Stories, scratch, and salesmanship
With Taiwanese films from Cape No. 7 to Night Market Hero capturing audiences and box offices over the past few years, does this herald a comeback for the long-moribund Taiwanese film industry?
Yeh believes that for a Taiwanese film to capture local audiences, it needs to have three things. The first of these is a truly local story, rather than one that focuses just on Taipei. The majority of the audience didn't grow up in the city, and so settings and stories that fixate too much on the cities can leave audiences from outside the capital feeling left out.
The second is at least US$1 million (approx. NT$30 million) in funding. This is the most basic threshold for films made by small- to medium-sized businesses looking to succeed in the Greater China area. Additionally, since Taiwanese audiences have already been spoiled by big-budget Hollywood spectaculars, if a local film doesn't have a big enough budget, its makers may not be able to get the settings and big-name stars that are necessary to entice people to fork over their hard-earned cash at the theater.
Finally, they need outside help to get the film distributed. Yeh believes that with their well-developed distribution channels and good relations with theaters, foreign distributors serving Taiwan can ensure the film gets broad exposure, such as through promotion at 7-Elevens around the island. After all, no matter how good the film, if it can't get out there, it'll suffer financially.
Taiwanese films still have a long way to go before they can match their American counterparts in terms of marketing and attention. When it was decided that Night Market Hero was to be released for Chinese New Year, distributor Fox -wanted Yeh to promote the film as a "family film," so as to maximize the audience size. They were similarly demanding when it came to casting decisions: even for roles like the ex-boyfriend of Alice Ke's character, who had just one scene, and that of her late father, Fox specifically went after popular names like James Wen and Li Li-ren respectively.
Marketing of films is also a strong suit for American firms, and so for Night Market Hero's premiere at Xi-men-ding, the distributor worked with over 20 night-market stallholders to let viewers of the film exchange their ticket stubs for food. This not only created a buzz in the media, but also proved invaluable for getting people buying tickets.
And the blockbuster successes of Cape No. 7, Monga, and Night Market Hero seem to back up Yeh's perspective. In addition to all telling very local stories, each had a tremendous budget, blowing away the long-standing stereotype of Taiwanese films as being "low budget." Cape No. 7, for example, cost between NT$50 million and NT$60 million; Monga as much as NT$70 million; and Night Market Hero NT$60 million. They also worked with foreign-owned distributors, namely Buena Vista, Warner Brothers, and Fox.
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Growing up around film and television, coupled with a keen eye for what the market wants, has helped Yeh Tien-lun hit a home run with his first directorial effort.(right photo courtesy of Green Film)