Wanda Group
US representative for the Wanda Group
PROFILE
Barbara Robinson
Guest
FROM Barbara Robinson
The Business
The Hollywood-China Connection The new movie Looper stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis. It's due to open simultaneously in the US and China. Not all films get that coveting release plan but this film is different. It's the latest example of a Hollywood trend designed to break into the lucrative Chinese market. The Chinese government restricts the number of foreign films that get distributed in China each year. These co-productions are a way around that quota. But it's not always easy doing business there, as was seen last year when Christian Bale (who'd just wrapped shooting the Chinese film Flowers of War ) tried to visit the blind activist Chen Guangcheng but was forcibly stopped by plain clothes policemen. We talk with a panel of experts about the potential challenges and rewards for filmmakers making movies in China.
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Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Accusations of lying fly between James Comey and White House During his testimony Thursday, former FBI Director James Comey accused President Trump and other White House officials of lying when they said the FBI was in disarray and its staff had lost confidence in him. President Trump’s lawyer said Comey was wrong -- that the president never asked for his loyalty, and never asked him to back off the investigation into former NSA director Michael Flynn.
Design and Architecture
Securing Public Spaces, Super Wealthy Asians Vehicles are increasingly being used as weapons, as seen in the London Bridge attack over the weekend and in New York’s Times Square last month. The Compton-based company Calpipe is designing security bollards to help make public spaces safer. And novelist Kevin Kwan satirizes the “crazy rich” Asian jet set and their luxurious tastes in his latest book, “Rich People Problems.”
Design and Architecture
Farewell LA freeways, Peter Shire is back Angelenos don't want more freeways but we seem not to want mass transit either. Metro has killed the 710 freeway extension, and bus and train ridership is down across the region. What's the future of getting around in LA? And, Peter Shire is having a comeback. What attracts a new generation to his playful ceramics and furniture?
The Business
In 'Speechless,' Scott Silveri combines comedy, family & disability Scott Silveri has written and produced sitcoms for more than 20 years. In all that time, he never encountered a TV family that looked anything like the one he grew up in -- with a mom, a dad...and a brother with cerebral palsy. He changed that with his show Speechless on ABC. Silveri tells us about looking to his own past for stories, and why he was determined to make a family comedy and not just a "disability show."