Taiwanese producer Peggy Chiao has signed an output deal with David Dong's Meridian Pictures, under which she will produce a slate of ten films for the Shanghai-based production and financing entity.

The projects will be mostly from young, first-time directors from Hong Kong, China and Taiwan, which Chiao will recruit from areas such as advertising, television and the literary world.

A few will be directed by more established filmmakers such as China's Li Shaohong (Baober In Love, The Door) and Hong Kong's Samson Chiu (Golden Chicken, Mcdull, The Alumni) who are both expected to make films for Chiao and Meridian.

Meridian will fully finance some projects but Chiao said she would also be 'finding different financing partners for co-productions'. Chiao will be responsible for sourcing and selecting the projects and directors in consultation with Dong.

Chiao and Meridian have already identified three almost completed scripts to work on together - Racial Comfort, a story about young Asian immigrants in California; a thriller with the working title Kelly about a prison fugitive, and a drama about Taiwanese businessmen in Shanghai which has the working title Love Story.

One of Taiwan 's best-known producers, with credits such as Lin Cheng-sheng's Betelnut Beauty and Wang Xiaoshuai's Beijing Bicycle, Chiao has most recently produced Kenneth Bi's The Drummer, currently in post-production, and period drama The Silver Valley which recently wrapped in China.

Founded last year by textiles tycoon Dong who invested in Tsui Hark's Seven Swords, Meridian has been developing a live-action version of Mulan and action epic Princess Luolan.

Topics