“Made in Chinatown”: Only 20 Years in the Making

Mark Wiley is accustomed to challenges. And as the founder of his own martial art style, not just abstract ones – but also the kind that can potentially land you in the hospital with a concussion or broken limb.

Long before that, he suffered from decades of chronic pain and debilitating migraines.

But it wasn’t until he wrote and produced a feature film that he truly understood the phrase “no pain, no gain.”

The idea for the plot that eventually became Made in Chinatown occurred to him way back in 1999.

“I came up with the premise while visiting New York’s Chinatown,” Wiley says. “I tried to enter a ‘private’ Chinese club and was told, ‘Chinese only.’ Disappointed, and hungry, I walked across Canal Street into Little Italy for lunch and wondered what would happen if a Chinese guy tried to finagle his way into a private ‘Italian’ club. From there, I came up with the story of a Chinese guy who wants to join the mafia to win the respect and love of an Italian girl – in other words, he wants to ‘get made.’ I wrote a screenplay quickly, and spent the next ten years rewriting, revising, polishing, and trying to get someone, anyone, with contacts in the film industry to read it.”

Eventually, Wiley managed to get the screenplay in the hands of a New York actor who was currently working on a film with some “Sopranos” alumni that he was hoping to cast in Made in Chinatown. The project finally started to gain some traction, but what followed was a hard-knocks lesson in the pitfalls of the film-making business, including financing issues, visa issues, and contractual disputes.

“I managed to put together a terrific cast and used that to secure some funding from overseas,” Wiley says. “Primarily from investors in China. Then, when Trump was elected president, the political and economic situation between the US and China shut down the financing. By that time, I already had contracts in place with the cast, and according to the Screen Actors Guild, I either had to shoot the movie or pay them their agreed upon fees anyway. So, I had to scramble for new funding. An old colleague introduced me to a group of investors who put in enough financing to cover production, and we were all but assured of a substantial tax credit to cover the rest. The tax credit never came through, and so I went through several more rounds with additional investors, all of whom promised to provide financing and even came to the set, met the cast, and hung out. But when it came time to write a check, they were nowhere to be found.”

Wiley finally secured enough funds to get the movie made and took out small business loans to pay for all the post-production himself. 

“The post-production process alone has taken three years,” Wiley says. “But here we are, with a well-received finished film that was an official selection of several film festivals and won 5 awards, including ‘Audience Choice,’ ‘Best Actor’ (twice) and ‘Best Stunts’ and ‘Best Action.’ 

Wiley describes Made in Chinatown as Goodfellas meets Ip Man. Lise Romanoff, CEO and Managing Director of Vision Films, the movie’s distributor, comments, “At first look, Made in Chinatown, is a fun and funny fish-out-of-water escapade with the most amazing action sequences! Just below the surface, however, is a very timely and important message of self-acceptance and pride in one’s family and culture. Audiences of all kinds are going to love this film!”

Made in Chinatown is now available across cable and streaming platforms in North America including Amazon, Google Play, Vimeo, Xfinity, Fios, Spectrum and Direct TV. Vision Films is looking for international partners in Europe and Asia to pick up the film there as well.

For Wiley, Made in Chinatown is the culmination of a dream that resulted from a great deal of childhood trauma.

“I began life three months premature, weighing only one pound, nine ounces,” Wiley says. “My first months were spent in an incubator. I suffered below average bone development, respiratory issues, and infantile spasms. Doctors believe this resulted in the musculoskeletal pain and headaches that have plagued me since birth.”

As a boy, Wiley’s poor health led to bullying issues. Finally, after one-too-many bloody-noses, his mother enrolled him in Tae Kwon D classes. Although his physical issues made learning martial arts a challenge, Wiley discovered a passion for them. 

“I was fascinated with the ‘magic” of the martial arts,” Wiley says. “Especially the things I saw in old kung fu classics like Kid with the Golden Arms, The 36 Chambers of Shaolin, and Martial Club. The training sequences, super energy powers, secret techniques and the like were my version of Harry Potter.”

Wiley eventually went on to travel the world seeking instruction from masters in over 20 Filipino martial arts, completing the curriculum of seven styles, as well as various forms of Chinese kung-fu. Currently, he is a senior disciple of Ngo Cho Kun (Five Ancestor Boxing), head of the International Beng Hong Athletic Association and the Philadelphia Shenwu Association, and the founder of his own system called Integrated Eskrima. 

The fact that he is not Filipino but has studied with many famous masters and created his own Filipino fight art has led to some interesting, and at times tense, situations.

“On my first trip to the Philippines, I had to spar ten opponents,” Wiley recounts. “By then, I had written a book about the art of Eskrima and these practitioners wanted to see if was real or fake. We wore helmets and one padded glove and fought full contact with sticks. We all sustained some bruises, but nothing brings two martial artists – or in my case, me and ten other martial artists — closer than a nice sparring match.”

During a later trip to teach a seminar in Europe, Wiley was warned that some local martial artists wanted to “test his skill.” Sure enough, one large man challenged Wiley to “block my strike.” The man swung his stick full force at Wiley’s head. Wiley side-stepped to avoid the blow and finished with the tip of his stick at the man’s neck. The crowd loved it. “Now,” Wiley said. “It’s my turn.”

Aside from his practice of the martial arts, Wiley’s chronic health issues have led him on a lifelong exploration of healing systems. “I spent the better part of the 1990s traveling the world to meet with traditional healers – acupuncturists in Japan, qigong masters in Taiwan, bone setters in Malaysia, faith healers in the Philippines,” he says. 

His journeys have taken him to down some interesting and amusing rabbit holes. “One time while doing research on martial arts and spirituality in Kuala Lumpur, I took a meeting with a master of the Malaysian martial art of Silat who I was told e could ‘shape-shift’ into an eagle,” Wiley says. “I brought my friend Ron with me from Japan so we would videotape the meeting. We were introduced to the master. He didn’t strike me as anything extraordinary. He started doing some martial movements and breath exercises and making strange sounds. After a few minutes, he contorts himself in such a way, with a bent body and arms outstretched, to resemble a bird in flight. Ron and I look at one another like, ‘big deal.’ Then he turns and looks directly at us, lets out a loud squawk, and before our eyes he turns into an eagle! I swear, his body morphed, his skin turned into feathers, he grew a beak, everything! We looked at each other in shock. Then he went back to normal. Thankfully, we had the photos and video to prove we weren’t crazy! Well, in those photos and on that video, the Silat master looks like a normal man making funny noises. You had to be there. It was an experience I won’t forget.”

Over the years, Wiley’s desire to alleviate his own suffering motivated him to earn a Master’s Degree in Health Care Management, a PhD in Alternative Medicine and a doctorate in Oriental Medicine. He currently mentors others to improve their health and learn martial arts out of his home in suburban Philadelphia. He does plenty of zoom classes for those too far to meet in person.

Now, after twenty years of struggle, Wiley can add a “filmmaker” to his list of accomplishments.

Made in Chinatown is a passion project that is at once the very best and absolute worst experience of my life,” Wiley says. “But it has opened so many doors for me – new friends, new skills, and hopefully, a first-step in a filmmaking career.”

Made in Chinatown is now available on Prime Video.  For more information, reviews, media, or the other places you can watch Made in Chinatown, check out the website https://madeinchinatownmovie.com/

About the author

Brian Klingborg is the author of Thief of Souls, now available in hardcover from St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur, and Wild Prey, available May, 2022.