Regulatory commission established for online feature film production

A nationwide commission to regulate and guide the production of online films, a special genre which has taken shape in accordance with China's rapid expansion in video-streaming services, was launched in Beijing on May 28.

The first of its kind to unite the emerging industry's producers, the Online Film Commission of China Film Association unveiled its leadership and main projects in the Beijing launching event.

Co-headed by Rao Shuguang, Wu Manfang, Yang Xianghua, Liu Kailuo and Cheng Wu -- scholars on movie research or executives from top video-streaming sites, the commission will organize a non-for-profit training program to coach estimated 2,000 producers, directors as well as relevant talent.

The program schedules to train at least five batches of participators in 2018, with the tutors consisting of government regulators and the commission's members. The classes revolve on China's policies, financial knowledge, and script-writing skills.

"We hope the program will boost the sound progress of domestic online films," says Yu Xiaofeng, secretary-general of the Online Film Commission.

Zhang Hong, Party secretary of China Film Association, says online movies have a bright future in China, although the genre has merely taken off for around four years.

As a concept first raised by the video-streaming giant iQiyi in 2014, online movie refers to a clip tailored for and released only an Internet service. Usually, an online movie span 60 minutes, around half the length of a theater feature.

Last year, China produced 1,892 online movies, with the emerging industry reaching a total value of 2 billion yuan ($312 million) in 2017.