APA speaks with Michael Hong, the impressive man behind the plan and CEO of ImaginAsian Entertainment, Inc.
Michael Hong is the head honcho, CEO, and founding member of ImaginAsian TV. The company's chief architect from the network's conception, Hong has been involved since May 2003, developing everything from programming, marketing, distribution ideas, and building the stellar executive team that would back him up in this grand scheme that will inevitably rock the Asian media-entertainment world.
With 12 years of experience in various aspects of the entertainment industry, Michael Hong has worked everywhere from Spelling Entertainment and Paramount to TBS Media Management and Nielson Media Research. He played a key role in the success of Spelling and its subsidiary Worldvision, and was involved in overseeing successes like Judge Judy and Seventh Heaven while he was working there.
Now he's taking on the first ever 24 hour Asian-American Television station. He combines great optimism and goals with a grounded grasp of reality and practicality that will surely allow ImaginAsian to remain smart and grow efficiently under his leadership. Michael Hong speaks to APA:
APA: Hello Michael. Thank you so much for taking time to give us this interview!
So you moved from NY to Korea when you were three years old. What was your own experience, in terms of your exposure to Asian-American entertainment and culture while you were growing up?
Michael Hong: Well there wasn't really any where I grew up, primarily in the Queens Area. Certainly there were a lot of Asians and it was very multicultural, but in terms of the mainstream media, there was absolutely nothing that really represented Asians in a positive way. And certainly, when I got into the industry, it was pretty amazing to me that there were so few Asians working in the media industry. There were a lot of individual markets, and there was a need for a basic Asian American channel, but it was something that everybody realized was impossible until there were more channels available. And then when the cable systems started building up, we saw that as a really good opportunity, and really there was a small window for us to go out there and do this.
APA: Can you explain what the process was, for you to take this vision of an American-American station, and turn it into a reality? Did you guys start a year ago?
MH: Yes, we formally started as a company last May, and the primary goal was to provide a television network that really serves the interest of Asian Americans, and really, the broadest definition of that term. And along the way, along with the launch of the TV network, we've also opened up a movie theater in New York City that is the only fully dedicated Asian, Asian-American movie theater, and we have plans to do that next year in LA and San Francisco as well. Pretty soon, we're going to be premiering an Asian-American radio program, ImaginAsian radio in San Francisco. It's going to be a one hour program that we're doing as a pre-launch to us being up in San Francisco, since we're going to be up in basic cable over there probably the earlier part of this coming November. As a precursor to that, we're going to do this radio show that will feature a lot of new Asian American music acts as well as other types of talent. Yeah, it should be fun.
APA: How would you explain the basic concept of ImaginAsian TV, in terms of the main ways it differs from other Asian stations?
MH: I think right now what you have is a lot of programming that mainly serves the first- generation Asian-Americans, very much what I would call a "fragmented silo" approach. So there are a lot of small outlets out there that have in-language programming that really have little appeal for more of the second generation or acculturated Asian Americans.
In some major markets, in New York, San Francisco, and to a certain extent, Los Angeles and Hawaii, there are already existing local outlets, like ***KKSF and in LA, KSCI. They also offer pay channels, but they're still predominantly targeting individual segments of the Asian population. So for example: Nobody Chinese is going buy a Korean package and vice versa. Our concept is different because we're going to feature both Asian content as well as Asian American content. We're going to try to make it as appealing for as broad an audience as possible, so we're going to be subtitling everything in English, we're going to be doing English wraps for most of our prime time programs, so you're going to have an MTV-style introduction for different movies and anime.
I'm Korean American, and I've always had an interest or fascination for, let's say, Bollywood films, but I could never appreciate it because I couldn't understand it. But, there will be subtitles and hosts that will be explaining what the program is about in English, and it puts the program in context, and because I have some interest, it's like we're meeting at least those people who have a predisposition or an interest halfway. So once we do that, we'll get a much broader cross-cultural viewership, as well as, the important thing is, getting the interest from the general market too.
APA: So, the general market is a huge concern and target audience as well.
MH: Yes, there's already a great deal of interest in Asian content as it is. The movie Hero, number one for two weeks--it was a subtitled foreign language film. And certainly anime has a great deal of interest, and Hong Kong martial arts films. The Korean drama is also becoming very popular all over Asia. All of these elements we're going to provide for them and I think it's very different from what exists right now. But, the most important thing is just that the branding, the look of the channel, the production values are going to be the same as a mainstream effort. We're putting a lot of effort and resources behind making the content accessible for as many people as possible.
APA: If I understand it correctly, is one of your aims to usher Asian culture and entertainment into the mainstream, but not changing it or catering it to the American audience?
MH: Yeah I think that's a pretty fair assessment. For me, I don't think our value is in bringing something that is just a version of what already exists out there. So I don't want to do a dating show just for Asian-Americans or a reality show just for Asian-Americans. I think there's enough source material, there's a lot of rich ideas that come from Asia, that even come from our own Asian American experiences here. It's almost like equating it to hip-hop, and sort of the way that the mainstream has come to them. It was something that was very organic in their culture, and for us, there's plenty of stuff out there that we can draw on. One of the first programs we're going to do features yoga and pilates, which is very much something from Asia and something that really has reached across the general public. And there will be other programs like that, but like I said, I don't think we need to copy existing mainstream formats. I don't think the general market or the mainstream is even interested in anything that is watered down or so narrowly focused. They want something authentic, something different from what all the channels are offering. As long as we make it accessible for them, I think there's already a great deal of interest in Asian culture, so I don't think we need to cater to that.
