While working on films such as the award-winning Locked and the upcoming Hot Pot Man, and after her work on the Chinstudio Fall Collection commercial she produced last year that went viral, Tang has shown international audiences what she is capable of. She is without a doubt one of the best recent Chinese producers. This truly started after the immense success of the horror film Emily that she produced, and when the team from Emily decided to take on a second horror project, Tang was all for it.
"When Writer and Director Jun Xia decided to do a second short and asked me to be a part of it, I really wanted to. I liked working with him, he is a very smart and talent director, and based on how successful Emily was, I thought ‘of course I will join this team, and have another one like Emily.’ But this time, we wanted almost more professional film than Emily. We developed the story for a long time, and also, we spent a lot time to looking for a shooting location. It was a very happy time to work during this film,” said Tang.
The result of this was the film Inside Linda Vista Hospital. The horror flick tells the story of a young girl who wakes up in a hospital surrounded by police covered in the blood of her boyfriend. With the help of a video camera, she slowly pieces together what happened, and she may not like what she finds.
"I like the story very much. Everyone liked and believed in this project,” she said.
Audiences liked the story too. The film won Best Director and Best Horror Student Short Film at the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival where it premiered last December. From there, it went on to be an Official selection at the Festival de Cannes Corner 2017, and the Pasadena International Film Festival 2017. It is expected to continue on to many more of the world’s most prestigious festivals later this year.
“For Inside Linda Vista Hospital, we almost knew it would be a big success at these high level festivals. We almost believe it is a better film than Emily, so of course it would have success at festivals like Cannes. When it started winning award, I told the director that he is extremely talented, and he is a horror guy. So, I took the recognition at these festivals as a sign. It's time to do our feature,” said Tang.
The Director, Jun Xia, knows that he and Tang make a good team. Without her, the success of Emily may not have achieved what it did, and the success of Inside Linda Vista Hospital would definitely not have achieved what it did. Xia knows Tang is a one-of-a-kind-producer that he will always want to work with.
“The quality of the film and the preparation of the production from early on shows Xueru is very perfect and very patient, especially when creating the budget. When this is done well everything follows, whether from casting, finding location or production meetings that are dedicated to help the director to maximize and improve the shooting, and that is needed. Working with her is a very good experience and there is a high-level of cooperation,” said Xia. “I think Xueru is best at co-ordination and leadership. As a producer, she not only professional and knowledgeable, but also very practical. In the production of each piece of work she does you her professionalism, coupled with her eloquence. She is just a good producer.”
As producer, Tang had to control the budget. This is always a struggle for producers, as the director always seems to want the highest possible production value despite funds. However, this was no issue for Tang. She used the budget they had and to made it look like the budget they wanted. She was also responsible for finding the location of the hospital, which had to look frightening, but also be practical for shooting. This was no easy feat. Tang searched endlessly, taking her time to go to many locations before finding the right one. Eventually, she found an abandoned warehouse that she knew they could make look like a hospital. And after sweet talking the owner, they could shoot on location for free.
“Everyone that hears this always says it is unbelievable. I think the secret is talking. I went to that shoot location more than seven times to talk with manager. At the beginning, he didn’t like us, but I kept showing him how good Jun is and how good the story is. The manager started to become interested in Jun and our work. At the end, the manager really wanted us to shoot in his studio, just to be a part of the film,” Tang described.
There is no doubt that without such an ideal location, the film could never have gone on to have the success that it did. This was all thanks to Tang and her outstanding producing abilities.