China's shadow enterprises prepare for import quota opening, borrow joint venture to co-produce "stealing teachers" overseas

At present, domestic film and television companies have entered into film shooting and distribution and entered deeper cooperation when embracing Hollywood. Film and television companies gain advanced production processes and technologies through close contact with Hollywood, which will be able to improve the quality of their own films and prepare for the opening of the quota limit on imported films in 2017.

Original title: Taking advantage of market heat and taking advantage of joint ventures to co-produce "stealing teachers" Overseas China film companies are preparing for the opening of import quotas

This year, film and television companies are very busy, not only busy putting their works on the big screen, but also busy working hand in hand with Hollywood. Recently, Huace Film and Television announced that it has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Aurora Pictures, and the number of films co-produced by the two parties will be no less than 3 each year. Through observation, it is not difficult to find that domestic film and television companies have entered into film shooting and distribution and entered deeper cooperation when embracing Hollywood. Film and television companies gain advanced production processes and technologies through close contact with Hollywood, which will be able to improve the quality of their own films and prepare for the opening of the quota limit on imported films in 2017.

A number of film and television companies have intensively gone abroad

. Huace Film and Television, which just acquired a 15% stake in South Korean film company NEW last year and became its second largest shareholder, recently officially launched a strategic cooperation with Aurora Pictures of the United States. According to the agreement, the two parties will conduct all-round and multi-level film cooperation and launch a high-concept film list with a scale of US$300 million. At that time, Huace Film and Television will jointly develop and produce with Aurora Pictures, and adopt the model of Hollywood production team + China element stories + cooperation between Chinese and American actors. After the film was filmed, Huace Film and Television was responsible for domestic distribution in China, while Aurora Pictures focused on overseas distribution.

In addition to Huace Film and Television, the Chinese Cultural Industry Investment Fund announced this month that it has established a flagship film company with Warner Bros. to jointly develop Chinese and English films. Radio and Television Media has also announced cooperation with Lionsgate Films of the United States, Huayi Brothers and STX Entertainment of the United States.

Although domestic film and television companies have had contact with Hollywood for many years, most of the cooperation between the two parties in the past was limited to financial investment. Nowadays, domestic film and television companies are trying to go deep into all aspects of Hollywood film production and have "intimate contact" with them. For example, in Mission Impossible 5, viewers not only saw Paramount Pictures 'logo, but also Alibaba Pictures' logo on the big screen, because Alibaba Pictures has gone deep into the film's distribution and collaborated in areas such as ticketing and derivatives.

Taking advantage of Hollywood shortcuts to enhance their competitiveness,

domestic film and television companies actively embrace Hollywood, on the one hand, is related to the United States seeing the development potential of China's film market. "In the past, if China wanted to discuss cooperation with Hollywood, the other party would set a high threshold. Now Hollywood has lowered its stance accordingly. If they do not seek China partners, they may lose the opportunity to enter the China market." Xiao Yongliang, executive director of the Institute of Culture and Innovation at Beijing Normal University, said.

However, from the perspective of domestic film and television companies themselves, although the box office of the domestic film market has been soaring this year, and domestic films with box office exceeding 2 billion yuan have appeared, there is still a gap between the quality of domestic films and the international ones, and there are not a few low-quality films. The scarcity of high-quality films has also been criticized.

It is also worth noting that the "Memorandum of Understanding between China and the United States on Resolving WTO Film-Related Issues" signed by China and the United States in 2012 is about to expire in 2017, which means that quota restrictions on imported films are likely to be further liberalized or even cancelled.

Zhao Yifang, general manager of Huace Film and Television, once told the media that while the box office growth of domestic films is at the same time the quality of domestic films lags behind. If you stay too complacent, you will hit the ceiling of creation in a very short time. After the quota limit was lifted, domestic films that were no longer protected could only face Hollywood competition, forcing domestic film and television companies to do their best to accelerate development in the remaining time. Learning from Hollywood is a shortcut.

Multi-link cooperation and comprehensive preparations

Judging from the current specific cooperation links between China and the United States, they can play a role in improving the quality of films in multiple directions by domestic film and television companies. For example, Huace Films and Aurora Films will co-produce no less than 3 films every year, and will use well-known Hollywood directors such as Brian de Palma and James McTeger. This will enable Huace Films and Films to interact with professionals. Contact and gain shooting skills and experience. At the same time, as Aurora Films has accumulated many years of experience in global distribution, this will also help Huace Films establish global distribution channels and allow domestic films to enter the international market.

The flagship film industry will integrate the film resources of Hollywood in the United States, China Hong Kong and mainland China to develop, invest and produce a series of mainstream Chinese-language films and the world's top blockbusters, which will be distributed to China and the world through Chinese culture and Warner Bros. distribution network. Cooperation with Hollywood will enable China film and television companies to obtain resources for global deployment.

Although in-depth cooperation between film and television companies in China has become a trend, due to the different mechanisms of the film industries of the two countries, domestic film companies may also encounter risks."Hollywood film projects have their own detailed rules for market allocation, post-distribution, etc., and Hollywood's style has long been to sing a one-man show. It seems fair at the negotiation table, but many things behind it are unknown." Xiao Yongliang said.

Editor: vian