LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Twentieth Century Fox Chairman and CEO, Jim Gianopulos, today named Sirena Liu to the newly created position of Managing Director, China.
Ms. Liu will be responsible for the studio’s activities in all media in China. She will report to Mr. Gianopulos and will work directly with 20th Century Fox Co-Chairman Stacey Snider on Fox’s film productions in China under the Fox International Pictures banner, led by Tomas Jegeus. She also will work closely under the guidance of the regional and global heads of Fox’s distribution units, including Theatrical, Home Entertainment, Television and Digital Media, to coordinate all their activities in China. Ms. Liu will be based in and will supervise the studio’s Beijing office. She begins her position on October 5th.
Jim Gianopulos stated: “China has long been an important focus for us and its phenomenal growth in recent years has led to many exciting new initiatives. With the hiring of Sirena we are looking to unify our business interests in China under a common vision and strategy, to enhance our relationships with local partners, government regulators and emerging platforms, and to identify and pursue new growth opportunities.”
Sirena Liu added: “I am absolutely thrilled about this opportunity to work for a company with amazing history and incredible vision, in the most dynamic entertainment market in the world right now. As someone spending her entire career bridging the cultural differences between China and the U.S., I’m also excited about the growing relationship between the two countries in entertainment, especially in the film industry.”
Ms. Liu most recently ran FilMworks China, an entertainment marketing company she founded in 2010 and sold two years later to global advertising conglomerate WPP. The company’s scope included product placement, film tie-in promotions, merchandise licensing and celebrity endorsements. As President of FilMworks, she worked closely with the major Hollywood studios and independent production companies to establish promotional partnerships between large-scale theatrical film productions and Chinese advertisement brands. She has overseen partnerships for such films as Transformers 2, 3 and 4, Kung Fu Panda 2, Ice Age 4, Fast and Furious 6, Furious 7, Minions and Superman: Man of Steel, among others.
Ms. Liu also has served as the Director of Strategic Development for Orange Sky Golden Harvest Entertainment, a public listed Chinese entertainment company engaged in film financing, production, distribution and exhibition. From 2006 through 2009, Ms. Liu created, planned and implemented Orange Sky’s corporate strategy and sought project-financing opportunities, including film co-productions for Orange Sky’s film division as well as investments in the company’s theater chains. And she was responsible for initiating the company’s connections with global film studios and filmmakers, which included identifying projects for production opportunities. She also spearheaded the film projectRed Cliff, an epic film directed by John Woo.
Her prior experience included working as Director of Business Development for SEEC Media Group, a Beijing-based international magazine publishing house, which established Chinese editions of such magazines as Sports Illustratedand Better Homes and Gardens, among others. She began her career working for Columbia Pictures in Los Angeles, Shanghai and Hong Kong, where she was involved in such films as Ultraviolet and Kung Fu Hustle.
Ms. Liu has a Bachelor of Arts in History from Anhui University of Education, Anhui, China; a B.A. in journalism from Renmin University in Beijing; and Masters of Business Administration from the Peter F. Drucker School of Management of Claremont Graduate University in California.
About Twentieth Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox produces, acquires and distributes motion pictures throughout the world. These motion pictures are produced or acquired by the following units of the studio: Twentieth Century Fox, Fox 2000 Pictures, Fox Searchlight Pictures, Fox International Productions, and Twentieth Century Fox Animation/Blue Sky Studios.