APA: So you guys mostly have shows from Asia that you're bringing over. Are you guys thinking of eventually developing more original programming for the future?
MH: Right now, we're in the first stages of producing; we've gone through pre-production and development or the yoga show and another comedy show that we haven't announced yet, but is a goal. At the end of the day, I'm a very pragmatic person. The reason why we've been very successful is that economically, financially speaking, in order to do something like this, and to really get a basic channel or distribution outlet for our network, it was one of the hardest thing you'll ever do. So we have to be very smart about it; cost-conscious to a certain extent. Original production is extremely expensive and if we're going to do it, my goal is to do it on a par with anything that's produced on a mainstream network.
But for the time being, to a certain extent, we're focusing on our acquired programs from overseas. They're always going to be a big, big part of our mix, because at the end of the day, the Asian American population, the majority of us are still first generation--65% are immigrants--so we can't ignore the first generation either. They're a big part of our group. That's why we're not dubbing anything, we're subtitling. And the other important factor to realize in what we're doing is that there is no way that we can rationalize having a basic channel along the lines of a BET or ESPN unless there is tremendous crossover appeal in the general market. We just can't do that with the Asian demographic numbers. So my sense is that most of the general market is more interested in anime for instance, which happens to be made in Japan and Korea, as opposed to those shows that are strictly, narrowly focused on the second-generation Asian-Americans. That's not really what we want to do.
We're also going to be featuring a lot of Asian American short films and feature films. These are all independent films obviously that have never had an outlet in the US, and that's something that is definitely going to raise awareness in terms of the Asian American experience.
APA: You've had an impressive background with big companies in the entertainment industry. What have you taken from your previous experiences that helps you at ImaginAsian?
MH: I got such a broad, varied experience, everything from advertising/sales, to marketing to distribution, to producing and programming. It really gave me a nice introduction to all the different pieces of the pie. Every place I ever worked, I think I took a lot more away from it than other people. You have to be proactive in terms of your career and what you get from each position, and every single job that I've ever had definitely played a part. Every little bit helps.
But in spite of all my experience, I was still not really prepared for what I was doing, because to a certain extent, with what we've done with ImaginAsian Entertainment, there was really no conventional wisdom about how to do something like this. We had some really strong feelings and assumptions, and we had a strong strategic plan, but this is a very unique space. The ethnic media world and the mainstream media world are just miles apart, and my experience was on the mainstream side, and just coming up to speed on the ethnic media side, and there's a lot of stuff that was totally new to us.
APA: Well it's definitely a monumental task you guys are taking on. What is your personal perception of how Asians are depicted in the media today and what do you want to do to change it?
MH: I think it's a very marginal characterization of Asian Americans. There's a lot of stereotypes. Those are the typical complaints people have. The problem is that there's just a lack of Asian images out there. If you have a film that has one Asian character, it's a very amazing thing. The thing that we're trying to do is to provide a 24/7 outlet. We really need to expand the vocabulary that the general market has on Asian Americans, and we need to dimensionalize our characters. I don't really necessarily care if it's bad or good; in the end, once people realize that yeah, we can be a**holes, and we can be really amazing, and we're not really all that different from everyone else. Expanding the vocabulary of images out there of Asian Americans, I think that's really what we're trying to do.
We want to provide exposure for all the different groups, and this is very important to me. To a certain extent, we're trying to reach and have a dialogue with the mainstream as well, because you don't affect any change if you're just speaking amongst yourselves. If you have Asians talking to each other, if it's only for Asian-Americans, at the end of the day, that's not a mainstream network, and that's not something that's going to impact the way Asians are viewed in this country. So the only way you can affect change is by making the content interesting enough for everyone and having them see us in a very different light. That's really why it's crucial what we have, wherever we're playing and distributed, that we're a basic channel, because that's the only way people are going to sample these images. There are so many stereotypes and certainly there's always problems with depictions. I think that's really the important thing, to get a whole body of images. I think that's really going to have an effect.
APA: Definitely, and also I think it'll help younger Asian-American generations get in touch with their culture. Because I know that personally, my parents would watch these great Asian shows, but since there was no English, I wasn't fluent enough with the language or comedy to fully appreciate it.
MH: That's part of it. With the work that we're putting into it, we're not only building the bridges between different Asian groups as well as the general public, but also, to a certain extent, we're building the bridges among generations as well. Because there certainly is a disconnect there too. When we keep the integrity of the programs intact, by subtitling it, not dubbing it, the parents and the first-generation Asians can appreciate it, and then we package it in a way with subtitles, for the second generation. This way we can build bridges and build a better sense of community
APA: Well I really admire what you guys are doing, and I'm excited for it to reach across the country to everyone who can have access to it. For our last question: Can I have you tell the APA readers what they can do in order to support ImaginAsian and help to get it shown in their area?
MH: The biggest help, if you want it, is to email or call your cable or satellite operator and ask for ImaginAsian TV. That's probably the most direct way to go about doing that. We're close in terms of our deals for all the major cable systems, especially in the LA area, and every little bit helps. I think if we positioned ourselves as a pay channel, we'd be up already, but we're really insisting on getting on a basic outlet. So whether you're Time Warner or Adelphia or Comcast or what-have-you, we have corporate deals at play for all of those cable systems. On the local systems side, we'll be up much faster if there was a lot more people calling in, if they know that there is a demand for it.
APA: Thank you so much, Michael.
MH: Thank you, it was fun talking to you.