Sino-Hollywood sci-fi production tells China-based story

Shawn Dou. [Photo provided to China Daily]

In the next one or two years, by working with Chinese and US scriptwriters, the company plans to also release an HBO-style miniseries－an investigative thriller－and looks to distribute it via China's major satellite TV channels.

Derivative content will also be developed from the thriller, such as graphic novels and games.

The company has started to work on a script for a full-length feature that Piech says he hopes will be popular in China and then go global.

If Log Out is well received in China, it could be developed into a feature movie, he adds.

"I think it (Chinese market) is at the perfect stage for innovation. It is mature enough to start to do things at a global level," he says.

Big challenge

Despite the producer's ambitions in China, he says the biggest challenge today is the conservative attitude of moviemakers in China.

The movie industry in China is now in a phase where it only believes in what are considered realistic possibilities, Piech says, adding that this is at odds with the maturity the market has already achieved.

"But when I say, 'we are doing an HBO-style miniseries for a satellite TV station', even my own people tell me I am crazy," Piech says.