Why the next Hollywood mogul will be Chinese – he’s there already: meet Starlight’s Peter Luo
- Starlight Culture Entertainment has flown under the radar despite bankrolling Crazy Rich Asians. But with 10 leading directors signed to deals, that will change
- Its boss, Peter Luo, is on a mission to transform Hollywood, and he understands what audiences in China and North America want to see
Cliquey and closed off, Hollywood can seem a republic unto itself, where the only currency is name recognition, and all that matters is who is in your address book. This makes the story of Starlight Culture Entertainment all the more remarkable.
Few among the showbiz elite know about company – which has offices in glitzy Beverly Hills, Hong Kong, and Hangzhou, China – but that is about to change.
Under its chief executive, Peter Luo, Starlight has drafted production deals with 10 of the biggest directors in Hollywood – among them Jon Chu ( Crazy Rich Asians ), Roland Emmerich (2012), F. Gary Gray (The Fate of the Furious), Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump), Sam Raimi (Spider-Man), Sylvester Stallone (The Expendables), and Alan Taylor (Terminator Genisys) – as well as working behind the scenes.
“We have deals with 10 directors. Each director and their team has agreed to develop two to three projects for us over the next three years in both television and film,” says Luo. “Besides the development deals, we financed one-off features like Crazy Rich Asians.”
In 2018, Luo laid out his company’s business plan to film trade magazine Variety. He said Starlight would inaugurate two film funds that would seek development deals with sought-after directors.