Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Peter Loehr, who has been head of CAA’s Beijing office since it opened in 2005, will be leaving the agency. I’m hearing that he’s in talks to join Bruno Wu, the Chinese entrepreneur who last month unveiled a plan to raise $800 million in equity financing to make English-language pictures, under the banner of the Harvest Seven Stars Media Fund. The fund is being advised by CAA so the transition ought to be an easy one. I’m assured that Loehr left on his own and wasn’t pushed. The office will be run by some of the agents he brought in when he opened the office seven years ago. Loehr is a rarity in that he’s an experienced film guy who lives in China and has been part of the production community for a long time. Loehr established the country’s first independent film studio, Imar Film, in 1997, before opening CAA’s China outpost for CAA. Since then, China is shaping up to be a major way of expanding international box office, particularly after the country agreed to loosen the number of movie imports permitted to play in China, where theaters are cropping up like crazy.