"Asians are just emerging in the field of coproduction, except for Japan," says Vancouver-based Camille Gueymard, market development - Asia, Telefilm Canada. At this point, Asian broadcasters mainly produce their own shows in their own languages, with little program exchange, says the multilingual Gueymard, who also prepares the quarterly newsletter Zoom-Asia.

Deregulation and the arrival of cable and satellite channels represent new export opportunities to foster business relationships, including coproduction and coventures, she says.

On the booming Chinese Mainland, licence fees are still very low, so barter deals "may be more interesting," says Gueymard.

tv movies may sell for $2,500 to $6,500 in the prc, but two years ago that price was closer to $1,500, she says.

Gueymard says coproduction with China still implies mainly service-oriented arrangements rather than cash. "The advantage in going to China is, of course, location and relatively inexpensive production costs."

But make sure you find "a good partner who will find the best possible crews," she cautions.

One way to get started is to ask a foreign producer with Chinese experience. Vancouver producer Michael Parker of Maple Ridge Films, who specializes in coventures with Hong Kong, is such a person.

Gueymard also suggests contacting the Hong Kong producers association, which "fosters coproduction and has a foot in the Mainland."

Another approach is to set up shop in an Asian country and produce for the domestic audience. Montreal producer Jacquelin Bouchard's company, Pixcom, recently set up a coventure company to produce domestic game and drama shows in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Censorship is the biggest obstacle to selling drama in Asia, says Gueymard.

In Japan, foreign programs are virtually nonexistent on terrestrial tv, with the exception of nhk, which also operates two satellite services. nhk tends to work with educational broadcasters or agencies like tvontario, the nfb (The Book of the Dead) or pbs, she says.

It is easier to sell programs to wowow, a Japanese pay-tv service.

Upcoming satellite service launches include dmc, a 50-channel tv outlet representing new ppv opportunities, set for a September '96 launch, and Directv Japan, which will go in '97. The latter will be "heavily supplied by the u.s."

Gueymard says Television Tokyo, a terrestrial broadcaster, is just starting to look into acquiring or coproducing or equity investment in foreign programs.

Gueymard, also a tv analyst with Telefilm Canada, says Discovery Asia should interest Canadians "because it is an area (documentary) in which Canadians excel."

In fact, any point of entry in the international network of world specialty channels (Discovery, Nickelodeon, etc.) should be exploited, she adds.

There are very few coproduction funds in Asia. However, Media Asia Group, the region's first-ever film investment fund, has $12 million available, mostly for Chinese-language programs. Some of the mag films in development are set in North America, and coproducing with Canada is a distinct possibility.