Brendan Davis – Investigate Your Foreign Investment Carefully, Appearances Can Be Deceiving

<p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendandavis/" target= "_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Brendan</strong> <strong>Davis</strong></a> <span style="font-weight: 400;">is a writer-director-producer working internationally in film & TV. He began his entertainment career in Atlanta in 1990, moved to Los Angeles in 2002, and has split his time between Beijing and Los Angeles since 2013. In December 2019, Davis was recognized for his cross-cultural leadership by being appointed to serve as a Distinguished Special Foreign Expert with the</span> <a href= "http://www.talent.org.cn/" target="_blank" rel= "noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Beijing Global Talent Exchange Association</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. His appointment as an advisor runs through 2024.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span></p> <p><strong>“Pick your battles carefully. Set yourself up for success as much as possible.”</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Brendan Davis</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span></p> <h2><strong>Worst investment ever</strong></h2> <h3><strong>Exploring an international investment opportunity</strong></h3> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In 2013/14, China was wide open to foreign investment co-productions trying to work with other treaty partners. One of the countries the Chinese were the keenest to work with was New Zealand. Brendan happened to have two partners in New Zealand and a Chinese partner in Los Angeles. The partners had been working on a project together for a while now. He figured that this project would be a good co-production with China. And so he decided to explore this international partnership.</span></p> <h3><strong>Changing the script</strong></h3> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The project was initially developed as a Western New Zealand Hollywood type of project. So the first step was to change the script to fit the co-production requirements of New Zealand and China. Due to cultural differences, censorship, and sensitivities in