Asia is a region of stark contrasts. There is the political stability of Japan and the chaos of Burma, the vastness of China and the stamp-sized island of Singapore, the emerging markets of Cambodia and Malaysia, and the red-hot economies of Hong Kong and China. Trying to pin down the Top Three is no easy matter. Some countries offer great tax breaks, but not much in the way of infrastructure and experienced crews, while others have a strong history of production but few incentives. Overall, compared with other regions of the world, Asia as a whole offers far fewer financial incentives. As Bill Bowling, worldwide locations executive for Warner Bros. and an official advisor to the Asian Film Commission Network, notes, “Singapore, for instance, has extraordinary incentives, they’re very professional, and they’re aggressively looking for filming, and if you have the right kind of film it’d be a very interesting place to go. But there’s been far more production…support for production, and far more movies that have been shot in Thailand.” Meanwhile, Japan, which has had a long history of filming, “along with excellent film commissions,” is very expensive, “and they don’t have a history of really supporting filming,” points out Bowling. “For instance, the police are very reluctant to close streets for a shoot, and that sort of thin.” Taiwan, which also has an established film industry, has had “an on-again-off-again” tax break plan, adds Bowling, “and South Korea now has one.” As for China’s incentive policy, Bowling characterizes it as, “very complex. You might qualify if you’re shooting a Chinese heritage film.” Other countries, such as Malaysia, “have amazing locations, and it’s very cheap to shoot there, but Malaysia has no real history of production,” he notes. “As for Singapore, they’re very smart, it’s a very urban, modern city, but they don’t have a stage and they don’t offer much variety in terms of locations. But they do have these great tax breaks.”

 Apart from these places, Asia has yet to develop any sort of comprehensive incentive packages to lure foreign production. And Bowling, whose extensive experience in the region includes working on “Rush Hour 2” when it shot in Hong Kong, as well as filming throughout China, predicts that, “because of their economies, it’s probable that they won’t develop big incentive packages to rival those in the West.” Of course, tax breaks are only part of the picture. While Thailand has no incentives at all, it does offer extremely low costs compared with the U.S. and Europe, as do most Asian locations. “And they have a lot of experience,” notes Bowling. “They probably have several hundred production service companies that service films, commercials and so on.”