seven years. Most recently, this has however narrowed.

In the year to June 30 last year, the loss was pared down to $11.66 million, compared with the $141.38 million previously. 'Believe it or not, we are doing OK,'  Ms Chin says. 'The market always changes. We are always doing new things. Some things [and] some departments always do better than others. It comes out relatively even.'

Golden Harvest itself has been going through a fundamental shift in focus. The company that produced more than 600 films is now more concerned about the physical aspect of movie-going - putting bums on seats - than the artistic.

'Production is now very low. We're not really doing it any more for now,' Ms Chin explains.

The cinema side counts for 60 per cent of the company's business - operating theatres in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Shenzhen - and distribution 40 per cent.

Production is too risky these days. 'You can invest so much money in a film - it happens in Hollywood all the time - multimillion-dollar productions just die.  You can have a technically well-made film that dies for no reason.'

A rapidly shifting market makes consumers' tastes more difficult to judge. The world of home entertainment and piracy has not helped, nor has the competition from Hollywood.

'It's the fact that if you have to watch one movie a year, most people would probably watch a multi-billion Hollywood spectacular film with lots of explosions.'

It is, however, with some regret that she watches the production side go. 'There will always be a gamble - a huge initial investment that you don't know you will get back. Because it was such a big part of the company for a long time, I do miss it.'

The flexibility that came with making movies is also something that invokes nostalgia, as her current role lacks  'swing'. As executive director, she is currently focusing on loose ends  of projects and the rigid reality of being a listed company.

'Now I have found everything is pre-planned and highly fixed so that it sort of economically [and] financially runs on at a pre-set course.'

Taking Golden Harvest forward moreover involves opening more cinemas.  Last month, the company - together with three partners - widened its scope to Taiwan, buying Warner Village Cinemas. This gives it 93 screens at  nine locations, and comes on the heels of the company's January launch of a  seven-screen multiplex in Shenzhen.

The company is also on the hunt for movies from  the mainland to distribute, and hasn't ruled out a production comeback.

'I don't think  [Golden Harvest] is in the history books yet. The time is not right to do production, and to do something just because it's there would not be good sense.'

She is also quite content with a more stress-free life when production is out of the equation - in particular, years of fighting with government officials over what stunts actors could or could not do.

Ms Chin recalls making Rumble in the Bronx, a Jackie Chan action flick which was filmed in Vancouver. City officials were wary of a scene that required clearing a stretch of road to allow a truck to overturn, spilling scores of beach balls onto the tarmac.

'There were three minutes in which we could block off the road, and the film commission were going to shut us down because they said we couldn't do it.'

With the shot in the can, the entire crew and cast - including Jackie Chan - rushed on to the road to scoop up the balls. 'They ended up using that one [film clip] to promote their film industry.'

Biography

Roberta Chin is executive director of Golden Harvest Entertainment (Holdings), set up by her father, Raymond Chow, in 1970.

She has 19 years' experience in film production in Hong Kong and the United States, working as president of Pinetree Production Services in California before joining the board of Golden Harvest  in September last year.

Ms Chin studied at Stanford University, where she did a course on documentary film production and obtained a bachelor of arts in English literature from  Dominican University of California.



Take two for Hong Kong film industry icon