Passion in worlds hottest movie market needs protective practices1 min read
Reading Time: < 1 minuteBEIJING ““ As China’s movie economy expands, the number of people throwing money in hoping for returns is multiplying. Thus it was no surprise that film finance experts gathered to discuss protecting investments played to a packed house of about 400 guests on the sidelines of the 1st Beijing International Film Festival on Tuesday.
Panelists from around the world tried to teach mostly Chinese producers, directors and would-be backers how to insert protective practices into movie making in a country where producers play second fiddle to directors, whose passion sometimes wreaks financial havoc.
Chinese motivation is high to learn the business of filmmaking, which for decades here was, and sometimes still is, pure propaganda. Ticket sales soared 64% last year to hit $1.5 billion to meet rising middle class demand and about half that money came from Chinese-language films — most of which were co-productions with some foreign finance.
The number of co-productions between China and other countries is likely to rise with the signing of treaties with New Zealand, Singapore and France just last year.
