Lights, camera, action as movie town back in full swing

High occupancy rate

Last month, the Changzheng Hotel, which has more than 950 guestrooms and caters solely to movie and TV crews, had an occupancy rate of more than 85 percent, up from about 60 percent in March. The hotel is a subsidiary of Hengdian World Studios.

Qiu Liuying, the manager, said the hotel is currently home to seven film crews and seven doing preparatory work, adding that occupancy is a little higher than in previous years. Another two crews have booked rooms for next month.

Huang Yan, deputy manager of the fast food center at Hengdian World Studios, said, "Our staff begin preparing lunchboxes as early as 6 am every day and send them to more than 50 shooting locations by noon." The center can cook food for more than 4,500 lunchboxes every day.

Li Haishan, 27, an extra in Hengdian, said, "My father always hopes that I will return to my hometown and land a steady job, but I insist on staying here to chase my dream."

Li, who has often ridden horses in scenes, is using an electric bike to pick up and deliver meals for the online food ordering platform Eleme. "This way, I'm still a rider," he said.

He plans to look for film or TV roles while continuing his delivery job. "I've been in Hengdian for months now, and the hard times will be over soon," he added.

The authorities in Dongyang have introduced a series of policies to support the resumption of work in Hengdian.

Some 10 million yuan ($1.4 million) has been allocated to subsidize venue and equipment rentals, along with the cost of accommodations. Taxes and fees have been cut or exempted for film and TV production companies.

Hengdian World Studios has offered extras cost-of-living subsidies, with some of these workers also being employed by local factories.

When producer Huang Jinmei arrived in Hengdian in mid-April, the streets were empty, but since then, the town has become a bustling center of activity.

"In the film industry, as long as you can control the budget and provide high-quality products, there must be room for you to survive," Huang said. Producer Bao Mengmeng is hopeful about the future.

In May, Xinhua News Agency quoted her as saying, "Although we are encountering more challenges, we can spend more time polishing our scripts and keeping good connections with big platforms.

"In such hard times for the whole industry, I believe the fittest will survive and quality will prevail."

To achieve its goal of becoming home to the world's most competitive film and TV industry base, Hengdian Group began work on an industrial park in July 2018.

With investment of 3 billion yuan and a total floor area of 65.1 hectares, the venue will be home to 41 international high-tech studios.

The park will be divided into two blocks, with one housing standard studios, a shooting area for modern-day scenes, a film and television service center, post production center and hotels. The other block will be occupied solely by studios.

The No 3 Studio will be the largest in the world, covering 12,000 square meters.

Xu Xiaoqin, deputy general manager of Hengdian World Studios, said the park is due to be completed by the end of 2023 and will be covered by the 5G network.

Cai Jingwen and Xinhua contributed to this story.