Robert Cain is a partner in film co-production company Pacific Bridge Pictures, and Founder /Publisher of ChinaFilmBiz, a blog focused on China’s filmed entertainment industry. He has worked for more than 25 years in Hollywood and the global entertainment industry, primarily as a production, finance, strategy and creative development expert. He has been doing business in China since 1987, where his producing and entertainment management experience includes:
- Production of the TV broadcast Three Tenors in the Forbidden City
- Development and production executive on the 2008 Academy Award nominated film Mongol
- Consulting Producer on the film Shanghai Kiss starring Kelly Hu and Hayden Panettiere
- Currently consulting to major Hollywood studios, animation companies and talent agencies on China matters; past Chinese consulting clients include Shanghai Media Group, CCTV, China Film Group, and others
Rob’s film experience extends from finance and distribution management to creative duties on more than a dozen successful films, including such critical and commercial successes as The Usual Suspects, Breakdown, Bound, Blade 2, and Cabin Fever. He is Executive Producer of Laura Smiles, which premiered in the 2005 Tribeca Film Festival, of The Amateurs, a comedy starring Jeff Bridges, and he set up the film Mongol, an action epic about the early life of Genghis Khan that was nominated for a 2008 Academy Award for best foreign language film. He is Executive Producer of the horror trilogy Abattoir, directed by Darren Lynn Bousman (Saw II, III and IV), which is funded by Chinese investors.
Rob has consulted to most of Hollywood’s major studios and talent guilds, and worked as a senior executive at talent-based companies such as Danny DeVito’s Jersey Films and Aaron Spelling’s Spelling Entertainment in formulating and executing business plans to expand their operations. His corporate clients have included Universal Studios, MGM, Sony Pictures Entertainment, DirecTV, NBC, the BBC, the Screen Actors Guild, Kodak, New Line Cinema, Mattel and others.
An award-winning screenwriter, Rob holds a bachelor’s degree with honors from Harvard University and an MBA degree with honors from the Wharton School of Business.
chinafilmbiz 中国电影业务 
Thank you for your intriguing input on the Chinese film market, Robert. I am interested in what genre they are most looking for. I’ve just completed my second screenplay, and am ready to start another. I can get a full first draft out in about 6 weeks. Then the rewrites!
Thank you, again, Robert.
Christine Koehler
Thanks for your interest, Christine. For an analysis of film performance by genre please see my November 17th post, China’s Box Office: A Very Good Year So Far.
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Hi,
I am a practicing attorney from Chengdu City of Sichuan province of China. I am finding your blog by chance and really are interested in your views and points on China’s film industry. Entertainment and cultural is one of my practicing fields, so it is my great pleasure to offer my advice and service, if any or when necessary, in respect of the matters of investing, co-producing, distributing film projects in China.
Thanks.
Seaer Zhao
Hello Searer,
Thank you for your note and for your interest. It’s my pleasure to connect with you. I’ll add your email address to the distribution list for China Film Biz.
Cheers,
Rob
Interesting information thanks. I am a South African veteran Producer, recently relocated to LA. I am in SA right now on a major film project and will return to the US Jan / Feb 2013. On my return I would like to hook up with you for a one on one meeting in LA to exchange views and focus on a feature film project for possible Co-Production in China. Best JOHN STODEL
thanks for your great information about china..
Hi Rob, I also work in the niche / challenging / interesting / growing space of intermediating between Chinese and Western media and entertainment. For anybody working in this space your blog is an absolute must-read. Kudos, thanks and keep up the great work! Regards from Beijing!
Thank you, Florian, for your kind words.
Rob
simplicity pays, big time; no matter what phase of the history we’re living in!
it was really enlightening!
thanks Rob!
will discuss some details via E-mail!
Hi Rob –
Thanks for making it so easy to catch up on the weekly Chinese box office. I always look forward to checking in with your website. Great thoughts in the article “The Increasingly Astonishing Rise of China’s Film Business”. You may want to do a related analysis (if you havent covered it already) on the lack of ancillary revenues from home video, VOD and Pay TV windows, as opposed to the US model of the theatrical release driving the train. Once these distribution channels gain traction, China will be wildly in the forefront of the world’s film business.