INDUSTRY leaders, scholars and government officials gathered in Putuo District to put a plan of action together on how best to tap into the rapid development of China’s Internet film sector.

The Internet Summit of the 2018 Shanghai International Film & TV Festival, hosted by the Putuo District government, showcased a number of outstanding, popular and new Internet films, as well as creating a platform for industrial exploration, talent exchange, project incubation and promotion.

The Internet film feast to local residents evolved from a previous mobile film festival, and various Internet film events, thanks to years of cooperation between Putuo and the organizer of the city’s film and TV festival.

China’s film culture industries have been driven by the swift development of the online platform in recent years. The Internet film industry, which focuses more on the audience, has entered the scale economy stage and is embracing new development opportunities.

The summit meeting saw dialogue between industry leaders, an investment meeting on original literature and film, as well as a grand ceremony with popular film stars and performance teams.

The summit dialogue brought nearly 20 top officials to the table from China’s leading Internet platforms and film companies to discuss the topic of the “integration, innovation and evolvement of Internet films.”

The venture capital investment meeting concluded it wanted to establish a platform to promote, incubate and trade between literature and film products.

An outstanding list of Internet films has also been released. Over 200 renowned producers, directors, playwrights and film critics jointly selected products from Internet TV dramas, films and entertainment shows from the last year. They also took the click rates, popularity and satisfaction of audiences into consideration.

The highlight of the summit was the grand ceremony gala held on the evening of June 18. Famous Chinese writer Feng Tang, hiphop dancers Han Yu and Hu Haoliang, singer Zhao Tianyu, and the band Good Sister turned up for the gala. Most of them have been helped in their careers through various online platforms. A series of outstanding Internet audio visual works were released and promoted through the event.

In recent years, the Internet film industry has been transformed from quantitative to a qualitative development. The vigorous development of Internet films is deeply influencing audience viewing habits, as well as the creation and marketing modes of the traditional film industry.

Internet film and TV are now carrying more social responsibilities and cultural missions, and have become a spiritual and cultural guide to younger audiences, especially.

The festival wants to encourage more film and cultural works that reflect peoples’ lives and voices.

In the investment meeting section, the organizer solicited 500 outstanding works of literature nationwide and picked up 100 among of them from a jury of 40 professionals.

The organizer has recommended 300 film producing companies and investment firms. Among them are 30 original works, which will be strongly recommended by 10 professionals on film and TV adaptation, copyright and intellectual property rights development.

The 10th China Internet Audio and Radio Industry Forum, jointly hosted by the State Administration of Radio and Television and Shanghai government was also held during the summit.

The forum included a keynote seminar and eight sub-forums focusing on topics such as Internet dramas, entertainment shows, the Internet content business model and marketing in the Internet era.

By hosting the serial events on Internet film, Putuo has been actively optimizing its business environment and developed an Internet film industry cluster on Jinshajiang Road in the last three years. It aims to make Internet films one of the “cultural brands” of Putuo.

The hi-tech digital special effects studio of CENIC Media is scheduled to open within 2018, when a one-stop postproduction service center of Yingshi Media will also be completed. The Putuo culture equipment park is expected to become a national industrial center incorporating technology and digital contents production.

The district also aims to further attract Internet film companies to be based in Putuo. It has listed the Internet film industry as one of five major businesses for its economic transformation and upgrade.

Putuo has been highlighting its advantages on industrial policies and government services, the two main attractions to enterprises to move to Shanghai. In a key guideline issued by the Putuo government in February, the district confirmed to support the Internet film industry. A lot of supportive policies have been released covering the full industrial chain, such as talent training, content production, distribution, postproduction and derivatives development.

The guideline stipulates film and television companies based in Putuo can be rewarded by 1-3 million yuan (US$154,538-463,614) from the district government, if the domestic box office and copyright sales of the products they invest reached 100 million yuan to 1 billion yuan.

The Putuo government has also allotted a 200-million-yuan culture development special fund, project subsidies and government awards to lure major cultural projects to gather in the district and assist film companies.

The district has invested a total of 140 million yuan to support around 146 industrial projects since 2013. It has also supported over 80 public projects with total investment of 13 million yuan.

Over 50 film industry companies covering content project, distribution, postproduction and talent incubation have been attracted to Putuo over the past three years. They include Alibaba Pictures, Tao Piaopiao, CENIC Media, Digital Domain, Taipei Postproduction and Suning Universal Media. These industry leaders have produced top-grossing movies and television series such as “Operation Red Sea,” “Detective Chinatown II” and “The Grainfield.”

Putuo established a film and television association last month to create a platform for film companies on the industry chain to share resources for cooperation.