The current times present a great opportunity to enter the film market on the Chinese mainland, April Ye, CEO of Film Finances Inc China, told a China Daily Asia Leadership Roundtable forum that explored strategic implications for the mainland and Hong Kong film industries.

Though many people do not believe the mainland movie market is ready yet, Ye said they cannot wait for everything to be ready and have to be there to grow with the market.

Film Finances Inc just entered the mainland market this year, providing completion guarantee services to leading banks in the entertainment industry, major film studios and distributors.

Established in 1950 in London, the company has become one of the biggest film completion guarantee companies in the world. In January it registered in the Shanghai free trade zone and officially opened its office in May.

Though on the mainland completion guarantee is a new thing, Ye believes now is the time to enter it because of a new trend, in that investors from outside the industry have in the last five years become interested in the film market and film production.

She observed that people are investing more funds and special capital in film production, so her company, "the platform between the financial world and film production world", decided to come in.

Ye noted that Film Finances Inc China has started working on co-production projects, such as films produced by China jointly with Australia, New Zealand, as well as the UK.

In speaking of the relationship between the mainland and Hong Kong film industries, Ye, who has 14 years of experience in the film co-production sector, said Hong Kong has a unique advantage when introducing mainland movies to go out.

In the past five to 10 years, Hong Kong has been a bridge between Hollywood and the Chinese mainland, bringing Hollywood closer to the nation. Ye believes there will be opportunities in the future for the SAR's movie industry to work closely with mainland counterparts to bring their movies to the world.

"I really believe that there are opportunities for Chinese IP (intellectual property) to go out to the world in the next five to 10 years," Ye said.

She added that Hong Kong talents have experience and know "how to bring out the best from the mainland and make it more approachable to the world."

As for financial investment, she pointed out that it is better for Hong Kong investors to cooperate with partners across the border because mainland investors nowadays are the stronger of the two.

Despite being positive about the development of the film industry on the Chinese mainland, Ye believes it still faces many challenges, lack of a standard system being one of them.

"We need to have a standard system that is industrialized and transparent to help investors make sure that their money is well spent," Ye emphasized.

grace@chinadailyhk.com

William Pfeiffer (left) looks on as April Ye speaks at the forum.

The speeches inspire audience members to capture the moment.

(HK Edition 12/04/2015 page11)