Beijing Film Academy, iQiyi team up to support film scripts

Beijing Film Academy and iQiyi, one of China's major online streaming media platforms, announced Thursday that they are working together to establish a fund supporting high-quality film scripts.

A news conference was also held Thursday on campus to promote story ideas, which come from students or new graduates at the academy, to film producers.

Four winning scripts stood out from 87 candidates, and these will be financed by the fund to be made into feature-length films. The top winner will gain 50 percent of the production budget from the fund.

Beijing Film Academy is the top educational institution nurturing film-related expertise in China. In 2017, it reached an agreement with iQiyi to have comprehensive cooperation in terms of incubating young talent and development of stories. A series of symposiums, training seminars and competitions have been organized since then.

According to Hou Guangming, the Party chief of the academy, the new project is a way to help new generations of filmmakers at the school better approach the market and refine their productions, and online platforms have become a main channel for the youth to get experience and have more diverse expressions.