La La Land producer and former Chairman of Chinese media group Hunan TV Qiuyun Long has been arrested on suspicion of corruption. Qiuyun, who was responsible for striking a major slate financing deal with Lionsgate in 2015, was reportedly jailed for accepting bribes.
He stepped down from Hunan in October 2017 and local media outlet Caixin reported that he had been taken into custody by Hunan Province authorities on Thursday. Following the $375M Lionsgate deal, Long has had exec producer credits on a raft of Lionsgate releases including Deepwater Horizon, Now You See Me 2, Sam Worthington and Octavia Spencer’s The Shack, Brie Larson and Woody Harrelson-fronted The Glass Castle and the live-action Power Rangers movie.
He was intrinsic to the deal between China’s second largest broadcaster and Lionsgate to fund much of the U.S. firm’s $1.5B slate over three years.
Long stepped down last year in what the company was calling a “change in job role”. He had been Chairman since 1995, having previously served as General Manager of its advertising department and news business.
Hunan TV declined to comment.
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