if you listened to the ‘this american life’ episode I talk about below, good on ya.
if you haven’t listened to the ‘this american life’ episode I talk about below – get on it.
act 1 from that episode, entitled “americans in china,” opens exploring how easy it is for foreigners to get on chinese tv,
“emailing with americans in china, and putting together this week’s radio show, we heard about this kind of thing from person after person, people being approached to be on tv, and at some point we began to wonder – have you guys ALL been on tv?? – it was such a common experience for americans in china”
and I’m here to say that, yes, we all have.
the experience varies from region to region I would imagine, but here’s a taste of some of the strange opportunities that have come my way after living in southwestern china for two years.
commercial #1: “chongqing is a must-see place!”
I heard about this opportunity from a chinese friend of mine who had a friend working in chongqing television. what she said was that one of the local stations was filming a commercial for the city of chongqing, something to increase tourist traffic, and they needed a couple foreign faces.
so I put out a few calls to friends around the city and we were all picked up in one of the tv station’s vehicles and heralded to the station in a nice part of town. once inside we had our make-up done and were led into a “blue room” for the shooting (a blue room is alot like a green room, except blue).
we were supposed to say, in chinese, “chongqing is a must-see place!” while looking very excited. they said they were going to throw up some scenic shot of the city in the background, and that it would air on the tvs in chongqing’s subways as well as the local chongqing “travel channel”
I haven’t seen the final version, but I did get to see a pretty rough cut that was pretty entertaining. and I’ve had a few students and neighbors come up to me and say they’ve seen me on tv. here are a few photos..
movie #1: remembering 1942
the next opportunity came via word-of-mouth within the cq’s (albeit minimal) expat community.
word was feng xiaogang, the steven spielberg of china, would be filming a movie in a couple weeks and needed a bunch of foreign extras. also, adrien brody and tim robbins were supposed to be in it.
and, sure enough, a couple weeks later I got a call, and then there I was in this old part of town that was made up to look like an american consulate in the 1940’s with an old school hair cut and dressed like a british officer in the royal army
and, sure enough, there was adrien brody. and, I think, his mom, who was kind of weird.
we filmed at night, alllllll night, and it was absolutely freezing. but we did get to see mr brody do a couple scenes. look for me standing at a table in, I guess what I’m going to call it “the party scene.” and look for my friend emma, who very well may be seen walking by mr brody (!) in the same scene 😛
the movie can be seen on imdb here, and I’ve included a couple of my own photos and videos from the shoot (some of the photos, admittedly, are from instagram)
commercial #2: some mining and explosives company
again, this came through word of mouth, a friend who knew a guy that was filming a commercial. turns out this one was for an outfit that helped mining companies blow the top off of mountains
what made this interesting was the “plot” of the commercial. they were trying to recreate (create?) the signing of some kind of deal between this outfit and some australian company.
we were given some fancy clothes to change into when we arrived, told to look official, and then ushered into a meeting room filled with cameras, tracks, and lighting
there was a big long table in the foreground with a buddy of mine and the CEO of this company seated in fancy chairs. standing behind the CEO were a couple actual employees from the explosives company (apparently one of them was the CEO’s pretty secretary) and then a few of us stood behind our friend. as they shouted action (which, in chinese, was 开始 or “begin”) the two at the table were supposed to sign something in front of them and shake hands while we looked at each other, smiled, and applauded.
what I’m interested in, though, is whether there is actually a deal with an austrailain company or not. my money’s on ‘not.’ relations with foreign people and companies add a level of legitimacy to chinese businesses that borders the absurd. (for more of a taste of how ridiculous the “need” is for foreign faces in chinese business, check out this story from my friend justin. it’s pretty wild.)
at any rate, here are some photos and video. my buddy signed his name as “crocodile dundee” during the shoot. so, that’s fun.
and on top of this, I get asked all the time to appear on local dating shows via chinese twitter. not to mention the invitations to bars and opening ceremonies with promises of free drinks and VIP treatment in exchange for showing our foreign faces.
and, the answer is no. those dating shows? not happening.
So then I lived in China... 