Film quality, not capital, decides success

China's three largest IT companies, Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent, too have invested in the cultural industry with their focus being more on technology-based fields. Reports say that Chinese commercial banks issued credit funds of more than 600 million yuan to the film industry between 2006 and 2011. But that can only be called an appetizer compared with the 32-billion-yuan investment (end-of-2013 figure) made by private equity funds in the film and TV industry.

With the influx of so much money, along with the funds the listed companies are expected to raise, the film industry is expected to expand more aggressively.

But then capital is just one factor that can bring success. Whether or not China's film industry can realize its Hollywood-scale dream ultimately depends on the quality of its products.

The most serious problem facing the film industry is the poor scripts and, as some say, the shortage of quality scriptwriters. Critics say China should learn from Hollywood's experience of how to foster collective talent in scriptwriting, instead of depending on individual scriptwriters to deliver.

Zhao Fang, a top executive of Wanda's media operation, says filmmakers cannot blame their failures on the Chinese audience. The success or failure of a film depends on its story and nothing else, which applies both to Hollywood and the Chinese film industry.

When shoddy scripts flood the market, scriptwriters tend to be paid as hired guns, not creative individuals. And the low rate of payment for scripts, in turn, results in fewer good scripts, Xinhua quotes scriptwriter Fan Xin as having said.

The Chinese film industry will succeed only if it can overcome this and other dilemmas.

The author is a writer with China Daily. zhujin@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 08/30/2014 page5)