Obstacles, Perks of Movie Co-productions in China

June 22,2013

China's movie industry is set to surpass Hollywood by revenues in just a handful of years. Much of the progress comes from relying on the world's biggest audiences, as well as on government efforts to spur investment and protect its industry. With China being noticed by many within the American movie business, VOA takes a look at how the country is managing this growing industry, and how easy it is for foreigners to get in.

This is a Chinese government building for its movie industry. One square kilometer of swamp near China's coastal city of Tianjin was turned into solid ground. On it stands an investment of over $13 million with office space, housing, film studios and animation equipment.

Ping Jiang is the founder and president of Yellow Mountain Film, a movie production company that made the newly built Tianjin studios its base.

“They have a superpower computer, which is the biggest of the world. And right now we have the directed fiber connection with that computer which is very important for CGI animation films. For the first year we do not have to pay any rent, and the second year we also get a pretty good discount on the rent. So this is an advantage.”

After working in the United States and Canada, Ping came back to China to exploit the growing business of co-productions.

“I think it's pretty challenging for co-productions. So that is why I want to build something here that is more solid. That we can be of more help for people [who] really want to come here to do co-production.”