Is Chris Fenton Feeding the Dragon or Feeding His Hype?

As I started reading Chris Fenton’s Feeding the Dragon: Inside the Trillion Dollar Dilemma Facing Hollywood, the NBA, and American Business, I started to come towards the realization that the author may well not be what he claims to be. Get extra information about Chris Fenton



The first hint of this came during the opening chapter. There, the author gushes like a schoolgirl when relaying the fanfare of Robert Downey, Jr.’s arrival at the premier in Beijing. His descriptions are granular, as he goes into wonderful detail with regards to all of the essential security required to protect one of the biggest movies stars in the world. But rather than describing his function as a “player”, he gives a rather detailed account of what’s it like to be a mid-level coordinator operating together with the actor’s agents plus the actor’s security group.



The thrilling cliffhanger of those initial few chapters? Are there sufficient blockades for the fans? Can the author convince Iron Man portrayer Downey not to put on a mask for the premier on account of the badly polluted air?



Spoiler alert: there were not enough blockades and Robert Downey, Jr. - RDJ towards the cool children - did not put on a “smog” mask.



For all of the giddy excitement of a world premiere, author Fenton comes off as a mid-level flunky. This task wouldn't be performed by a person operating a multi-billion dollar company, working as an integral liaison among the Chinese government and also a titan of your US film sector.



As I study further in to the book, it became abundantly clear that I was not reading a memoir of a person who had essentially completed all these impressive accomplishments he writes about. No, as an alternative it seemed to become the initial hand account of someone who sat on the sidelines and watched each of the action - a spectator should you will. If it would happen to be presented that way, it would have been a more truthful and genuine account with the goings on.



And that’s the essential issue with Feeding the Dragon. He didn't present a credible case that he essentially did what he says he did. So, regrettably, he comes off as just an additional inside a long line of Hollywood phonies. Why bother? One would suppose he would do it to support the book, also as sell himself to news agencies like Fox News, exactly where he has appeared a number of times and others as a “China Expert”.



As a way to make and, a lot more importantly, exhibit a feature film like Iron Man 3 in China, one must have encyclopedic understanding from the arcane elements of business development. Initially, one require to understand tips on how to basically make a movie. Second, one must know how to negotiate with Marvel. Third, one really should possess an acute understanding on the people and culture of China. Fourth, and perhaps most significant, one have to know how to navigate the byzantine workings of your Chinese government to safe work permits, exhibition rights, and so on. They are not trivial understandings entrusted to a mid-level security coordinator.



Based on an post published on True Hollywood Speak, Fenton stated that he does not speak Chinese and has spent no more than a month within the country. He's not a Chinese government specialist and he’s definitely not a filmmaker. Although inside the book he takes credit for all of it.



Within the end, Chris Fenton appears to be one who over hypes his involvement on projects. What are his intentions? Possibly his target should be to make himself out to become an professional on all factors related to both China plus the movie business. Carrying out a deeper dive of Chris’s background, one finds that lots of of his claims are usually not primarily based on truth but instead by his own stories which he uses to additional his profession. No doubt, Hollywood has a lot of fantastic people and also a large amount of self-serving bad ones also. And like lots of other autobiographical books, Feeding the Dragon is jam packed with hyperbole and self-serving speaking points. In author Fenton’s hands, they come off as a methodology to land more gigs as a cutting edge China professional.



Information and actions will normally speak for themselves. But anybody who takes the time for you to delve into his background or talk to his associates will know Chris Fenton Is not feeding a dragon, he’s just feeding his personal hype.