Huayi Brothers exec hired as senior executive for new China offices.
Los Angeles-based financing, sales and distribution company IM Global is to open offices in Beijing at the end of this month.
The senior executive in the office will be local executive Leslie Chen, who was most recently head of international sales at Huayi Brothers Media Corporation.
At Huayi, Chen helped launch sales on major Asian titles such as Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame and Aftershock by Feng Xiao Gang as well as If You are the One II by Feng Xiao Gang and both Tai Chi 0 and Tai Chi Hero from Stephen Fung.
The indie financier and sales company will base day-to-day management and operations of its Apsara pan-Asian distribution label out of Beijing after Chen’s arrival.
Chen will also manage much of the company’s international sales activity in the region as well as overseeing the release of IM Global’s films in mainland China.
IM Global founder and CEO Stuart Ford said: “We’re excited at the prospect of expanding our sales and distribution activities across Asia in the next few years. Leslie is an outstanding hire for us and I look forward to her playing a prominent role in our pan-Asian distribution and sales business in years to come.”
Chen said: “I am very happy to join IM Global and contribute my knowhow and experience of the Asian market to such a dynamic, fast-growing company. It will be an exciting and challenging new journey for both of us.”
IM Global has financed or co-financed 14 films in the past two-and-a-half years, including box office hits A Haunted House and Sinister and foreign sales successes including Paranormal Activity, A Single Man, Dredd, Insidious, The Inbetweeners, Bullet To The Head, and Dark Skies.
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